CRM - April 2008 - (Page C12)

12 April 2008 Sponsored Content overview reports provide a configurable snapshot of consolidated account activities like budget summary, billing summary trend, total spend by account, and highest spender report. And specific transaction details are just one click away. Businesses and consumers can now easily organize their statements and perform in-depth billing data analysis according to the way that makes the most sense for them. With end user defined budgets and hierarchies that match organization structures, businesses can run reports in real-time to analyze usage patterns, exceptions or misuse, and conduct budget analysis. ORACLE’S E-BILLING CUSTOMERS REAP THE REWARDS OF GOING GREEN proven scalability, and the lowest cost of ownership. Since our implementation, we have experienced an 85% reduction in customer support requirements via email as well as tremendous favorable response and acceptance. We have also dramatically reduced transaction and IT support costs.” Progress Energy is a great example of a company going green to reduce their carbon footprint while serving up customer self-service the right way. A Fortune 250 vertically integrated electric utility company, Progress Energy, has more than 22,000 megawatts of generation capacity. The company’s holdings include two electric utilities serving approximately 3 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. In late 2007, Progress Energy was awarded the prestigious UPN’s Utility Award for CIS/CRM Excellence Program for Best Product/Service Launch by a utility for their Customer Self-Service and E-Billing solution. They are also the 2006 recipient of the Edison Electric Institute’s Edison Award, the industry’s highest honor in recognition of its operational excellence. In 2005, Progress Energy also received the prominent J.D. Power and Associates Founder’s Award for dedication, commitment, and sustained improvement in customer service. Progress Energy was looking to create a single, enterprise-wide and integrated customer experience across all self-service and payment channels. They had an in-house system in development to replace their existing three electronic bill payment and presentment (EBPP) vendors when Oracle proposed a ‘one-stop’ solution. If they integrated EBPP into one internally hosted system while implementing Oracle EasyPay for credit card and ACH convenience payments, they would avoid exorbitant internal development expenses; provide ‘off-the-shelf ’ functionality; reduce support costs; and increase features and options for their customers to hopefully improve loyalty levels. Over 90% of Progress Energy’s electronic bill payment and presentment (EBPP) customers have decided to shut off their paper bill option and do their part to save the environment by going paperless. Their customer enrollment in the application increased by 66% increase only 18 months after deployment. There was an 85% reduction in customer support requirements via an e-mail channel and Progress Energy achieved a tangible return-on-investment (ROI) within one year of deployment. The utility saved over $520,000 annually in payment processing costs and over $720,000 annually in paper and printing costs. If we measure Progress Energy’s eco-friendly results of these highly adopted applications, the results are staggering. On an annualized basis, Progress Energy is saving 365 tons of paper; 730 tons of trees; 6 million gallons of water; preventing 1.85 million pounds of greenhouse gases from being generated; and preventing 354 tons of solid waste. (Based on research conducted by Next Generation Power and Energy). One of Oracle’s customers implemented Oracle’ Self-Service E-Billing products to empower business and consumer customers to manage their billing and account-related activity online. Not only did they achieve a 300% increase in customer adoption of E-Billing in one year, they reduced their costs by $40 million annually, saved $7.00 for every contact center call diverted to the self-service option on the website and eliminated the need for two new call centers. In addition to enhancing customer care, which resulted in improved satisfaction and loyalty, they also dramatically reduced their carbon footprint. By eliminating real estate, headcount and resource requirements for two new brick and mortar call centers, this company also eliminated energy, water, emissions, waste and land consumption requirements. It is estimated that the average employee uses over 450 gallons of gas by commuting to and from the office each year. Experts estimate that by eliminating the need for these agents to commute to a centralized contact center, carbon emissions are reduced by as much as 3 million tons per year. SERVING UP E-BILLING RIGHT AT PROGRESS ENERGY THE ORACLE SOLUTION While producing significant benefits to our air, water and land, Oracle’s eco-friendly Customer Self-Service and E-Billing solutions increase profitability, improve customer loyalty and transform billings from mere transactions to meaningful relationships. Armed with the knowledge that usability tied to meaningful functionality was the key to driving adoption, we architected the offerings with the end user in mind. With over 125 million cross industry users, and delivering best-of-breed functionality to our customer’s customers, the Oracle offerings are by far the leader in Customer Self-Service and E-Billing. To learn more about how your company can become more energy-efficient; transform your customer contacts; and increase adoption, visit our website at: www.oracle.com/goto/self-service/index.html and tune into our Green, B2B and B2C Self-Service and E-Billing videos. Mike Ligett, Director of Market and Energy Services for Progress Energy, ‘selected the Oracle Self-Service platform because it provides an out-of-the-box solution with state-of-the-art functionality, http://www.oracle.com http://www.oracle.com/goto/self-service/index.html

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - April 2008

CRM - April 2008 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point A Tenancy of One’s Own The Rebirth of Taxes destinationCRM Dashboard Labor Disputes Reach The Contract Center The Plight of the Wirelines Required Reading The 2008 Service Awards The 2008 Service Leader Awards Customer Self-Service Microsoft Genesys Oracle eGain Astute Solutions The 2008 Rising Stars The 2008 Service Elite Awar Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - April 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.