The Utility 2030 Collaborative is kicking off two of its four CX Incubator Focus Groups in June 2021, and two additional ones in July 2021. Strategies for Reducing Inbound Customer Calls to Zero by 2030 will be held on June 29th from 2:00-4:00 p.m. EST. It will be chaired by Katy Cook, Director of Customer Experience for Liberty Utilities, and co-chaired by Kristina McClenahan, Product Development Manager for Puget Sound Energy (PSE). The group’s goal is to articulate challenges and potential solutions for building a proactive omnichannel strategy, something that both utilities are working towards with success. The group will include utility professionals with significant call reduction goals, and solution providers deeply committed to helping them achieve these goals. Experts from Avertra, Oracle Utilities, and Questline are intensely committed to this effort.

Scheduled on June 30th from 2:00-4:00 p.m. EST, “If Amazon Was a Utility – How It Would Transform its CX?” will be chaired by Sean Vanslyke, CEO of SEMO Electric Cooperative, and co-chaired by Theresa Burch, Manager of Customer Solutions, Billing & Payment for Puget Sound Energy (PSE). The group will be keenly focused on creating experiences similar to companies leading CX, the likes of Amazon, Uber, and Netflix. Building a CX journey model that can be adapted for different types of utilities will be one of the deliverables.

“Listening & Learning – How To Build An Effective Voice of the Customer Program” will start on July 15th, and “Doing the Basics – Ensuring Reliability in the New Energy Age” will kick off on July 22nd. More about these groups, including the names of chairs and co-chairs from Algonquin Power & Utilities, Southwest Gas Corporation, SMUD, and Liberty Utilities, can be found by clicking on focus groups here:  Sessions – UTILITY 2030. Solution providers supporting this focus group include Red Clay Consulting and Ibex.

Focus Group Methodology

Beth Karlin, CEO of See Change Institute, will provide focus group structure, oversight, and recommended rules-of-engagement to facilitate the best possible collaboration and development of valuable resources. She combines a custom mix of best practices from the Delphi Methodology and Disney Method, to meet the unique needs of the Collaborative.  This includes guiding six months of activities through three phases, each with a single decision mode. They include:

1)       Phase 1: Generative & Creative

2)       Phase 2: Analytical & Critical

3)       Phase 3: Planning & Creation

Focus Group Participation

Utility company professionals are invited to participate in as many as all four focus groups at no charge and can sign up by visiting Sessions – UTILITY 2030, and clicking on individual abstracts. Solution providers have the opportunity to join through a Platinum, Gold, or Silver membership, and should email info@utility2030.org to request a prospectus.

About the Utility 2030 Collaborative

The Utility 2030 Collaborative is the first community of utility professionals leveraging a modern and compelling hybrid of co-creation and crowdsourcing models, to develop an online blueprint for the customer-centric utility of the future. The blueprint is being built to include four resource-rich playbooks–CX, Products & Services, Workforce Development, and Infrastructure Modernization—as they relate to customer-centricity. All collaborative strategies and deliverables are led by a utility executive board of directors and mixed utility/vendor advisory committee.