From Reactive to Proactive: How Smartflex Delivers Total Experience for Modern Utilities

Today’s utility customers expect more than a reliable service, they demand proactive communication, personalized engagement, and seamless digital interactions. However, many utilities remain stuck in reactive modes, addressing customer issues only after they arise. Shifting towards a proactive CX approach requires intelligent tools and an integrated view of customer interactions.  

Here’s how Smartflex helps utilities transform their customer experience: 

Unified 360° Customer Management 

More than a customer information visualization interface, Smartflex provides a comprehensive and unified 360° customer management solution that seamlessly integrates data across billing, meter management, field operations, and customer interactions, allowing for informed action. Its robust data consolidation capabilities eliminate silos, ensuring real-time visibility into customer profiles, account histories, service requests, and preferences. This unified management enables customer service representatives and other employees to become trusted guides, helping customers connect with the right resources. Additionally, it helps them to respond quickly, accurately, and consistently, driving higher customer satisfaction levels and enhancing service interactions, which has a tangible impact on efficiency, leading to a 48% reduction in request resolution times and a 9% increase in first-contact resolution. 

AI-Powered Proactive Interactions 

AI must be embedded within the core systems that utilities rely on every day, not as disconnected, standalone tools. Smartflex’s integrated AI capabilities automate proactive notifications, like billing reminders, outage updates, and consumption alerts, improving overall engagement. These communications can do more than just notify a customer; they can trigger real events to provide contextualized solutions, revolutionizing utility interactions. Another example of embedded AI is smart agents, currently under development, designed to automate routine tasks and streamline workflows. These agents empower service teams to deliver proactive, personalized support, significantly enhancing customer satisfaction and frontline performance. 

Omnichannel Engagement 

Smartflex enables utilities to reach customers on their preferred channels, web, mobile, SMS, and chatbots, so interactions can start in one channel and seamlessly continue in another with full traceability. Using real-time data and predictive models, Smartflex generates tailored recommendations and messaging that align with each customer’s consumption patterns, preferences, and past interactions. These personalized interactions not only enhance customer engagement and satisfaction but also foster deeper customer loyalty and reduce churn rates, turning everyday utility interactions into meaningful, valuable experiences. 

Personalized and Connected Self-Service Capabilities 

Smartflex empowers utility customers with a robust self-service portal, offering a unified digital experience that features native multilingual support, visual data insights, and usage comparisons. They can track consumption, review and pay bills, enroll in new programs, and manage preferences. Utilities that adopt omnichannel platforms typically see reduced call center volumes and improved first-contact resolution rates. For example, one of our clients achieved 49% adoption of the self-service portal, resulting in a 32% reduction in contact center calls within a year. Another utility reported that 37% of its payment agreements were processed through the online portal during the same period, significantly boosting collection efficiency and enhancing customer experience by removing the need for in-person or phone interactions. 

Event-based Automation 

Smartflex delivers sophisticated event-based automation that allows utilities to act with precision and speed. Smartflex utilizes seamless data exchange and embedded AI to monitor conditions and anticipate customer needs, creating configurable triggers for proactive alerts and automated workflows. For example, utilities can proactively engage a customer when analytics predict a potential issue, often before they even need to call. This capability ensures utilities can meet changing demands confidently, addressing challenges and opportunities as they happen, not hours or days later, turning operational events into personalized, compliant, and value-adding experiences. 

Streamlined Operations through Rules Engine 

Smartflex is equipped with a rules engine that allows utilities to autonomously adjust and add rules to satisfy emerging customer needs and comply with ever-changing regulations. This tool gives users the flexibility to change conditions in the system, with very little effort and without ever touching the hard code of the solution. Like an Excel rule, the rules engine uses a simplified language comprised of logic and mathematical expressions, including variables, values, text, and out-of-the-box functions. For instance, a rule for billing items like fixed charges can be as simple as a variable equaling a value or as complex as the utility’s needs. With these capabilities, one of our clients reduced billing process times by 43% in one year. 

Unified, consistent, and real-time information 

Smartflex is an all-in-one modern platform that covers traditional meter-to-cash and advanced processes with built-in capabilities to support digital CX, workforce management, and smart meter data management. This design dismantles information silos to create a definitive single source of truth for all customer and business operations, directly addressing the core of commercial management. By enabling seamless, real-time data exchange, the platform provides every department with access to unified information, which drives significant operational improvements, resulting in a 43% reduction in billing times and a 26% decrease in claims related to billing errors. Ultimately, Smartflex turns data into a strategic asset, empowering utilities to make informed commercial decisions that enhance customer value and drive business growth. 

Moving from reactive customer service to proactive customer experience is critical for utilities striving to meet modern expectations. Smartflex’s integrated approach, powered by AI, automation, and omnichannel engagement, helps utilities deliver exceptional interactions, drive operational efficiency, and maintain a competitive edge in the market.