Bord Gáis Energy, which serves more than 700,000 customers across Ireland, has implemented Oracle Utilities, Customer Care and Billing to streamline its business operations.
The new system that has replaced its legacy customer information system has already had knock-on benefits such as reduced operational costs, better quality of customer care and increased efficiency of gas and electricity billing systems.
“The principal business driver for replacing our Customer Information System (CIS) system was clearly to comply with the directions of the energy regulator,” said David Bunworth, head of energy supply at Bord Gáis Energy.
“However, the changed business environment of the competitive market means we also had to adapt our business model to take full advantage of the new opportunities it brings.
We had to place a greater emphasis on the quality of service we provide to our customers and, at the same time, focus on reducing our operational costs and growing our market share if we wanted to remain competitive.”
The new system also automates maintenance and scheduling, as well as enabling unrestricted message exchange with other energy suppliers.
The initial rollout in December 2008 catered for the 700,000 natural gas customer base. Following the successful rollout, Bord Gáis Energy extended the product to support its residential electricity launch in February 2009.
“Monitoring its key performance indicators in this way will help Bord Gáis Energy to easily bridge the gap between customer information and other corporate strategic initiatives,” said Quentin Grady, senior vice-president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.
By John Kennedy
