The Customer as Strategic Asset

ECM

Achieving financial returns from increasing customer satisfaction.

Every utility focuses on effectively managing infrastructure and capital assets. However, one important balance sheet asset may be overlooked and under-leveraged-the customer.

Most utilities believe that customers are "priority one," with customer satisfaction as a key performance indicator. These utilities define customer satisfaction as critical to competent service delivery. However, utilities that define customers that way go beyond basic customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities. They leverage customer satisfaction as a strategic asset with Wall Street investors and regulatory agencies-positioning customer satisfaction as a portfolio component of strong performance.

Using customer lifetime value as a guide and business process outsourcing as an advantage, utilities can enhance customer profitability without shouldering the cost and risk of internal development. Whether your utility operates in a regulated or competitive environment, customer satisfaction is a strategic asset that provides return on asset (ROA) results.

Influences on Asset Return

In managing infrastructure and capital assets, cost-to-serve reductions and return on investment are key drivers. Investment in new technologies, information technology (IT) integration, and process enhancement is balanced by capital-risk management, commodity hedging, and shareholder return.