NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Join us as we present the results of the 2019 E Source Contact Center Performance survey. During this web conference, we’ll share high-level findings and data on contact center operations, agent staffings, channel interactions, key performance indicators (KPIs), quality assurance, and agent training.

You’ll learn:

• Which KPIs other utilities track
• Average speed of answer and average handle time among participating utilities
• Utility contact center operating hours

Speakers:

Laura Ruff Agard, Senior Analyst, Market Research, E Source

Lisa Schulte, Analyst, Customer Experience, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Although Americans buy more electric vehicles (EVs) every year, still less than 3% of households own one. Customer awareness hasn’t grown in the past four years, and the EV industry is at risk of becoming stagnant or declining. You can accelerate the adoption of EVs through strategic marketing—learn how in this web conference.

You’ll learn:

• The current state of the EV market and why adoption is so low
• Who to target next based on trends in consumer readiness for EVs
• How you can accelerate adoption, improve your brand, and help EVs avoid the product adoption chasm
• How Evergy (formerly called KCP&L and Westar Energy) overcame customer barriers to achieve incredible EV adoption rates in a historically resistant service territory

If you’re a member of the E Source Residential Marketing Service, you can learn more in our report The Essentials of Marketing Electric Vehicles: Why and How Utilities Should Accelerate the EV Revolution.

Speakers:

Shelby Kuenzli, Associate Analyst, Marketing and Communications, E Source

Jeffrey Beeson, Manager, Product Marketing, Evergy (formerly called KCP&L and Westar Energy)

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Are you overwhelmed figuring out how to get started in electrification? Are you curious to learn about successful electrification programs that exist today?

Electrification is a huge opportunity for utilities, and at the same time, it poses huge risks. Changing market forces, emerging technologies, and an evolving regulatory environment are causing utilities across North America to consider efficient electrification as an important long-term business strategy.

As the energy industry pivots to electrification, E Source has noted that many organizations are underprepared or lack internal strategies to take full advantage of the opportunities electrification presents. At the same time, we’ve seen numerous examples of early thought leadership and best practices emerging from a few best-in-class utilities.

During this web conference, we’ll highlight how a strong electrification strategy and roadmap can help you adapt to the changing landscape, capture additional revenue, and better serve customers.

You’ll learn how to:

• Provide significant load growth and revenue generation
• Advance energy-efficiency and demand-response programs
• Boost customer satisfaction
• Meet new regulatory challenges
• Result in lower energy expenditures for customers
• Reduce carbon emissions
• Create opportunities to serve disadvantaged communities
• Enhance grid resiliency and emergency preparedness
• Facilitate adoption of distributed energy resources, storage, and microgrids

Speakers:

Spencer Sator, Senior Consultant, E Source

Bryan Jungers, Lead Analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Is your company looking for new opportunities to work with utility demand-response (DR) programs? Do you wish you had ongoing access to continuously updated DR program plans, spending, and savings?

We’re thrilled to announce that we rolled out a new dashboard to all E Source DSM Insights users. The new dashboard contains load management program and performance metrics that will help you target and evaluate new utility clients. To build the Demand-Response dashboard, we collated all the DR information from DSM Insights, as well as new DR data from regulatory filings and annual reports that weren’t previously available in DSM Insights.

The dashboard includes:

• The ability to analyze DR program cost-effectiveness, spending levels, and performance
• US Energy Information Administration Form 861 data that shows utility potential and actual levels of DR achieved
• Utility customer counts and participants in DR programs

You’ll learn:

• How to navigate through the new dashboard
• How to find DR program performance data

Speakers:

Rachel Buckley, Senior Director, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Jordan Tobey, Manager, Data Products, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Zack Tamble, Director of Operations, QuadROI

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Do you wish you had ongoing access to continuously updated demand-response (DR) program plans, spending, and savings?

We’re thrilled to announce that we rolled out a new dashboard to all E Source DSM Insights users. To build the Demand-Response dashboard, we collated all the DR information from DSM Insights, as well as new DR data from regulatory filings and annual reports that weren’t previously available in DSM Insights.

The dashboard includes:

• The ability to analyze DR program cost-effectiveness, spending levels, and performance
• US Energy Information Administration Form 861 data that shows utility potential and actual levels of DR achieved
• Utility customer counts and participants in DR programs

You’ll learn:

• How to navigate through the new dashboard
• How to find DR program performance data

Speakers:

Rachel Buckley, Senior Director, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Jordan Tobey, Manager, Data Products, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Zack Tamble, Director of Operations, QuadROI

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Poll questions from the presentation:

Utilities are increasingly engaged in understanding and transforming the low-income customer experience (CX). Unfortunately, you can’t just tweak a program or mandate a training and expect to see better customer engagement; there’s a lot of thought and research that goes into redefining the low-income CX. We’ve seen companies use market research, segmentation, customer journey mapping, innovative marketing techniques, and internal alignment to better understand and support their low-income customers.

You’ll learn:

• The business case for focusing on low-income customers
• The current state and cutting-edge innovation in serving low-income customers from inside and outside the energy industry
• The biggest barriers to building trust and helping vulnerable customers pay their bills
• The best methods for serving vulnerable customers
• How to drive greater participation in current programs

Speakers:

Lisa Markus, Managing Director, Consulting and Advisory Services, E Source

Nick Bafaloukos, Director, Customer Programs and Advanced Analytics, ComEd

Molly McGowan, Senior Manager, Business Development, Propel

Katie Ryder, Senior Consultant, Consulting and Advisory Services, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Every utility wants an intuitive and informative online resource for its business customers, including those hard-to-reach small and midsize businesses. E Source has a resource you can get up and running on your website in under two weeks that profiles over 25 different types of business and over 70 different technologies. We recently redesigned E Source Business Energy Advisor, and we’re excited to share the changes with you.

Business Energy Advisor is a library of information on energy efficiency in commercial and industrial facilities that utilities can publish on their websites. Business Energy Advisor offers more than 250 web pages of guidance around energy-efficient technologies; best-practice information custom tailored to a wide range of business types; and calculators to help users make the best decisions when considering new types of equipment.

Through Business Energy Advisor, you can:

• Educate customers on energy-efficiency best practices
• Drive traffic to your utility website
• Increase participation in demand-side management programs
• Showcase expertise on various technologies and business types
• Provide your customer-facing staff with resources to successfully support business customers
• Share your utility’s business customer success stories with industry peers

Through this web conference, you’ll learn:

• The ins and outs of the newly updated Business Energy Advisor
• How this tool can support your business customer operations

Speakers:

Mike Hildebrand, Vice President, Account Management Solutions, E Source

Devin Fink, Manager, Account Management Services, E Source

Essie Snell, Senior Manager, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Utilities are increasingly moving their demand-side management (DSM) rebates from consumers to midstream and upstream actors, such as retailers, distributors, and manufacturers, who can influence how high-efficiency products are made, stocked, and sold. Join us for this industry-exclusive look at the state of midstream and upstream programs across North America.

You’ll learn:

• Key midstream and upstream program designs
• Emerging measures for the midstream and upstream market
• Leaders in midstream and upstream program administration
• Best practices for midstream and upstream program implementation

Speakers:

Kate Merson, Director, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Jordan Tobey, Manager, Data Products, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Creating a truly customer-centered utility requires engaging every employee in the customer experience (CX), but E Source’s research indicates that few utilities have succeeded in effectively engaging employees in their CX efforts. Beyond the utility world, some organizations are proving the effectiveness of innovative, research-based, 21st-century employee-engagement tactics and strategies.

For this web conference, we’re delighted to host Roger Pugsley, director of service excellence at Oxford Properties, a global real-estate investment, development, and management company based in Toronto. The Customer Experience Professionals Association recognized Oxford for its innovative approach to engaging employees (led by Pugsley’s vision and execution), and the results speak for themselves. Pugsley’s work has been featured in podcasts, webinars, and conferences, and we’re excited to bring his expertise to E Source.

You’ll learn:

• What really works to influence employee engagement with CX
• How Oxford engages employees in all roles and at all levels in improving the CX
• The most powerful tools Oxford uses to create a customer-centric culture
• Ideas from Oxford that you can use to engage employees in your utility

Speakers:

Roger Pugsley, Director of Service Excellence, Oxford Properties

Eryc Eyl, Lead Analyst, Customer Experience, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

The E Design 2020 conference introduced attendees to innovative approaches for solving historical problems through a mix of outside industry speakers, inside industry innovators, new E Source research, and hands-on working sessions. We sent participants home with a wealth of new ideas and the inspiration to tackle problems with a fresh perspective.

You can download PDF presentations from the conference via the links below. Note that not all speakers gave us permission to share their presentations.

Looking for content from a previous E Design conference? Members of E Source E Design 2020 can download presentations and other materials from the 2017 event and the 2018 event.

Wednesday, April 17

Top Energy Services Your Customers Want (but Aren’t Getting)

E Source’s unique blend of ethnographic market research and massive volumes of quantitative research provide unparalleled insights into the energy services customers desire and just aren’t getting from their utilities. How might we turn these customer expectations into true offerings? We’ll kick off the conference by combining human factors and statistical evidence highlighting the energy services customers want in areas such as connected homes, electric vehicles, and low-income bill design in order to broaden our lens on how utilities should be designing portfolios for specific customer segments.

Bill LeBlanc, Chief Instigation Agent, E Source

Adam Maxwell, Senior Director, Strategy, Consulting & New Products, E Source

Download Bill LeBlanc and Adam Maxwell’s presentation, Top Energy Services Your Customers Want (but Aren’t Getting) (PDF)

Innovation Surrounds Us, but Why Is It so Hard?

Everywhere we look, we’re surrounded by innovation—from your morning nitro cold-brew coffee to the Hulu subscription you use at night. If innovation is so ubiquitous, why is it hard to even get the ball rolling? We’re bringing in Scott Kirsner, a renowned innovation expert who writes for publications including the Boston Globe, Wired, and Fast Company, to hear his perspective on how companies such as Disney, Google, GM, The Home Depot, and Delta Airlines successfully introduce innovative endeavors to the world.

Scott Kirsner, CEO and Cofounder, Innovation Leader

Learn from Google: User-Centered Techniques That Produce Fast Results

Google is one of the most innovative companies in the world, and we’re getting the inside scoop on how the company’s internal processes lead to innovation. Googlers Doug Mayo-Wells and Amber Heinbockel will share tips for producing innovative results in a short amount of time. Doug is working on a hotel search product involving multiple third parties that relies on user-centered design, sprint methodologies, and rapid prototyping. Amber works for Area120, an internal startup incubator within Google that moves small concepts into big ideas. You’ll learn techniques that are directly applicable at your utility.

Amber Heinbockel, Senior Product Designer, Area 120, Google

Doug Mayo-Wells, Senior UI Designer, Google

You Can’t Engage Your Employees

As utilities adapt and innovate in a rapidly evolving landscape, employee engagement has become increasingly important. Unfortunately, most organizations are using 19th-century approaches to engage 21st-century employees. As they say in the infomercials, “There’s got to be a better way!” And there is. Throw away your assumptions as we embrace a new paradigm of employee engagement.

Eryc Eyl, Lead Analyst, Customer Experience, E Source

Download Eryc Eyl’s presentation, You Can’t Engage Your Employees: An Invitation (PDF)

Working Session: Enhancing Your Innovative Projects

In this hands-on working session, you’ll get an opportunity to share your favorite innovative projects with peers from other utilities and hear about the exciting work others are doing. We’ll go through a series of exercises that leverage the power of group collaboration, enabling others to build on your unique ideas so that you have a brand new set of angles to explore for your project. Throughout the session, E Source will interject challenges to help you dive deeper than you ever could have imagined. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of the excellent work your peer utilities are doing and a slew of new ideas to apply to your own projects.

Adam Maxwell, Senior Director, Strategy, Consulting & New Products, E Source

Download Adam Maxwell’s presentation, Working Session: Enhancing Your Innovative Projects (PDF)

Thursday, April 18

Executives and Regulators Break Down Connected Homes, EVs, Electrification, and More

Our panel of utility executives and regulators will have an open and honest discussion on areas that are ripe for innovation, including connected homes, electric vehicles (EVs), electrification, and solar. These areas are relatively immature, customer needs and desires for them aren’t well understood, and they present a huge opportunity for utilities to design high-value customer offerings. Our panel will discuss effective techniques for creating innovative endeavors that customers will love, such as incorporating customer insights, building cross-functional teams, and embracing new ways of solving problems. We’ll hear about the great work utilities are doing in this space, plus get a regulator’s perspective on enabling utility innovation in ways that directly benefit customers.

Kara Marshall, Supervisor, Business Intelligence Analytics, Eversource

Richard Sedano, President and CEO, Regulatory Assistance Project

Jeff Smith, Energy Efficiency Strategy & Implementation Manager, Georgia Power

Innovation in the Cable TV Industry: A Parallel Universe for Utilities

Did you know that the cable industry invented these things: always-on internet for homes and businesses, Wi-Fi, and IP Video? And it recently developed 10G technology. Innovation by the cable TV industry required them to look beyond entertainment bundles—not just left and right, but multidimensionally and stacking services in new ways. Scott Brown, serial entrepreneur and a vice president at CableLabs—a not-for-profit research and development (R&D) company—will discuss innovation in the cable industry and approaching R&D for long-term value.

Scott Brown, Vice President, Ventures and Outreach, CableLabs

Building Your Customer Insight Muscles for More-Innovative Offerings

Many of the most admired companies in the world are considered truly innovative thanks to their ability to turn seemingly mundane customer insights into offerings people love. Jennifer Sagawa of Egg Strategy has led innovation teams across numerous product and service industries, including private banking, consumer goods, and pharma. She’ll share her experiences working with a variety of companies and how innovation practices take shape by keeping an organizationwide focus on customers. You’ll gain fresh, truly useful tools to help you gather and use insights in new ways that will help your utility keep its focus on customers and develop offerings they can’t wait to participate in.

Jennifer Sagawa, Managing Director and COE of Innovation, Egg Strategy

Aetna: Transforming Healthcare by Being “Member Obsessed”

Founded in 1853 in Hartford, Connecticut, Aetna is committed to providing innovative health and wellness benefits, products, and services. We can draw several parallels between healthcare and utilities: Both are heavily regulated and slow moving, have entrenched perspectives, and face challenges with enacting change. As Aetna’s new director of creative and design overseeing the transformation of the Aetna member digital experience, Sean Will is staring at a task familiar to many in the utility world. Namely, how to shift a mindset and culture to become more customer-centric, or “member obsessed” (using the Aetna vernacular). He’s actively reorienting the company’s digital design strategies and standards while driving the development of new products and services such as the first-ever health and wellness iPhone/Apple Watch app created in collaboration with Apple. Sean will discuss the human-centered methodologies he brought to Aetna with the aim of creating a culture of forward-thinking curiosity, driving internal change, and leading to a more simplified and satisfactory member experience. Hear his story, ask him questions, and be inspired with new ways to further your relentless focus on putting the customer first.

Sean Will, Director, Creative and Design, Digital Experience, The Agency, Aetna

Working Session: Applying Iterative Design to Strategic Utility Initiatives

Incorporating customer feedback into new iterations of a concept is a core practice of design thinking. In this working session, you’ll roll up your sleeves and learn through hands-on exercises how the iterative design process works, specific to utility initiatives. You’ll go through scenario-based exercises with peers from other utilities to iterate on concepts such as connected homes, low-income offerings, and small and midsize business programs. You’ll walk away with actionable techniques to take back home and apply to the great work you’re already doing.

Adam Maxwell, Senior Director, Strategy, Consulting & New Products, E Source

Download Adam Maxwell’s presentation, Working Session: Applying Iterative Design to Strategic Utility Initiatives (PDF)

Download Residential Low-Income Energy Solutions Handout (PDF)

Download Retail Business Customer Energy Solutions Handout (PDF)

Who Cares About Customer-Centricity? They’re Already Our Customers

Why should utilities care about customer-centric innovations? They already own the customer relationship, and most customers don’t have a choice when it comes to their energy provider. Shouldn’t utilities just focus on innovation efforts in technology and other core competencies? We’ll wrap up the conference with a bang in this provocative, lively, and highly interactive session. We’ll debate topics such as:

• Whether utilities can actually be innovative in customer-focused endeavors
• Where utility innovation efforts are best spent
• Whether utilities should be focusing their innovation efforts on areas of strength such as grid modernization and reliability
• Whether new customer-facing revenue-generating products and services will ever be significant enough to warrant genuine attention
• Whether we’re wasting our time on innovation when regulators pose such a huge barrier

Bill LeBlanc, Chief Instigation Agent, E Source

Adam Maxwell, Senior Director, Strategy, Consulting & New Products, E Source

Download Bill LeBlanc and Adam Maxwell’s presentation, Who Cares About Customer-Centricity? They’re Already Our Customers (PDF)

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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What do customers think should happen if their solar panel system generates more electricity than their household needs? Where do customers charge their electric vehicles? Through the E Source DER Insights Center, you can find these answers and more. Join this web conference to learn what residential consumer insights E Source offers and how you can filter the data for customers in your service territory. Utilities often use E Source data to help with distributed energy resource (DER) program planning, education, and strategy.

You’ll learn:

• The breadth of consumer insights E Source offers North American utilities in the DER realm
• How to use our interactive online database to better understand your customers and those in neighboring territories
• A handful of insights about residential customers’ energy attitudes, preferences, behaviors, and priorities

Speaker:

Steven Day, Associate Analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Courtney Welch, Associate Director, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Rachel Cooper, Associate Director, Market Research, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Join us as we present the results of the 2019 E Source Digital Metrics Survey on website analytics. During this web conference, we’ll share data on utility website traffic, account registrations, customer logins, and more.

You’ll learn:

• How web traffic to key pages compares on desktop versus mobile
• The percentage of customers who have utility online accounts
• How many customers are actively using their online accounts

Speaker:

Keenan Samuelson, Senior Analyst, Customer Experience, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).