After the news that 95% of consumers are probably paying more than needed on energy bills – and then reports of Centrica’s fall in profits, British Gas has taken steps to fight back by bringing its customer service into the digital age.
The recent transformation of its heating sales process combined the best of digital, cloud technology and good, old-fashioned face-to-face contact.
Using Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) technology, British Gas advisors can now access a single source of information for each customer on an iPad with or without an internet connection.
"Our sales people can now offer multiple quotations and proposals giving the customer a far wider choice than before. The sales information is always current as it can be quickly updated at source and pushed out to the team immediately," says David Bowring, head of technology, British Gas Central Heating Installations.
British Gas chose CloudSense’s Commerce Platform, which provides the company with a Salesforce-native system that seamlessly joins together their sales channels and includes a Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) solution sales app for both field-based and contact centre staff, so they are all always fully up-to-date with the progress of a sale.
"There are big innovations in the control of heating and water via smartphones and other devices. Now we can release product lines onto the market quicker. Customer experience is improved as advisors now spend less time focusing on the technology and more time listening to customers."
The transformation resulted in a 3% increase in customer interest in products, in addition to solutions being configured for 20% more customers.
