TXU - a case study

The customer

TXU Australia is an integrated supplier of gas and electricity based in Victoria. It supplies gas and electricity to more than 1.2 million Australians, making it the sixth largest energy retailer in Australia. TXU Australia is the local arm of TXU global - a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest investor-owned holding companies in the world. Worldwide, TXU has more than 11 million customers in the USA, UK, Europe and Australia.

The challenges

As a major player in the newly deregulated Victorian utility market, TXU Australia's call centre receives over 5100 calls each day with the majority of calls from potential customers requesting gas and electricity quotes, or contracting information. To ensure accurate quotes are delivered promptly to potential customers, correct address details are vital to TXU's operations.

When choosing an address management solution, TXU was looking for a product that would assist its call centre operators to quickly and efficiently service customers' needs. According to Michael Foreshew, Enterprise Systems Manager at TXU, "One of the primary outcomes we were looking for from an address management solution was to enable TXU's customers to get directly to the real reason for their call - their energy needs - rather than taking up their valuable time going through address details."

Discussing how TXU came to select QAS Pro, from Experian QAS, Michael Foreshew stated "Experian QAS was one of the vendors introduced to us by Siebel Systems Inc, who were implementing our CRM solution at the time. By implementing QAS alongside our Siebel eEnergy Call Centre 2000 solution, we knew that we would be utilising our investment as best we could from day one."

The solution

TXU realised that key to having an effective and efficient call centre was to ensure database data was as close to 100 per cent accurate as possible. TXU began working with Experian QAS in 2001 when, as part of its overall Siebel Systems' eBusiness solution, it implemented QAS in its call centre.

While other address management solutions simply clean up a database and fix incorrect addresses, QAS allows TXU's call centre staff to rapidly enter and verify an address while the customer is on the phone. The QAS range is based on Australia Post's Postal Address File, which contains over 10.2 million addresses in Australia.

When a customer calls TXU, a call centre operator using QAS can bring up an accurate, complete customer address within eight keystrokes - rapidly reducing the time taken to capture an address, and also diminishing the incidence of incorrect addresses to virtually nil.

The benefits

TXU call centre staff have been very positive about the results they have seen since the implementation of QAS. It enables staff to bring up a customer address in just a few keystrokes, delivering enormous improvements in call handling time. It also minimises the chance of missing out on potential customers as it allows TXU to get information to the right address in a shorter time period.

At present, the average call length to TXU's call centre is three minutes and 36 seconds, and the average time taken for an operator to answer calls is 14 seconds. With the implementation of QAS, TXU is already beginning to see improvements in this average call length and speed of answer.

"Ultimately we are able to service more of our customer's needs", said Michael Foreshew. "QAS has allowed us to enhance our relationships with our customers, which helps TXU to retain its valuable customer base. We are confident this solution will impact positively on TXU's bottom line, revenue generation and profitability."

For further information about Experian QAS, please contact QAS.