10 minute read
Renewed By Our Purpose and Values
- By Karen M. McCarthy -
Vice President, Communications and Corporate Affairs, Fortis Inc.
The COVID-19 public health pandemic has brought challenges and opportunities in all walks of life, including the utility sector. Fortis companies were quick to assess the everchanging situation and adapt our operations to continue delivering essential services to our customers. There has arguably never been a more important time than the present to ensure safe and reliable delivery of electricity. Our health care system and other frontline emergency services are relying on us.
With the vast amount of change that has confronted society over the past year, many organizations, including those in our sector, are reflecting on the future. Although we are still dealing with the effects of the pandemic, we are thinking about long term energy needs and the expectations of our customers, employees, and stakeholders.
A time of reflection
Throughout history, there have been examples of events which have caused us all to pause and contemplate ‘Where to next?’. In the past two decades, we dealt with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; the financial crisis of 2008-2009; the #MeToo movement of 2017; the global anti-racism protests of 2020; and the COVID-19 pandemic of which we are still in the midst, to name a few.
“One thing is certain - events of this nature have the power to cause all of us to focus on what matters most,” said Nora Duke, Executive Vice President, Sustainability, and Chief Human Resource Officer, Fortis Inc.
Duke has hit on an important point. In the utility sector, we have respect for our customers and are committed to ensuring that we are there for them, no matter what. Operational excellence is what our employees strive for, and we make safety and reliability our top priorities. We are now collectively turning to a greener future, and we are focused on ensuring our businesses are sustainable for the next 100 years and beyond.
“We have been given a great responsibility to deliver essential energy to our customers far and wide,” said Roger Dall’Antonia, President and CEO, FortisBC. “It’s not something to be taken lightly as people rely on us to keep the energy flowing to their homes as well as powering our nation’s businesses.”
In Canada, the electricity sector employs over 95,000 people and contributes over $34 billion to Canada’s Gross Domestic Product. Though Fortis is primarily a distributor of energy in Canada, our sector generates some 640 TWh hours of energy, over 80% of which is free of greenhouse gas. (Canadian Electricity Association, State of the Canadian Electricity Industry, 2020).
Dall’Antonia notes that as we contemplate the future, utilities are championing creative and innovative approaches and investments to support a lower carbon future. “We are motivated by the talent and expertise of our employees and their passion to create a cleaner energy future,” he said.
How do we collectively address these opportunities? What innovation is required? What skillsets? How will we enable cooperation nationally and cross-border with the U.S. in how we plan the energy grid? Are we living up to our inclusion, equity and diversity commitments? Is our technology strategy robust enough? Are we really listening to our stakeholders?
“Time and time again, we reflect on our company’s history where we find inspiration from the visionary leaders that came before us,” said Duke. “Strength of management, of commitment, of service and of achievement is what we vowed from the beginning.”
Duke explained that the foundational values that guided Fortis from the beginning are upheld in our purpose and values today. These include never compromising on safety, valuing our people, keeping decision-making local, acting with courage and integrity, being community champions and aiming for excellence every day. This is true at Fortis utilities, including Newfoundland Power, Maritime Electric, FortisOntario, FortisAlberta, FortisBC and our utilities in the U.S. and Caribbean.
Holding ourselves to the highest standards
As society evolves, we are all faced with strategic decisions about how best to operate our utilities. We balance important financial and capital investment considerations with the complexities of human resourcing needs and changes in technology while integrating environmental, social and governance expectations. “The anchor to making these decisions should always rest in our values,” said Dall’Antonia. “We will not fail if we continue to hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards and do what’s right.” “Renewal in the utility sector is key,” said Jason Roberts, President and CEO, Maritime Electric. “We now have an opportunity to strengthen connections with our customers while at the same time playing an even more critical role in developing our communities and addressing climate change issues.”
Maritime Electric takes great pride in planning for the future. Roberts declared that as they adapt to a new era of expectations, they find answers and direction in what has made them a successful utility throughout their history. “No matter how we evolve, everything comes back to our customers. We will embrace a cleaner energy future, but we will do so in a responsible manner to meet our customers’ expectations,” he said.
Janine Sullivan is the newly appointed President and CEO of FortisAlberta. The utility is highly regarded for its focus on safety, optimal operations and engagement with the 240 communities they serve. “We touch the lives of many people as a neighbour and a business partner,” said Sullivan. “We don’t only power our communities, we empower them.”
Sullivan said the utility is also cognizant of the importance of inclusion, equity and diversity in the workplace. “We embrace diverse perspectives, ideas and identities,” she said.
Strength in leadership
Renewal takes many forms. At Fortis, setting a greenhouse gas emissions reductions target was an important commitment this past year. Further, projects like Wataynikaneyap Power in Ontario’s North which will result in 17 First Nations communities coming off diesel generators and being connected to the power grid for the first time, will continue to guide our efforts to improve our country’s social and economic fabric.
“As we continue to move through the COVID-19 pandemic, let health and safety be our beacon,” said Duke. “There’s nothing more important at this time.”
Fortis conveys a message similar to that of all utilities in Canada. The Canadian electricity sector remains strong. Our future is defined by our collective desire to make things better. We will lead with purpose and we will leave no stone unturned in defining the path forward, grounded by our industry’s core values.
Photography courtesy of Fortis.
Fortis Inc. is a St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador-based international diversified electric utility holding company. It operates in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.
How to Provide a Great Customer Experience in 2021 and Beyond
We’ve all spent the last 12-months meeting multiple challenges related to the COVID 19 pandemic. For the intrepid among us, adversity often drives innovation, new perspectives, and advanced technologies. Let’s take a look at some new approaches and lessons learned along with time-tested best practices that together, will enhance the customer experience in 2021 and beyond. Any effort to evolve CX for the new normal must originate at the leadership level and trickle down all the way to front line managers and CX associates. One of the key factors driving optimal CX is an investment in creating a strong technology stack.
“The technology that businesses used when I first dipped my toe into the field (customer relations) in the mid ’80s has exponentially leapfrogged. Customer service as an industry has matured to become a non-negotiable part of business growth. The mindset around customer experience has changed dramatically.”
Elizabeth Sedlacek, VP Client Relations & Partnerships
Tune in to hear Elizabeth talk about the past, present and near future of the customer experience and the top global trends to follow in rebranding your CX playbook!
For more information contact: elizabeth.sedlacek@contactpoint360.com
Know your customers
A recent report by PwC states 73% people consider customer experience to be an important factor in purchase decisions. To provide this, companies need an in-depth understanding of their customer, from interactions across different channels. The right tech stack is essential to aggregate data from voice, email, chat, social-media, and in-person interactions. The ability to then analyze and interpret this data can allow companies to know their customer at a granular level, to create highly personalized experiences.
Orchestrate Customer Journeys
A combination of brand goals and a basic understanding of consumer behavior is used to identify key touchpoints on a customer journey map. Companies prepare to deliver the right experience at these touchpoints along the journey. While this is critical, it is equally important to influence the journey between these touchpoints on the map. To succeed at influencing a customer’s journey, companies must focus on customers’ goals and assist in achieving those, instead of focusing only on brand’s goals. Since purchase paths are different for every customer, it’s important to segment customers to better understand their
And
challenges, preferences, and context. This information is useful to provide an experience that meets their needs. To orchestrate customer journeys, organizations have to breakdown departmental silos, identify & fill gaps in data, validate CX strategies with real customer journeys, and periodically update them to stay relevant.
Train & empower frontline employees with data
Personalized customer service became one of the most essential attributes of a successful CX strategy during this pandemic. When executed well, customer-facing associates had the proper training and relevant information about the customer, which empowered them to provide a great experience. AI and speech analytics technologies enable companies to analyze up to 100% of customer interactions, to identify areas of improvement and enrich CX training. In this way, companies can share timely and contextual data about customers with their CX associates to enable more personalized experiences.
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Improving Customer Experience Post-pandemic
Rapid and flexible scaling of customer care professionals
Effective training and knowledge transfer for customer care professionals
Automation to complement human efforts & prodive self-serve options for customers
Utilizing AI, data and analytics to understand and re-imagine purchase journeys
Digitize purchase journeys, reduce or eliminate paperwork to increase convenience and compliance
Implement empathetic collections with care for past dues
Humans need a humane approach
While brands like Zappos have it in their DNA, for a large majority of companies, it took a pandemic to infuse ‘empathy’ into all aspects of customer service. Anxious and isolated customers turned to customer support representatives to talk about matters affecting their hearts. Brands that encouraged their CX associates to engage with customers beyond delivering basic services or minimalistic answers predicated on transactional benchmarks earned a great deal of credibility and brand loyalty. At ContactPoint 360 our CX brand ambassadors build customer loyalty with genuine empathy, deep product knowledge, impeccable communication skills, and advanced technology.
Every day we unite people across the world through our omnichannel communications systems and bespoke approach. We believe that delivering constant customer experience excellence requires unceasing innovation and a steadfast commitment to being the best.
Whether it’s your home, our home, or their home, we put people first. We strive to hire and retain the best CX ambassadors and match them with the best possible technology.
We are strong proponents of data analytics and we love to provide our clients with insights and analysis designed to drive efficiencies and to perfect the customer journey.
12+ YEARS OF SERVICING ENERGY & UTILITY COMPANIES
Our journey into the contact center industry began with a utility client. While we have expanded to service new industries, energy & utility sector remains our area of expertise. Our propriety ‘Collections
with Care’ program which maximizes your past due recoveries, ensures brand safety, and maintains long-term relationships.
SALES | ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES | BACKOFFICE SUPPORT | CUSTOMER CARE | REMOTE WORKFORCE
Overview By the Numbers
• 8 CX centers across Canada, North America,
Latin America, Asia & Europe. • 40 years of combined fortune 500 experience. • 80+ years of combined Sr. BPM and CX Management experience. • 1200+ associates and flexible remote workforce solutions. • 25 in-house software developers.
