Open International & IBM to transform customer experience in the US utilities market

Open International today announced that it has selected IBM to help on its mission to continue to digitally transform the customer experience in the Utility market.

Working together, the companies are bringing the tools and expertise of both technological leaders to bring a new cognitive customer care platform to the market. Building upon Open’s existing Smartflex platform, the new system; the Open Utilities Cognitive Customer Platform, is a flexible, and intelligent Customer Information System (CIS) that addresses utilities’ biggest challenges in transforming the customer experience to deliver, meet and exceed consumer demand.

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted what was already on the cards for the utility market, fueled by ever-improving satisfaction levels from other services, consumers are demanding their utility providers give better access to instant data on their accounts and the ability to seamlessly interact with customer service reps across several different channels.  Utility companies must stay one step ahead, moving away from static and traditional solutions, migrating to modern, dynamic, and intelligent platforms with seamless functionalities across all channels, and providing enhanced customer relationship management.

As customer expectations become more demanding, IBM and Open International are dedicated to enable, unleash, and improve customer experience, reduce service costs, and simplify integrations. This new platform will provide a comprehensive set of cognitive and core capabilities that will evolve continuously without operational disruptions, delivered with a commitment to outstanding business outcomes.

By teaming with IBM Services, Open International will be able to transform workflows in utilities by bringing additional new AI functionality into workflows, merging human and artificial intelligence to engage customers with personalized experiences, and create a seamless journey across every interaction. For example, by connecting Smartflex’s platform with IBM Watson Discovery it makes it possible to rapidly build cognitive, cloud-based exploration applications that unlock actionable insights hidden in unstructured data across the platform. Then bringing IBM Watson Assistant will bring full-service AI to digital and voice channels, to respond to account inquiries, and empower customer service agents with the best processes.

“Working with IBM will allow Open International, as a product-focused company, to leverage our product expertise, and offers US clients implementation teams with deep subject matter expertise in local business practices. We are impressed not only with the knowledge of the IBM staff but also with their agility and focus on their customers’ needs. With IBM, we can deliver a disruptive platform to the industry and innovate in a traditional and complex market” states Hernando Parrott, Open International’s President for North America.

Learn more at the “Embracing a Modern Customer Experience Platform Webinar” where the partnership will launch the Open Utilities Cognitive Customer Platform!