Utilities BPO Services

Many utilities have found it difficult to keep up with shifts in processes, costs, technology platforms and service. Outside help is often vital, which is where the contributions of an exceptional business process outsourcing (BPO) services provider come in.

Accenture Utilities BPO Services (formally Accenture Business Services for Utilities) was established in 2003 to provide scale and leading meter-to-cash services to utilities around the world. The use of these services has grown considerably in recent years—buoyed by turbulent economic conditions and fast-emerging regulatory, environmental, consumer and technology trends.

Accenture is now helping more than 30 utilities:

• Address global economic and industry-specific challenges.
• Reduce overall costs.
• Improve cash flow and liquidity.
• Improve customer satisfaction, and
• Manipulate key industry value levers.

Accenture Utilities BPO Services obtains the above results by:

• Delivering consistent and predictable service through its highly industrialized back office to deliver results fast.
• Focusing on improving utility companies’ most vital metrics: cost to serve and customer satisfaction.
• Offering an end-to-end outsourcing solution for customer care.
• Driving performance improvements through the use of leading-edge information technology, application support and infrastructure.

According to Mike Mees, director of customer care at Enbridge, one of the fastest-growing natural gas companies in North America, “Outsourcing with Accenture has definitely allowed Enbridge to focus on strategy rather than on operations. Accenture’s client-focused approach and clear accountability have created a strong and flexible relationship that is helping our organization achieve high performance.”

Download our brochure
To learn more about how to overcome the challenges currently facing the utilities industry, download our brochure High Performance Business for Utilities [PDF, 405KB].
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Need more information? Please contact us or submit a request for services.

More than ever, utilities are looking for experienced outsourcing services partners they can trust to help meet their business challenges, to help them successfully navigate changing times and achieve growth aspirations. For a variety of important reasons, Accenture is often that solution provider:

• We have more than 30 years’ experience working with electric, gas and water companies (including 18 of the top 30 global utility companies). Accenture’s efforts thus affect the experience of more than 40 million end customers.
  
  
• Accenture Utilities BPO Services is helping utilities achieve scale; reduce operating expenses; access new skills and capabilities; and leverage the world-class processes and technology that lead to high performance.
  
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  Recognized by industry analysts as one of the world’s largest BPO service providers dedicated to utilities, Accenture has more than 5,000 employees with 24/7 operations in eight countries (Canada, United States, Spain, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, the Philippines, India and Argentina).

Accenture’s results-driven, customer-focused approach has resulted in investments of more than $100 million. The company has developed or deployed more than 50 of its assets ranging from process and methodology best practices to full life cycle customer care and relationship management applications and delivered real, measurable, sustainable improvements in performance, consistently achieving 99 percent of service level metrics across all clients served.

Client testimonials tell a powerful story:

"The transaction in outsourcing that we have done with Accenture has definitely allowed us to focus on our core operations at a time when we have major challenges. It has also achieved and even exceeded our cost-reduction estimates. We are currently $6 million ahead of our targets after four years and we fully expect to realize more than $250 million in savings."
—Alister Cowan, former chief financial officer, BC Hydro

"Through economies of scale, best people, state-of-the-art technology and 24-hour delivery through the Accenture Global Delivery Network, Accenture Utilities BPO Services is providing a level of service that we weren’t able to provide and we are now able to realize the savings. We are also experiencing the highest customer satisfaction that we’ve had in 10 years at Enbridge. We are really happy with the level of service that we’re getting and that our customers are getting. The people that we deal with on a daily basis are doing a great job on our behalf and on behalf of our customers."
—Mike Mees, director of customer care, Enbridge

Read our client successes.

Accenture Utilities BPO Services provides a comprehensive set of offerings and assets aimed specifically at outsourcing for utilities and emphasizing meter to cash. Core functions include:

• Meter-to-Cash Revenue Cycle Operations—Including billing, payments, and credit and collections.
  
  
• Customer Care Operations—Fully integrated off- near- on-shore, and capacity services.
  
  
• Field Service Operations—Including transformative smart metering and a full range of AO options.
  
  

Associated with these services are a wide range of sophisticated processes, systems, tools and people—all focused on giving clients the ability to increase service, cuts costs, reduce risk and increase the pace of positive change.

Download our brochure
To learn more about our capabilities, download our brochure Achieving High Performance through Accenture Utilities BPO Services [PDF, 172KB].
PDF Help

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