In an Expert Focus article for Waterbriefing, Nigel Baker,managing director at specialist outsourcer Echo Managed Services explores whether the water companies are meeting the needs of vulnerable customers.

Nigel Baker: As a sector today, can we say we’re truly offering effective service for our vulnerable customers?

As it stands I’m not sure we can, and Ofwat clearly agrees given the focus placed on addressing customer vulnerability in the final PR19 methodology. The supply disruptions we’ve seen following the recent spell of winter weather have once again highlighted the importance of knowing, understanding and supporting customer vulnerabilities.

While we’re taking positive steps in the right direction, there’s still so much more to be done - and not just because of the PR19 proposals. While PR19 will be helpful in giving our efforts an immediate focus, it should not be our sole motivation behind improving the services we offer. This step-change should be motivated not by a need for compliance, but because it’sthe right thing to do for our customers and communities.

With so many different forms of customer vulnerability, and their transient nature, our services need to evolve in order to meet all the varied needs that arise from these vulnerabilities. The solutions therefore must be multi-faceted, and the work needs to begin now and progress at pace.

We must look to make customers more aware of the support we offer, tap into the power of our customer-facing employees, grow our community networks, evolve our services and – importantly–not forget to ask our vulnerable customers if we are doing enough.

Raising awareness and engaging the community

Investing in more widespread promotion of help and assistance schemes can be a simple way to reach out to more vulnerable customers, many of whom may not know of existing help and support. This is backed up by our recent research, which found that fewer than one in three (32%) consumers are currently aware of the different support schemes utility providers already offer in times of need.

Digital channels can be used to good effect here to balance less expensive activity with more costly offline programmes. Social media, and online groups and forums provide effective channels to reach a wider customer base; recognizing of course that promotion needs to be targeted at both the tech-savvy and those less digitally minded.

However, this relies to an extent on customers identifying themselves as vulnerable and seeking out help, but some may be unable to get in touch, be unwilling to reveal their vulnerability, or as vulnerabilities can be transient in nature, may not consider themselves to be “vulnerable” per se.

To successfully enact meaningful and lasting change, our customer service offering must move beyond the office and contact centre, we must become more immersed in the lives of the customers and communities we serve. For example, taking advisors out of the faceless office and placing them in the community – be it at local events, third party offices or even a dedicated local centre – can enable valuable face-to-face engagement to both benefit consumers and bring back valuable knowledge and learning to the wider operation.

Having a more consistent brand presence in the community is crucial to build awareness, engagement and trust - becoming more actively involved in everyday life can vastly increase touch-points and engagement opportunities. Also, forging strong relationships with charities and community groups that already support vulnerable customers is vital.

The power of your people in instigating change

Front-line teams are (obviously) integral in spotting customer vulnerabilities. However, to take full advantage of this opportunity we must ensure we are providing regular training to our teams – training that really enables our people to understand and empathise.

Classroom based learning has a role to play, but vulnerability training needs to move beyond this. Enabling your people to experience service as a vulnerable customer does, can help them to understand what it’s like to be a customer with a specific need or requirement. Also, charities and third parties can assist teams to have a more rounded view of the various impacts of service issues and what they might need that is instead of or different to standard service.

Sharing first-hand vulnerability knowledge can also be effective. Among your employees there may well be those who know relatives or friends in such circumstances – or may even be able to empathise from personal experience. We need to make better use of this potential resource, using insights to help shape and inform the unique service we offer for different groups of vulnerable customers.

Never forget that the best ideas can come from people working with customers every day. If you bear this in mind and take steps towards fostering a culture of continual inward innovation, both yourselves and (more importantly) your customers will reap the benefits.

With that said, the task of addressing vulnerability should not just be left up to the front-line teams. It should be the responsibility of everybody; from the contact centre, to the field teams, right through to board level - all employees within a forward-thinking water company can make a real difference.

Evolving service and ensuring satisfaction

Raising awareness, increasing engagement and training employees are all key steps in providing better support for customers in circumstances of vulnerability. However, beyond that what’s clear is that service must evolve.

Processes, procedures and communications must be reviewed through the eyes of different vulnerabilities to provision support to meet the need. In some cases, this could mean significant change and this needs commitment and priority from the top down - too often, process and procedure is allowed to get in the way of effective customer support.

Given the transient nature of vulnerability, this can never be a “once and done” approach. Segmenting and reviewing the customer journey and experiences for customers with different vulnerabilities can help further improve process and practice. Whilst regular communication touch-points can help with keeping up to speed with changing needs.

Finally co-creation and collaboration can be beneficial. Working together with vulnerable customers to make the right service changes, asking whether they are satisfied with support and welcoming ideas for change ensures customers are right at the heart of service.

A broader approach is sorely needed

A broader, more inclusive approach is needed, and for many of us this will mean a sea-change in policy. At the moment, it feels like more common or high profile vulnerabilities are being actively addressed, whilst less emphasis is given to the long tail of more obscure and lower profiled needs.

Focusing on, and providing differentiated support for, some groups of vulnerable customers - as welcome as this is – is just the first step on the ladder. Ask a customer with impairment –be it physical, cognitive, age-related or situational – which currently isn’t provisioned how they view supportive service and the answer may be quite different.

PR19 is getting closer by the day, and I’m sure that all water companies will view this as a chance to initiate a step-change and begin to look at the wider picture of vulnerability. As a sector, we’ve already taken the first steps, but have a much longer journey ahead of us.

Of course, effective service is all about understanding all customers – vulnerable or not. In a world where customers expect a more personalized and tailored service – customer vulnerability is just one of many key sector focuses. Whether it’s an environmental agenda, the social good movement, or even simply ongoing cost pressures, what’s vitally important is understanding and being trusted by your customers.

Echo Managed Services is a specialist outsourced provider of complex multi-channel customer contact services - for more information, visit www.echo-ms.com