At Ireland’s biggest energy supplier, the customer is at the heart of everything they do. See what Head of Customer Experience & Operations Aisling McCarthy had to say at Qualtrics Converge Europe as she presented their journey to refocus the orgaisation on the customer.

1. A journey to customer centricity
Aisling McCarthy, Head of Customer Experience & Operations
Improvement, Bord Gáis Energy

2. • Bord Gáis Energy, a subsidiary of Centrica PLC, is one of Ireland’s leading energy
providers.
• BGE aspires to be Ireland’s most helpful energy company
• Supplies gas, electricity and energy services to over 800,000 homes and businesses
across the country
• Over 300 Staff
• Founded in 1976
• Operate an outsourced business model
• Acquired by Centrica in 2014
• Head Office in Dublin, Ireland
• Energy plant and offices in Cork also
Who is Bord Gáis Energy?

3. • 2009 – energy market was deregulated
• 2012
• The residential energy sector in Ireland is amongst the busiest in the world
• New entrants continue to appear
• 7 companies in the residential segment and 8 in the business segment
• Price led competition
• Need to ‘join in’ price only or differentiate
• By 2014 – we needed to deliver Customer value - price plus customer experience
What was the problem to solve?

4. - A new brand strategy
- Increasing competition
- Expanding channels for acquisition
- Price only offer no longer sustainable
- Customer Service needed improvement
- A savvy customer base
What did we know?

5. 1. Internally driven
2. Externally delivered
3. NPS
4. Internal Road Shows & Champions
5. Supplier contract adjustments
6. BSC inclusion
7. Weekly executive review
8. Dedicated resource
9. Publish all numbers weekly
10. Open book on commentary
What did I propose?
‘Custodianship’
Why?

6. The 6 Pillars of the CX Programme
A Long Term
customer
strategy
Remove the
Silos of
accountability
Build your
data around
your
customers
Journey
Simply - keep
your promises
Make
everyone
accountable
Embed
Continuous
Improvement

7. What Did I want to Achieve
A way to measure true customer
sentiment regularly.
Change in conversation.
A true measurable customer centric
metric.
The Check List for Success
What did I need
Bags of gutsy passion
Endless obsessive Determination
Blind Self Belief

8. Who did I work with? & Why?
CX
Marketing
Sales
Data &
Insights
Partners
• Power Base
• Road blocks
• Support committee

9. Bringing it to life….

11.  20 Point increase in Brand NPS
 10 Point increase in Contact NPS (over 12 months)
 5% reduction in customer churn (over 12 months)
 Reallocation and reduction of market research spend
 Restructured department around the Customer Journey
Was it a success?

12. +20k net customer growth in Gas & Electricity in 2015 and +22k in 2016
 Lowest loss rates in market AND highest gross additions (Q4 2016)
 Group leading employee engagement
 Decrease in complaints
 Increased profits
 NPS part of benefit realisation for any change initiative
The Multiplier Effect

13. 1. Get Executive Support – YOU NEED IT
2. Make everyone accountable – THEY NEED IT
3. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate – DID I MENTION COMMUNICATE?
4. Align organisation around the customer– VIRTUAL ‘DEPARTMENTS’
5. Prioritise– WORK ON WHAT MATTERS TO YOUR CUSTOMER
6. Keep promises – KEEP YOUR PROMISES & KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS
7. What gets measured gets managed - SHARPENS THE FOCUS
8. Continuous Improvement - ITS WHAT WE DO
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Takeaways….