Eskom: Distribution

Eskom, the South African Government's electrical utility, is the seventh largest in the world in terms of sales and the 11th largest in generating capacity. The utility has more than 29 800 employees, 24 power stations and annual sales of R41.2 billion.

Structured as a vertically integrated company, Eskom has four regulated divisions, Generation, Transmission, Distribution and Key Sales and Customer Service, as well as a non-regulated division, Eskom Enterprises, which is a wholly owned subsidiary.

The client in this case is Eskom Distribution, which has a distribution network of 320 035 kilometres of line and 3.6 million customers, including major wholesale customers in municipalities, aluminium smelters and railways.

South Africa's re-entry into the global marketplace has fuelled demand for electricity among producers and manufacturers across the economy. At the same time, consumption by municipalities has increased in line with the upsurge in economic activity and the strides made in bringing electricity to many more households. Faced with ever-increasing demand, it has become a business imperative for Eskom Distribution to interact effectively with its customers and to respond swiftly, efficiently and consistently to service requests and complaints.

However, Eskom Distribution's existing customer-facing technology and processes posed a barrier to its drive to become a world-class, customer-centric distribution organisation. More specifically, it was interacting with customers through seven different contact centres across the country, each following different processes, and using outdated telephony systems with limited routing and self-help capabilities.

As a result, customers had to interact with a service agent for the most rudimentary requests, leading to long waiting times and a high percentage of abandoned calls. Apart from adversely affecting customer satisfaction levels, this time- and labour-intensive approach was driving up Eskom Distribution's telecommunications and staff costs.

In March 2001, Eskom Distribution asked Accenture to assist in the development and implementation of a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy aimed at making it a world-class, customer-centric organisation.

The starting point of the CRM Strategy Project was to review Eskom Distribution's customer service architecture, with the aim of understanding and then validating its current position and strategic direction. Based on this review, Accenture proposed a new CRM Business Capability Blueprint, which included a process, technical, organisational and human performance architecture.

After the Blueprint was approved, Accenture then developed a macro Implementation Plan and Business Case to implement the CRM Blueprint through a phased approach.

In the initial phase, the focus would be on replacing the existing telephony infrastructure and upgrading and virtualising the seven contact centres to allow for seamless customer interaction. The second phase would entail the selection of a suitable CRM solution to support first-time call resolution, case management, workflow and campaign management, while ensuring consistency in the processes followed across the seven contact centres.

In preparing for the first phase, which centred on upgrading the telephony and contact centre technology, Accenture developed a Request for Information (RFI) to prospective technology vendors. This was followed by a Request for Proposals (RFP) for short-listed bidders, culminating in the selection of the Avaya Telephony solution, a locally developed SMS solution and workforce management and predictive dialling solutions.

To minimise the implementation risk, Eskom Distribution's Bellville contact centre was chosen as the initial implementation site. After being successfully implemented and tested at the Bellville site, the new technology was then rolled out at the other six contact centres.

The focus then shifted to identifying a suitable CRM application and selecting a vendor, again through an Request for Information (RFI) process. Working closely with Eskom Distribution, Accenture developed application and vendor selection criteria, which were translated into an objective scorecard against which vendors could be ranked. A short list of suitable vendors was identified, based on an independent industry analysis and Accenture's global CRM knowledge base.

After the selection of the vendor, Eskom Distribution asked Accenture to manage the implementation of the new CRM application. In doing so, Accenture used the Business Methods toolset for custom-built applications, and managed a diverse team of resources comprising Accenture, the vendor, Eskom Distribution and subcontractors.

Although the CRM project ended in November 2004, Accenture's involvement continued for another year in the form of a Maintenance and Support contract.

Eskom Distribution's CRM implementation is widely recognised as one of the best and most innovative in the world. In fact, its program was chosen as the 2005/06 winner of the 'Best CRM Initiative' in the international category of the CIS/CRM Excellence ™ awards.

In implementing the CRM Capability Blueprint, Eskom has significantly improved the quality of its customers' experience, while at the same time realising substantial financial benefits.

Tangible evidence of improvements in customer satisfaction includes:

• A reduction in abandoned calls: this stands at between three and six percent, compared to 9.75 percent in the past.
  
  
• Better, faster handling of calls by agents: each agent can now handle between 10 and 15 calls an hour, as opposed to only 5.5 an hour. Moreover, 90 percent of calls are answered within 30 seconds, compared to 75 percent.
  
  
• Multiple channels: customers can use phone, fax, e-mail and SMS to interact with Eskom Distribution.

In terms of financial savings, Eskom Distribution will, in the next five years, save:

• 45 percent on telephone and trunk costs.
• Between 50 and 60 percent on the cost per call.
• 50 percent on contact centre manpower costs.

Accenture's successful partnering with Eskom Distribution brings to the fore best practices and local and international expertise, helping it achieve its vision of being an eminent African energy and related services business of global stature.