At its core, great service is about problem solving. During 2006, NW Natural launched several initiatives to improve relationships with customers. Sometimes this meant leveraging technology to serve customers at lower cost. Other times it simply involved redesigning processes to serve the largest number of customers in the most efficient way.
Service Solutions. This program directly connects customers who have equipment repair needs to highly qualified third party providers. In the past, service technicians would inspect a customer's equipment, but might find a problem that required the services of an independent service contractor. A customer then had to go through the inconvenience of finding a contractor and worrying about work quality. With Service Solutions, NW Natural screens and certifies providers to ensure their qualifications. Customers are promised an appointment-scheduling call within two hours and a service call within 24 hours. NW Natural staff also follows up with customers to make sure the work is satisfactory. This approach has improved customer satisfaction and allowed service technicians to work more efficiently. Our criteria for provider participation also raise the bar for all gas equipment service work in the territory by encouraging certification and ongoing technician training.
Service Order Scheduling. In examining how we responded to customer requests for field service,
NW Natural found that sometimes bending over backward to serve a few customers came at the expense
of others. Each day, NW Natural schedules and routes service calls in order to meet service priority requirements in an efficient manner. But customer service representatives had the ability to override this schedule and insert new appointments at the customer's request. These late additions to the schedule weren't always priorities or emergencies. As a result, scheduled appointments were sometimes delayed in order to do all the promised work, and service technicians often worked extensive overtime as a result. By more clearly defining scheduling guidelines, request types and limiting the volume of exceptions, customers are being served more efficiently. Emergencies still receive top priority, while the majority of customers received better service and the company saved significantly with less overtime costs during 2006.
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