We worked with the EDF Energy SME Business team who were dealing with the usual sector pressures of being an energy retailer in the UK. The Small & Medium Enterprises business unit felt this more than most as the team looked at how to deliver better service whilst reducing cost and complexity within a much larger group operation.
Challenge
- Being part of a wider group – the SME function operated between large enterprises and residential – meant that it was becoming essential to find and give voice to what was important to their target businesses from EDF.
- It was equally recognised that input was urgently required to shape the immediate and longer terms plans that were being put in place, but in a way that brought the EDF SME team into the process collaboratively.
Solution
- We created Colleague led Experience Makers who came together in cross functional teams to agree, conduct and review a whole range of activities. This involved creating the Current & Future state Customer Journeys.
- These internally created Journeys were tested against the Customers external view at every stage (interestingly EDF often felt they were worse than the customers actually said) and supported with extensive data and cost validation.
- Customer Personas were created that identified the different types of SME Customers that existed in terms of their product and service requirements.
- All this was set into context against what the future vision & goals for EDF Energy were for the business as a whole.
Outcome
- A clear roadmap for the development of the business. Covering not just the what, but also how and by who, complete with priorities and a governance process for managing people though this type of change.
- Right from the start our process instilled a collective and collaborative Colleague approach that had immediate business benefits in terms of issue identification and resolution.
- Created a Cost To Serve model at a level that showed clearly what the scale of financial opportunity was by focussing on the things the SME customers wanted.
“You’ve provided us with some very useful insight, some good ideas & most importantly momentum for us to go and deliver” Rich Hughes, SME Business Director, EDF Energy
