SAP Solution Brief SAP Customer Relationship Management

SAP BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT FOR UTILITIES

FULLY INTEGRATED SOFTWARE TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

SAP Business Communications Management software helps utilities improve customer service with a flexible, multichannel communications platform that supports activities from contact centers to field operations. The all-IP software is designed to work with the SAP Customer Relationship Management application.

In the utilities business, customer satisfaction is always driven by one key factor communication. No matter how you interact with your customers, connecting them to the right person quickly and painlessly plays a major role in your ability to keep customers satisfied with your service. But all too often, inadequate contact center operations stand in the way. Many utilities lack the functionality to intelligently route customer calls using information leveraged from their customer relationship management system. And even if you have this ability, the people your customers need from field engineers to billing specialists may not be available. The fact is, your communications network shouldnt stop at the doors of your contact center. You depend on a wide variety of people throughout your enterprise to serve your customers and these people need to be just as available as your call agents. Take a look at SAP Business Communications Management software. It provides a flexible, multichannel, all-IP business communications platform that you can use to deploy IP telephony for everyone who needs it. This includes your inbound and outbound contact centers, field operations, marketing and sales groups, and even your outside contractors. The software is designed to work with the SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application, so you dont have to worry about costly, cumbersome integration issues. Implementation is measured in weeks rather than months and you can leverage all of your data from SAP CRM. This

empowers your people to speed the resolution of customer problems and dramatically increase satisfaction. Of course, the software works seamlessly with your existing telephony infrastructure, so you can preserve your telephony investment. And because its an all-IP, browser-based solution, the software can replace your whole infrastructure at the pace you choose to significantly boost your communications capabilities and significantly reduce your communications cost.

Software That Is New and Proven

SAP Business Communications Management was originally the proven solution created by Wicom Communications. Globally, over 200 companies have been using the software for years, deriving real business value through better agent utilization that is no longer limited to the confines of a contact center. Supporting an open platform that significantly eases maintenance burdens, the software helps you better manage communications today and ensure flexibility for tomorrow.

The Power of Integration

As the primary conduit between you and your customers, your contact center is the heart of your communications operation. Thats why SAP Business Communications Management does more than just improve the operation it enables a broader communications infrastructure that virtualizes your contact center so that your people are available regardless of where they are deployed.

The software leverages information across the enterprise to keep your customers informed through multiple channels voice, e-mail, short message service (SMS), and chat and lets you solve customer issues fast, the first time.

SAP Business Communications Management software provides a flexible, multichannel, all-IP business communications platform that you can use to deploy IP telephony for everyone who needs it.
SAP Business Communications Management is fully configured to connect with SAP CRM without additional hardware, middleware, or third-party vendors. This prepackaged integration will have you up and running quickly. It also means far lower maintenance costs because you no longer have to support multiple platforms, contend with conflicting vendor upgrades, or employ numerous IT people just to keep the infrastructure running smoothly. Dont Just React to Service Interruptions Manage Them When service is interrupted, its crucial to get information to your customers before they call you. Since SAP Business Communications Management is designed to work with SAP CRM, you

can employ intelligent outbound communications to keep your customers informed and keep your contact center from being overwhelmed. The moment an outage occurs, you can transmit a notification via voice, e-mail, or SMS only to those people affected using customers postal codes or any other means of customer segmentation defined in SAP CRM. You can also provide status updates to customers with estimates regarding the return of service. By keeping only the affected customers informed through outbound notifications, your incoming call volume remains stable, and your contact center remains available for routine and emergency services. Your customers will appreciate the fact that you have contacted them with the information they need to plan accordingly and thats good for your overall satisfaction ratings. You dont have to limit this functionality to service interruptions either. For example, if you anticipate a spike in demand due to a heat wave, or water restrictions due to draught conditions, the outbound notifications can describe efficiency measures customers can employ to reduce usage. Communications Management Beyond the Contact Center With an integrated SAP Business Communications Management implementation, your communications network no longer has to stop at the contact center facility. The all-IP software lets you connect to the people you need to ensure fast customer resolution and keep all of your key operations running smoothly. With your people connected through

mobile devices and browser-based interfaces, they become part of an availability matrix a grid of human resources that can be tapped to address specific issues. Call agents can quickly identify the right personnel, determine availability, and know how to contact them. You can even use the software to connect to outsourced services such as vegetation management. Through mobile phones, your tree-trimming crews can connect directly to the contact center rather than through third-party dispatchers. This reduces the complexity of outsourced services and allows your call agents to know which crews are available at any given time. Youll be able to speed response times and more effectively monitor the service levels of your contractors so that you get the most out of every contracting dollar you spend. Foster Enterprise-Wide Availability and Flexibility SAP Business Communications Management allows you to dynamically provision all of the elements across your enterprise the people, resources, relationships, and contingencies to be available whenever they are needed. Even if you are temporarily bringing in people during emergency operations, the software can make them visible and available to your contact center. For example, if a hurricane requires you to bring in crews from across the globe, you can use the software to quickly make them visible within the contact center queues for coordination and dispatch. When the disaster is over, and crews go offline, the contact center can quickly shrink back to regular operations.

Software That Fits Your Technology Migration Plans In an era of climate change concerns and new regulatory schemes, utilities like yours face tectonic changes that impact virtually every aspect of operations. The adoption of advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) technology and the bidirectional flow of information between the utility and the meter require that utilities become fully integrated making generation, transmission, and business services a single seamless operation. To achieve that level of integration, you cant afford to ignore your communications infrastructure.

you can use the software to channel that information to the appropriate resource so that your customers get the highest level of service and support in the industry. Why Spend More and Get Less? SAP Business Communications Management is the only solution that provides integration with SAP CRM while giving you the choice of integration with or replacement of your existing telephony hardware. The software helps you achieve: Higher customer satisfaction through improved responsiveness and consistent first-call resolution Reduced cost with smarter workforce utilization, intelligent call routing, and lower maintenance costs Fast time to benefit through implementation measured in weeks, not months Reduced complexity through a single, integrated solution that simplifies communication enterprise-wide Lower total cost of ownership with an open-standard, browser-based application thats widely accessible, requires low maintenance, and is fully supported by a single vendor

Industry Proven to Get You Up and Running Fast

International IT services provider Atos Origin S.A. needed to replace its service desk that was burdened by diverse local infrastructures and complex proprietary technologies. We needed a unified and scalable solution that could help us ensure 24x7 global service desk support and superior customer service, said Mick Hassall, vice president of global managed operations at Atos Origin. Only SAP Business Communications Management could deliver a truly locationindependent, multichannel solution in a very short deployment time. With the software, we have been able to unify our network of global delivery centers with consistent infrastructure, processes, and tools. In fact, Atos Origin successfully deployed the software in six global service centers across five continents in just five weeks. They have joined over 200 companies who are successfully using SAP Business Communications Management to enhance their customer service.

Because SAP Business Communications Management is part of SAP CRM, its fully configured to connect with the application without additional hardware, middleware, or third-party vendors.
By supporting communications functionality that traditional telephony simply cannot, SAP Business Communications Management integrated with SAP CRM helps you prepare for AMI. In the future, it may be possible to use the software to route communications to service providers based on information coming across your metering systems. You may even be able to route notifications to customers if their usage exceeds specified thresholds. Whatever information is being enabled through AMI,

Find Out More

To learn more about how SAP Business Communications Management can help your utility improve its communications operation, contact your SAP representative or visit us online at www.sap.com/usa/solutions /business-suite/crm/featuresfunctions /businesscommunications.epx.

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Summary SAP Business Communications Management software helps utilities improve customer service with a flexible, multichannel communications platform that supports activities from contact centers to field operations. Business Challenges Improve customer satisfaction with better service and more effective communication during service interruptions and call volume spikes Better utilize workforce for customer-facing operations Lower implementation and maintenance costs for customer communications Supported Business Processes and Software Functions Complete customer relationship management solution Manage customers better by integrating with the SAP Customer Relationship Management application All-IP solution Replace existing telephony entirely or keep it as needed Virtualized contact center Automatically add or remove call agents based on demand Intelligent call routing Route calls to automated notifications that keep customers informed Customer self-service Automate routine services like move-ins and move-outs and billing inquiries and payments Workforce collaboration Enable call agents and field operations staff to stay connected through mobile devices and browser-based interfaces Business Benets Higher customer satisfaction through improved responsiveness and consistent first-call resolution Reduced cost with smarter workforce utilization, intelligent call routing, and lower maintenance costs Fast time to benefit through implementation measured in weeks, not months Reduced complexity through a single, integrated solution that simplifies communication enterprise-wide Lower total cost of ownership with an open-standard, browser-based application thats widely accessible, requires low maintenance, and is fully supported by a single vendor For More Information To learn more about how SAP Business Communications Management can help your utility improve its communications operation, call your SAP representative or visit us online at www.sap.com/usa/solutions/business-suite/crm/featuresfunctions /businesscommunications.epx.

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