The challenge

The winter period traditionally sees an increase in customer contact from pre-payment customers, with the colder weather resulting in people using more gas than they do in warmer summer months.

Our client required a temporary increase in the number of pre-payment advisors to manage this peak period, and Sigma Connected agreed to be the sole supplier of additional pre-payment winter support.

The solution

Recruitment started in September, and teams were primed and ready to go at short notice, with advisors going live on calls within just six weeks.

Using a cloud based, low-cost deployment approach, advisors were able to work from ‘anywhere’, overcoming challenges faced by the Covid pandemic.

Advisors appointed by Sigma Connected took general pre-payment enquiries with a particular focus on assisting individuals who had lost their gas cards or whose meters did not match customer expectations in terms of credit.

Operating on the client’s billing system, we delivered the service in their name, and by using an offshore location in South Africa, the service was provided at a much lower cost.

The result

The solution provided by Sigma ensured significant improvements in collections performance, almost trebling the success of the incumbent service provider.

According to the client, customer feedback has been extremely positive and complaint levels have fallen.

Successes of the service include achieving collections liquidations of over 60%, against an initial target of 22%, and call quality scores averaging above 90%, well above the 75% target set by the client.

Team attrition levels have also been extremely low, ensuring continuity of expertise.