hi we're here with the connection to say afternoon and we're at the new service center it is not a new location but it has a new facelift so that is very cool and they've koster is here with us as the director of the having taken the time to come in and talk to me today it's great to be here with you you know great to share a little bit about the upgraded facility you know this service center was built back in one thousand nine hundred eighty and so you know already kind of past twenty five years old it served our community very well in continues to do that but it needed kind of freshening up in there also was some things that were kind of the key drivers were all about the customer experience you know  looking outside you can see right outside of our boardroom today we're watching customers come and go we get some some days or we have a couple hundred customers will actually come in and they they like to come in and pay their bill they like to come in when they have a service question or they're arranging for a new service or they have an issue they want to talk to us about and we get a lot of customers come in and so we wanted to improve that whole customer experience and so a lot of the renovation work that we did and what i think will walk around take a look it a little bit is focused on trying to make that customer experiences as as good as possible and we also want to improve this room the room that we're in is our board room it's where a public meetings are held it's where our decisions by our border made and we want to give the public easier access to it but also improve the technology of the room a lot of things that we did in here trying to provide information to the customers more real time such as our cameras will so we can do a live broadcast of our board meetings and they see the board meetings as things are happening and if they don't want to have to read about it afterward in the paper they don't want to come down and actually be here they can actually see that on community t v as things are happening but it also is important you know some  technology see around the room is because not only is it used for a board room but it's used for you know major meetings that we have in the unfortunate situation where maybe there's a large a murdered sea event let's just say you know utilities play a big part in emergency operations and the room can also be used to help coordinate and respond to those activities by having technology at our fingertips here and providing a lot of different views of things we can manage  needs to manage kind of the the specific operational tasks associate with restoring power or dealing with the water or waste water issue they can do that from this facility it gives ability to kind coordinate you know do the planning do the operational response you know right here out of this room so there's a lot of different things that this room and the technology provides here and then you know we talked about you know the freshening up isn't just about providing a fresh look but it's also about kind of promoting what we're trying to talk to our customers about and that's energy efficiency as well and we've done a lot of things through this renovation that demonstrate energy efficiency we have a lot of natural lighting coming into the to the facility to help reduce the amount of actual lighting a natural i guess is the wrong word but you manufactured lighting or for well yeah and actually in the other thing we did is we took a lot of out a lot of those old fluorescent fixtures and we put in dimmable l e d technology so it's kind of the state of the art technology we are and the other thing about it is there's there's places within the service center where we have sensors that really do a neat thing to automatically adjust some of that lighting so we're trying to put this new technology and demonstrate it but also like you said live it you know as we're trying to promote it to our big improvement that we made when customers came in before things were a little confusing when you first came in you weren't sure you saw maybe a counter or a window over here and that was just a reception window and there was just one  otherwise it was pretty much the solid wall that you looked at wasn't very inviting and then if you wanted to pay a bill well that's way over on the left over here and it was just one cash counter that we were able to take payment and now  so what would happen is because you just one counter would also result in some very long lines on days where we had a payment due you know maybe it was a typical day we're customers might come in like on a friday or something you see a lot of usually a lot of activity on friday afternoon sometimes it would line up and so that's not a real pleasant experience as well when you're coming in and now the feel is much different you walk in it's a nice open area lot of natural lighting coming in there's information on the walls you know about things that the b p w s doing and then also the customer service area is you know it's just a line up of customer service representatives they're there to be able to deal with any service issues but also that any one of them can take a payment at any window and so it's all virtually eliminated the lines and it's provided an opportunity really where that customer service can be either interacting with the customer on the phone or direct face to face from any one of those stations which is really kind of improve the the versatility in the functionality of those customer service reps and so that's just a much different feel when the customers come in today i mean the whole world of utilities that used to be we're just about providing power right we just put up one window and pay there and that's all there is to it and that now we're communicating with our customers in many different ways you know we talk about the energy efficiency you know we have a lot of programs that are available to customers on things like energy efficiency rebates and you know so we want to be an informational resource to our customers not just hey we're providing the service to you and if you have a question about your bill come on in or whatever but more we want to be there is somebody who can help them understand the services they're getting help them use it as efficiently as possible in that if they have questions about the service level or the billing or anything like that also answer those questions really walking with our customers in being a partner with  them you know on this journey is there as they're getting services from many things have changed so fast and you know you go to the website which is great and everything is done very well there but you know a lot of times you have your own little questions about your own little house and any time you go to like a hardware store or one of those big back stores there's just kind of lost people walking to life obscenely desolate and they're reading all this thing and they're wondering you know what kind is what in the how can i use it and and the whole world of smart metering you know that you guys have done is something and that's fresh and new for paypal and that's really helpful the information an informational resource to them to help them when they're confused about some of those things and what does that mean to them we think that's very important that we're providing that we've been added in the past couple of years actually we added a staff person here to help with our residential energy optimization or energy efficiency programs just to help you know because we know that we're going to walk with customers a lot more closely to achieve continued results year after year of energy reduction some of the low hanging fruit so to speak on these energy change energy efficiency improvements have been exhausted and so we want to be there to help explain what is the next thing they can do that maybe customers aren't aware of those things so the net result of that the efficiency measures that they put in help lower their usage and when it lowers their usage it lowers their bill and so you know the good news about that is you know we're out there trying to help customers be as effective as possible using our utility services that we're providing to them but you're exactly right i mean being that informational source is one of our key our key mission yeah so how is this new layout kind of helping your employees well again when we went through this we had a couple of things a couple of options we looked at first of all you know we  considered first of all we want to look at what is the the main objective in actually improving the customer experience being secure as well as also there's some there's curity element to do that we used to have to bring customers back into the we have you know been able to improve some of those things as well but when we kind of set about doing this renovation work we looked at do we actually build a new building for customer service you know actually do something extra out of this do we expand the footprint of the facility and we so we looked at a number of different options and actually the one that we came down to fortunately were able to do this renovation work improve the spaces and not add any additional square footage to the facility and so we've been able to achieve all of that you know really through this this renovation so when we looked at that and we said what about the employees houses can affect the employees it gave us a chance to kind of take a fresh look at workspace design  and also the layout in terms of where the different groups are within the facility so that when we're talking about how they interact and how they move throughout the facility you know we want to improve that dynamic as well just outside of this room for example centrally located within the service center as a break area kind of a common area were employees can take a moment and you know go have a snack or take their lunch or whatever they might want to do or have a conversation you know with other employees in kind of a common area we did reduce some of the work spaces of the work stations a little bit in terms of their size but that was in an attempt to promote a couple of things one from a sustainability standpoint again we're trying to reduce paper in go more electronic with some of our filing but to we are also trying to promote more collaboration in designated areas for collaboration rather than working at the workspace together and because it's an open concept  here when when people are working together at a workspace it's great for those individuals there but the people around have to hear that conversation and so we've created some spaces within within the service center that are collaborative areas for people to go to they have maybe a weapon are there or they're watching they can go and do that in the space if they've got a project they're working on with another employee they can go work on that in one of those spaces and so we improved a lot of those things through that through that process we also another important thing we did when we were looking at the workstation design we actually went with the hayworth workstation and it's herman miller chairs so you know kind of a love story body it is but that's how the bids actually came into so the good news is we're able to do that and still are both companies that are not area which is great but we love a lot you know and but hayworth was a case of the along with those workstations brought in somebody to help us with change management because any time you say this is your workstation today but tomorrow it's going to be different a workstation is a very personal thing and so you know till out each group to sort of have a say in this is how mine is going to be designed you know i know i have this much kind of footprint available but i'm going to set it up this way i need to talk to this individual and need a higher wall maybe because i've got a marine corps eery here you know and so there were some specifics that were that were generated through this through this change management process which i think is help tha employees feel like they have ownership you know and actually give them ownership in that design so that it helps the transition to you know to where we're at today yeah so even though we're building a new power plant this is still going to be a service center and this is where people would come to pay their bills exactly yeah we'll still be here on hastings sixty five hastings again we've been here for a number of years it's amazing to me frankly that you know with this day and age of technology an automated bill pay and everything like that we do encourage people to try to use that beloved come into and have a conversation with their customer service reps you know coming in and paying their bill and that's great i mean we love that local feel we want them to know that they have a voice in their utility and whether it's through our board or directly with members of council to have that conversely ation and i think that's an expression of that too when they want to come down in pay their bill and have a conversation and know that you know you know the people that they're dealing with right here in their community with them day in and day out it's something that they value obviously because the numbers are still very high of people that like to come in in interact with us that way and so we want to be you know we want to build a service cent that embraces that in recognizes that you know we're different than maybe some other providers you know buy it by you know allowing people to to have that kind of interface and you're open door policy for all board meetings oh certainly me that's right and that's the other improvement is there was a little bit difficult to understand how to get into the border moves more centrally located in the facility yet we had to actually shut off different doors in one direction versus another for the board meeting was kind of confusing and now what you do is you come right into the main entrance in right off that main entrance way is the doors the big doors that go right into the boardroom and so you come right in and it's very easy to access from the outside yeah well besides having more economical power and more reliable power we're still really working there that people have a voice exact they can be included in they can listen to decision process and you know and working with customer service you are helping people give you less business by saving money on their power right i like to say what we're doing is we're helping people be as effective as possible using you know we're trying to be great stewards of the resources that are entrusted to us whether it's financial resources or you know natural resources and for our customers it's sort of encouraging them to understand you know when they you know use power unnecessarily not only is that a dollar impact to them you know but there are other and impacts that come from that as well you know in so if it were want to be that educational resource we know that customers don't want to pay any more than what they otherwise would have to for their power we also know that they have certain conveniences and things that they like in would want to have that help improve their quality of life their living and electricity and other utility services will play a big role in that you know our role is to try to help them understand you can do that and still be effective at how you do that through these sort of energy efficiency measures and really to be a resource to them yeah and it is amazing the changes for our community energy policy throughout the city and and the area and it's exciting to see those changes and how quickly the b p w has retool than redirected and how quickly that how the citizenry has responded as well an expression especially on electricity we've sort of looked at conservation or efficiency is you know the third leg of a three legged stool where you have you know the efficient clean burning resources like we're investing in in the new power plant ok new combined cycle natural gas plants it's very efficient very clean we have renewable resources you know words effective to do that through some of the wind contracts that we've put in place recently that's kind of a second leg and then this energy efficiency in this three legged stool is really you know having a balance among those is really the solution you know for the future that's going to provide an effective you know power supply for our community right so yes and being a good steward saves us vigils and as a community and it also saves how much power we have to produce exactly how much we can sell other places well that's another aspect to it is that you know if we do things well here and we do things efficiently for us and then customers actually end up using less of that long term you know some of those resources that we're doing very well are also gave you competitive with resources that are being deployed elsewhere and to the extent that we can help serve another community in neighboring community or other municipal communities within the state of michigan you know there's a win win there we get some economy of scale that we build a little bit bigger and we do it more cost effectively that way we also than in you know provide some of that resource to other other in first this is our new customer service area in the lobby and so it's in a fairly large area nice open area and so again when you come in it's pretty obvious this is the customer service group that's right here yeah and so wonder they're all standing by ready to you know receive a phone call or you know take a payment or deal with a customer issue you know right here from time to time will have particular stations set up whether it's to demonstrate l people like greenway on their project clarity we had a station set up to kind of you know promote and identify you know what that project was all about we do have a case that's right there along the wall that will be able to show a customer some of the you know there are some things that we've been able to achieve as far as some awards that association levels and so we want to be able to you know let customers know what you know how we're doing on some of those things in l a d technology throughout there's particular messaging that we want to get to customers at a particular time you know that can be displayed through that as well so yeah you see the customers crash and new and i love that guy yeah this is one example think we have several light tubes throughout the facility where this is one example of trying to get some that natural light and again right off this yeah exactly and right off that area coming right in the entrance way now you're coming into the board room and so again very easy access for our customers they can come in and it's not confusing to them in terms of where the board meeting is very easy to get to and again it's an enlarged room fifty percent bigger than what you know we had before or we've had a technology in here that is called a while vision  it's well you know it's you know so what happens is you can actually bring in a laptop ok or bring in i pad or something like that you have a dog there's an app that's there and if you download the app for the while vision and of course if you have questions about it come in see i want to figure out how to do that so our technology staff at a board meeting you know would help you kind of get set up for that but you can then hit with that app you can go in and you can request to share or be should have them share with you what's going on the board and so you know everything that you have that's going on up here you can look right your i pad and it might be easier to see it where than have to look across the room yeah but we do have site lines set up so we have various monitors that are available to customers or people that are watching the board meeting so they're able to see that we can also do some really neat things in here with you know web meetings you know sold instead of having people drive long distance and other sustainable factor you know we do have various  presentations that people come in whether i have a message for employees or maybe the center for good health is doing a wellness program you know we can because the cameras we can videotape that or we can do a live transmission of that meeting to our other facilities in the board y where we have kind of a break area and customer our employees can meet and kind of collaborate and it's right outside the main intersection exactly perfect so we kind of walk around to the left yeah if you walk around the left here again on this wall is another monitor this is you know perfect set up we can change the programming on this you know as different things come up employees are spending time here on break and so they can you know watch what's up on the monitor find out here we're talking conservation sponsor this you know that's kind of i don't want you know and so and then other conservation tips and things and so sometimes we do this programming for employees and sometimes that information is also useful to customers yeah and so will display that out in that front area that we talk about this is the break area get a nice clean fresh look you know we have some appliances here that'll you know for a small launchers knackered coffee sure the pods for the current you know now keep their lunch here it's really nice you know a little small small area but it's centrally located right you know the goal clear across the building to get to it it's pretty easy access you know we have these individual tables here which allow people if you want to have a little conversation maybe they're just going to bring a little book for break time or something like that have a snack just a just a chance to go different it's interesting if you look down this hallway we're going to going to look at some of the other ones but i know if you can to see how bright that is on th wall down there that's actually light tube that's actually that's the outside light coming down one of those white tubes so you'll see just how bright you know that is in some of the earth to a point where it's actually back down the aisle the lighting almost to nothing in some areas yeah so time given how bright it is today it's back these down automatically to to nothing wound so and we have plenty of light in here right now the way the way it is so it's working no great and we have the same thing over around the corner i can show you some of the other  the general areas a couple things there's been a preference in this area the employees like that kind of collaboration with the i was the dark star the light well you know it has backed down all the figures even in this area and the orientation of some of these common areas to you know they're all looking out we can take a little walk over this way in a minute you'll see that you know there's again a large window wall here and so all the orientation of even some of the offices are looking all towards th station in more of a central area and if we take a little walk around this way into the the engineering work area this is our have most of our utility services moved i love these tear gas so we've got this base right here again you want to take a you have a break or something like that or you just want to your laptop here got a little white board portable whiteboard so people can sort of talk about a project or something that they're working on again right in front of a nice yeah window right i'll give people the chance to do that again the bases we talked about when we sat down talked about how everybody had a chance to design where the lay out in you know what was sort of unique and different about their particular workspace set up here one of the things that we're doing and a couple of the people demonstrating that katie and ashley from our utility services area katie is in charge of our residential energy optimization program helps out in our all very energy optimization area actually designing something i like to have it this way and then if i'm pulling us something from line or a word document it works a little bit better that way so you get this flexible work space you know kind of you know been able to you know fit fit what your needs sunlight and just kind of a second a refreshing your idea and then some of the other things that we've done there are a number of additional conference rooms in here in addition to the board room when we need to have some meeting space again trying to move out of the cubicles you know if we have collaboration that we need to do so they come into a space it's set up for that whether it's a small room or larger conference room we've wired in all the monitors so that if we need to share again a video image or some sort of from an area that we have we can we can move that to any monitor throughout the facility we have plug in points a very nicely concealed you know things that keep it clean yeah and you know we can plug in either the computer that's down underneath here or if you have a laptop you can plug it in to share what you have a up on the monitor it really is just you know brought us like you said brought us into the next century and it's prepared us for you know the next technology and so  we're very happy to be able to you know have it set up this way i think it's better for the work processes better for the customers you know overall it's been a real successful product for us and it for our customers to be able to see certainly this area but know that behind it you know this is our employees work this is what they're doing you know they're out there trying to you know provide as you know high level of services they can to improve the quality of the utilities or customer c and so it's be able to get nice to be able to give people kind of an inside look to the right simple and clean and fish and well nancy that's a little bit of a tour of the facility kind of it was great to be able to have you in this afternoon show you some of the upgrades we've made and why we've done that and how our customers i think are going to benefit from that