Each October, we celebrate Customer Service Week as a way to recognize our employees’ dedication to supporting our customers. To highlight the important work these employees do each day, our department spotlight this month is Billing and Customer Service. Under the leadership of Curtis Popp, Vice President of Customer Operations, and Director Jeff Ford, Customer and Billing Services includes the Contact Center, Billing and Receivables Management, Performance Assurance, and User Experience.
“The commitment of our Billing and Customer Service employees has shined especially bright over the past year and a half,” said Popp. “These individuals have overcome many challenges presented by the pandemic and have remained dedicated to the highest level of customer service as they’ve assisted customers with payment arrangements, successfully launched the new Customer Information System, and much more.”
Learn more about the responsibilities of these vital personnel and a few fun facts about the work they do.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Contact Center includes nearly 120 customer support representatives and case managers, along with six supervisors, who are all led by Manager Randy Rollins.
Billing and Receivables Management administers Citizens’ credit policy and financial assistance and oversees billing quality assurance. Manager Penny Helton leads 20 associates, a team lead, and two supervisors.
Performance Assurance, led by Manager Toni Wilkins, is composed of a training supervisor, three analysts, and six associates, who are responsible for all activities related to training, forecasting, analytics, performance monitoring, quality assurance, and end-user project management within the department.
User Experience (UX) is responsible for implementation and continuous improvement of digital self-service applications customers use to manage accounts and interact with Citizens via their preferred channels. Manager John Meehan leads the UX designer, UX administrator, and five Digital Contact Center agents.
RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
On July 27, 2020, the new Customer Information System (C2M) was launched. Despite development and implementation work being done during the pandemic, our C2M project was completed on-time and under budget. The upgrade enables additional billing and payment options, enhanced reporting and data analysis, the ability to manage complex rates and regulatory requirements, and automation of processes that were previously done manually.
In March of this year, Customer Billing Services and Revenue Assurance were combined into one area, Billing and Receivables Management.
New customers now can complete online service orders with automated ID verification, credit check, and deposit decisioning integrated within the user interface. This strategic initiative launched at the end of July 2021 and has improved the customer experience. The number of online orders has increased significantly, reducing manual effort.
UPCOMING PROJECTS
Each area within Billing and Customer Service is going through a business process review during which current-state processes have been mapped and strategic KPIs documented. Opportunities for improvement are currently being identified and future-state process maps created.
Billing and Receivables Management is collaborating with the IT Data Services team to build a bad debt reserve model leveraging predictive analytics. This model will enable us to effectively forecast monthly allowance for uncollectible debt.
Our automated alerts and notifications (e.g., eBill statements, payment reminders, outages, high consumption) solution is being replaced by an internally developed system. The replacement solution will generate annual cost savings in excess of $200,000.
Strategic Initiative 61 will improve our outage map and include an online form for self-reporting. Shaded perimeters around known outage locations will reduce duplicate calls into the Contact Center. User-generated leaks and outages will enable faster response to exact location/area.
Infographic: Average monthly statistics from calendar year 2020