Utility Customer Service Chat Solutions

This session focused on the current use, experiences, and future plans of various utilities regarding chat tools, both live and virtual assistants (chatbots). Utilities shared a mix of mature and early-stage implementations of chat solutions, highlighting varied strategies based on organizational needs and customer expectations. Some utilities have established digital assistants handling outage-related and other basic inquiries, with escalation paths to live agents. Others are at earlier stages, balancing live agent coverage with limited bot capabilities and planning for future AI integration.

Participants broadly discussed technology choices, staffing models, customer experiences, and AI adoption philosophies, offering rich insights into the operational and strategic facets of chat functionality in utility customer service.

Several important themes emerged, including managing customer expectations, agent training for chat-specific communication, balancing chat and voice channels, and planning future AI and platform upgrades. Challenges around integration, resource commitments for bot programming, and transitioning from scripted answers to AI-driven dynamic responses were commonly noted.

The forum closed with an acknowledgment of potential follow-up sessions to track ongoing advancements and lessons learned.

For more Information contact Debi Cook at 760-272-7277