Utility Week Customer Summit Round-up

Building trust by simplifying digital experiences for everyone

The Utility Week Customer Summit, held on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of January was a fascinating insight in to how both the energy and water markets are changing, how tech and innovation can be used to increase customer engagement and how both sectors are creating new customer experiences to better serve customers in vulnerable circumstances.

Mando sponsored the 3-day-event and hosted the pre-event Consumer Vulnerability Workshop on the 21st of January. We were joined by Robin Hood Energy’s Head of Vulnerability, Jade Kirk and Citizens Advice’s Principal Policy Manager, Elizabeth Errington who kindly joined us in facilitating the afternoon’s discussion, sharing fantastic insights in to how they’re approaching customer vulnerability.

The workshop was a fantastic opportunity to discuss the challenge of growing customer vulnerability, how we can identify customers in vulnerable circumstances earlier, what the next steps are in tackling the growing challenge of vulnerability in the UK, and where the role of the retailer starts and ends.

One of the key take-aways from the event was the importance of building trust with customers in vulnerable circumstances. From our research with multiple leaders in this space, we believe consumers in vulnerable circumstances need to be able trust that they will experience a variety of outcomes when they interact with suppliers and providers. These experiences include a choice in how they communicate with their supplier, that are accessible and designed in an inclusive way, and knowing that they will be offered flexible and tailored responses to their issues.

The workshop was also a fantastic platform to further discuss the shared aims of various cross-sector organisations, with both Energy and Water companies aiming to harness data and analytics to implement productive engagement plans with their customers, to create more personalised and bespoke customer experiences for customers in vulnerable circumstances, and to further promote their priority services registers.

Mando was also key sponsor of the Energy and Water Customer events and our Marketing Manager, Tracey Greer and Head of Front End, Andy Pimlett delivered a presentation on ‘Building trust by simplifying digital experiences for everyone’, unpacking practices and technologies that could simplify future customer experiences for customers in vulnerable circumstances, breaking down the benefits of integrating digital personalisation and voice devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home in to a priority services strategy. 

If you would like to understand more about the common challenges that prevent companies from delivering a positive experience – and how we might simplify them, download our latest white paper ‘Making Digital Simple For Everyone’ by clicking here.

If you would like to learn more about our Website Accessibility Audit please contact our Business Development Director, Andy Deakin.