Cognizant 20-20 Insights

Utilities Can Ramp Up CX With aCustomer Data Platform
A CDP will enhance the utility customer experience while eliminating the needto replace disparate legacy systems.

Executive Summary
After experiencing a century or so of stable and consistentbusiness conditions, the utility industry over the last 10years has faced unprecedented change — including
paradigm shifts that will revolutionize how utilities
do business. Chiefly, the advent of distributed energy
resources means the grid is no longer just a one-way
street to manage from generation, to transmission, andon to distribution to end users. Some consumers, bydeploying solar and wind generation, and using better
battery storage technology, have evolved into “prosumers.”
Also, the pressure for ”greening” the energy grid continues
to surge.

May 2021

All these shifts, in concert, have dramatically altered
how utility companies engage with their consumers
and elevated the demand to deliver world-class CX.
This means enabling energy end users to connect withthe utility at any time, and for any reason. It also entails
utilities going far beyond the facilitation of monthly
bills and payment methods, to omnichannel customer
service platforms, AI chatbots, hyperpersonalization, andother cutting-edge technologies and services. In short,customers have begun to demand the type of CX they
have grown accustomed to receiving from providers inother areas of their life, notably retail and finance.

Cognizant 20-20 Insights

While utilities’ push toward CX excellence has
been gradually happening, the global pandemic
along with the other disruptive shifts are making
investments in CX improvement urgently imperative.
This is evidenced in our joint research study with ESI
ThoughtLab, in which we interviewed senior leadersfrom hundreds of utilities to understand how theirpriorities have shifted due to COVID-19. Though CX
held the number two spot in both 2019 and 2020,
ranking only after cybersecurity, a substantiallygreater percentage of respondents in 2020 indicatedthat responding to shifts in customer expectations is
critically important (See Figure 1).

Executives’ views of priorities, pre-/post-pandemic
2019

2020

26%

49%

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity

26%

39%

Keeping up with digitizingcustomer experiences

Shifts in digital
customer expectations

17%
49%

Insufficient budget

Major cuts in budgets

Source: Cognizant and ESI ThoughtLabFigure 1

2 / Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform

Cognizant 20-20 Insights

When asked how the current landscape, including
the pandemic, has impacted their planned
investments over the next couple of years, 55% of
respondents indicated that the need for investment
in CX has increased and become a greater priority,
falling behind only grid modernization (see Figure 2).

In this white paper, we describe how utilities candeploy a CDP to unlock their legacy systems’potential and create the necessary toolsets to deliver
improved CX at speed and scale.

Utility executives’ investment plans for the next two years
Impact over next two years
Investment area

Increase

Decrease

No impact

Grid modernization

64%

11%

25%

Improvements in customer experience

55%

5%

39%

Digital transformation

54%

24%

22%

Renewable energy generation

48%

6%

46%

Nuclear power capabilities

39%

13%

48%

Call centers

38%

14%

48%

Business operations staff

37%

20%

43%

Consultants and IT service providers

36%

15%

47%

Business process outsourcing

36%15%

49%

Plant staff

17%

39%

44%

Source: Cognizant and ESI ThoughtLabFigure 23 / Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform

Cognizant 20-20 Insights

CX benefits of implementing CDP
CDP, with its sophisticated engagement layer, offers solutions for a host of business needs, most of which
directly impact CX. By helping utilities unlock value from their legacy CIS platforms, CDP facilitates state-ofthe-art contact center solutions.

Business imperative

Key CDP benefitsSimplified business process

Makes business processes simpler by introducing guided scripting, seeking lessinformation and simplifying navigation — all of which can help CSRs transact
better, faster and easier online.

Omnichannel interactions

Routes any incoming work item — including voice calls, email, SMS, webchats, etc. — to the most qualified available agents and establishes consistentinteraction across channels.

Unified agent experience

Empowers and enables agents by providing the right information on a single
platform and predicting the nature of the call and caller, which helps ensure
first-time resolution and shorter call durations.

Workflow automation

Configures workflows to support current and future business processes
within the CRM platform and creates workflow automation with call scripting
processes to streamline customer transactions.

Single view of customer

Integrates customer interactions from all channels and provides holistic
customer information to the CSR.

Figure 3

4 / Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform

Cognizant 20-20 Insights

Adding a CDP layer to increase agility
Recognizing that most utilities’ homegrown legacy
systems lack the agility and robustness required tokeep up the pace of innovation modern customers
demand, we have developed an approach of using a1
CDP to enable the rapid enhancement of the overall
CX while continuing to leverage legacy platform
infrastructure. By eliminating the need for expensive
legacy system replacements, the CDP layer allows
organizations to unlock the value of their existing
investments.

With the CDP, utilities can unlock the potential of
their “system of record” to enable a fast and scalable2“system of innovation” (see Figure 4). The CDP
enables innovation, significantly lowers risk andreduces the total cost of ownership. The system ofinnovation allows utilities to start with minimum
viable product (MVP) and then develop products on
the “fail faster and innovate faster” model.

A systemic framework supports systems of innovation

AI/MLCustomer 360

Chatbot

MobileSocial Media

Customer
Data Platform

System of Innovation

Analytics

Communication

Cloud adoption

System of Differentiation

System of Record

Figure 4CIS, Asset Management, GIS, SCADA

5 / Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform

Cognizant 20-20 Insights

The CDP gathers all utility customer data together tocreate a unified view of each end user. It is designed
to analyze this data from multiple sources andprovide insights, recommendations and a holistic
view of each customer — based on data from every
stage of their journey with the utility (see Figure 5).

For the CDP to derive a true 360-degree picture ofcustomer data, these are the critical challenges thatpractitioners face:❙ Experience gaps between corporate andat-home applications❙ No single view of the customer

Customer 360❙ Lack of integration due to disparate systems

While it’s a challenge to derive a consolidated view ofthe customer from disparate legacy systems, a CDP
can help utilities transform contact center operations
to create a true future-state Customer 360 platform.
So CDP enables Customer 360.

❙ Limited self-service capability❙ Poor knowledge management❙ Inconsistent experience for customers and agents

The CDP leverages legacy apps to enhance CX
Engagement Layer
Customer Data Platform
API Manager

Database

Transformation
Layer

Utility Legacy System (Oracle CC&B, Maximo, Outage Management)
Figure 5

By eliminating the need for expensive legacy system replacements,
the CDP layer allows organizations to unlock the value of their
existing investments.

6 / Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform

Cognizant 20-20 Insights

Quick TakeCDP Power: Solving a Wealth ofCX Issues for SW Utility
Shackled with multiple legacy systems, a US Southwest utility was unable to provide atargeted, personalized CX nor to tailor customer marketing campaigns.
We created an enterprise CDP and brought in omnichannel reporting to consolidate data
at different levels. This real-time, data-synchronized network gave the client a single view of
the customer and the ability to quickly and dynamically create new analytical models andpersonalized campaigns.
As a result of the CDP, these benefits were realized:❙ Created match rules for identity resolution to form single Customer 360 views of
1.2 M customers❙ Established relationships between entities (e.g., household) and linked customer
interactions and transactional data to build a unified Customer360 view
❙ Enriched customer profiles and grouped similar customers into segments fortargeted marketing❙ Stored campaign response data and customer survey data from the marketing platform
inside the customer data hub to improve analytics and future campaign effectiveness7 / Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform

Cognizant 20-20 Insights

The way forward
Most utilities have a wide variety of modern andlegacy systems that hold valuable data that is not yet
democratized and usable across the organization.
A CDP solution allows them to rapidly build newcapabilities, connecting distributed cloud services
and unlocking legacy systems. Not only will
deploying a CDP improve your CX by democratizing
your data and increasing your organization’sagility, but also, due to the cost-effective natureof the CDP approach vs. a costly legacy systemoverhaul, your utility will save money. These dollars
can be redeployed toward other cutting-edgeenhancements that will take you even further on thejourney to world-class CX.
In our experience, we find that implementing CDP
effectively and efficiently requires attention be paid
to the following four critical success factors:❙ Don’t confuse CDP for CRM or CIS. While CDPs
and customer relationship management (CRM)
solutions collect customer data, a CDP formulatesa unified customer profile compiled from multiple
online and offline data sources. A CRM only stores
what’s known as first-party data or the customer’s
direct interactions with the company. Someutilities try to replicate meter-to-cash operations inCDP, and that is not the right approach.

❙ Focus on producing an MVP vs. taking a“Big Bang” approach. Utilities do not need tobuild out the entire solution to perfection to begin
to realize the benefits of the CDP approach. The
key to program success is for the team to create
an MVP to prompt CSRs to test variations andoffer feedback.
❙ Make sure your data model is legacy-systemagnostic. The CDP should be agnostic of legacy
systems such as CIS so it remains legacy-agnostic
even when systems are changed.
❙ Set realistic, ample timelines — to set yourself
up for success. CDP requires ample time
to completely fulfill its potential. Unrealistic
timelines are all too typical in programs like this,often dictated by stakeholders who see only thetip of the proverbial iceberg instead of the whole
picture. It is critical to define realistic timelines
up front.
We expect utilities that focus on CX will continue tokeep pace with other industry leaders while those who
do not are ripe for disruption. The CDP approach,while admittedly not a silver bullet, offers utilities asolution to make headway and quickly ensure they are
moving in the right direction for the future.

8 / Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform

Cognizant 20-20 Insights

Endnotes
1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_data_platform.

2

Gartner introduced a pace layered application strategy in 2012 to help companies unlock a system of differentiation andinnovation, www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/pace-layered-application-strategy.

About the authors
Saurabh Sharma
Strategic Business Unit Head, Energy & Utilities Practice, Cognizant
Saurabh Sharma is Strategic BU head within Cognizant’s Energy &Utilities Practice, where he isresponsible for the Western region business portfolio. In over 20 years of experience, Saurabh has helda variety of roles across technology consulting, client services and P&L management. He has managednumerous large-scale transformation programs and outsourcing relationships, and has partnered with
Fortune 500 organizations to deliver measurable business outcomes leveraging industry expertiseand new operating models through the application of analytics, cloud and other digital technologies.
Saurabh has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a post-graduate degree in industrial
management from the National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai. He can be contacted at
Saurabh.Sharma@cognizant.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabh-sharma-a193542.

Deepak Jain
Director, Energy & Utilities Practice, Cognizant
Deepak Jain is a Director within Cognizant’s Energy & Utilities Practice, where he specializes incustomer experience solutions and technology strategy consulting. In his 18-plus years of global
experience in the energy and utilities industry, Deepak has been instrumental in transforming anddesigning value-driven engagement models that delivered significant business value to clients intheir customer service, transmission and distribution, and workforce management business processes.
He has a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering and an MBA in utilities from the National Power
Training Institute (Ministry of Power), India. Deepak can be contacted at Deepak.Jain9@cognizant.com |LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepakjain1980.

9 / Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform

About Cognizant Energy & Utilities
Cognizant’s Energy & Utilities business unit operates as a trusted global partner to electric, gas and water utility and energy providers, helping themaccelerate business performance and drive growth through the power of digital. By leveraging our domain expertise and knowledge of E&U businessprocess, we’re able to deliver next-gen digital solutions “in context” across the exploration, generation, transmission, distribution and supply value chain.
By doing so, we enable E&U organizations to reach the renewables future. Our E&U business unit is recognized as a leader in digital transformation
services by HFS Research for innovation, strong digital capabilities and mature industry-specific services that advance the industry’s ever-evolving
business requirements. Learn more at www.cognizant.com/utilities and www.cognizant.com/oil-gas-digital-solutions.

About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq-100: CTSH) is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, transforming clients’ business, operating and technology
models for the digital era. Our unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build and run more innovative and efficient businesses.
Headquartered in the U.S., Cognizant is ranked 194 on the Fortune 500 and is consistently listed among the most admired companies in the world. Learn
how Cognizant helps clients lead with digital at www.cognizant.com or follow us @Cognizant.

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