Beyond transactions creating value through customer partnerships in utilities

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities
An Economist Intelligence Unit white paper
Sponsored by SAP


Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Preface

Beyond transactions: Creating value through customer partnerships in utilities is an Economist Intelligence
Unit report sponsored by SAP. The Economist Intelligence Unit bears sole responsibility for this report.
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s editorial team conducted the interviews and wrote the report. The
findings and views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsor. Dan
Armstrong was the editor of the report and Dorian Benkoil as the author. Mike Kenny was responsible for
layout and design. Our thanks are due to all of the executives who responded to the survey.
October 2009

1

© Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2009


Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Contents

2

Introduction

3

Key findings

4

Conclusion

7

Appendix 1: Overall survey results

8

Appendix 2: Americas survey results

13

Appendix 3: Asia-Pacific survey results

18

Appendix 4: EMEA survey results

23

© Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2009


Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Introduction

A half-century ago, when energy was cheap and conservation rare, electricity consumption grew on
average by 9-10% per year. Today lower levels of economic growth, higher energy prices, greater
conservation and the movement of people to warmer climates have reduced the level of growth to closer
to 1% per year.1 As economic activity and the demand for electricity slows, power utilities need to work
harder to understand the needs of customers in order to keep revenues and margins high.
Water utilities have more robust customer demand, but face different customer challenges. These
include growing public concerns about water quality and supply, more recycling and re-use of water, and
the need to raise prices to recover higher costs in an environment which is often heavily regulated.
Both types of utilities face pressure from regulators and consumers pressing for “green” alternatives
that decrease carbon emissions. Utilities customers have more choice than ever, brought on by
deregulation, government mandates, market forces, and new transparency in information and pricing.
To survive and thrive, utilities companies need to deepen their understanding of existing customers to
understand which are most valuable and how best to retain them. They must also develop a brand identity
to differentiate their products from commodities.

About the survey
1. Rate of Electricity Demand
Growth Slows, Following
the Historical Trend, Energy
Information Administration/

Annual Energy Outlook 2009,
US Government Printing Office,
Washington DC, 2009

3

In a survey completed in September 2009, the
Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed 105 utilities
industry executives on the challenges of getting
customer-facing departments to work together more
consistently and effectively. Respondents spanned

the globe, with 28% from the Americas, 24% from
the Asia-Pacific region and the rest from EMEA.
Electric power utilities made up the largest group of
respondents, with 57%, followed by gas with 38%, and
water, sewage and other types of utilities comprising
the remainder. One third of respondents had annual
revenues of over $10bn, and average annual revenues
of respondents were approximately $5bn.
© Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2009


Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Key findings

Building the brand

While most consumers know the name of their utility provider, they may not have a sense of its brand—the
image that differentiates it from other firms in the industry. Thirty-two percent of respondents to the
Economist Intelligence Unit survey acknowledge that giving customers a consistent picture of the
organisation is an activity most in need of improvement. Respondents also admit that they have not
sufficiently differentiated themselves from other utilities.
Building a consistent brand is critical in an era when customers know exactly how much utility services
cost, can compare the costs of different providers on online sites, and can switch providers at will.

Mining customer information
One of the best ways to learn about customers and their needs is by building longer-term relationships
with them. Sixty percent of survey respondents say they have strengthened relationships with customers
over the past year and 56% say they are more engaged in developing products or services collaboratively
with them. Yet respondents also cite building longer-term relationships with customers as an activity in
need of improvement at their organisation (33%), followed by giving customers a consistent picture of
the organisation (32%), and gathering customer intelligence in the course of providing service (25%).
Customer information will be wasted if it is not shared across customer-facing departments. Nearly
80% of the utilities companies surveyed acknowledge less-than-full integration of information across
marketing, sales and customer service in each of eight categories.
Which of your organisation’s activities are most in need of improvement?
(% respondents)
Building long-term relationships
33

Providing a consistent customer experience
32

Gathering customer intelligence in the course of providing service
25

Targeting the right customers in order to close a high percentage of prospects

24

Segmenting and profiling customers
21
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit survey, September 2009.

4

© Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2009


Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Improving online relationships
In an era where price comparisons are easy to find on the internet, utilities are striving to provide
customers with a richer online experience. This will not only enhance the brand and increase the
perception of accessibility and openness, but can also reduce the cost of sales by making interactions
more efficient.
Utilities industry executives report empowering customers by improving online and self-service
product support tools; improving usability, search and navigation on customer-facing websites, and
building or supporting online customer communities. Forty-two percent of respondents also say they are
developing a social media strategy.

Commoditisation conundrum
Survey respondents do not see pricing as a way to differentiate their products. A plurality says that they
lack pricing flexibility compared to their competitors, and seven out of ten suggest that pricing flexibility
is not necessary, since price is not the most important concern for their customers anyway. These results
are not surprising in an often regulated and frequently oligopolistic industry. Without the ability to

distinguish their products based on price, companies need to find other differentiators.
Forty-eight percent of respondents admit their biggest challenge is that “customers see our products
and services as commodities,” and 55% say customers view their organisation’s products and services
more as commodities than five years ago. Nevertheless, only about a quarter of survey respondents say
they are good at using customer feedback to differentiate their offerings. In other words, nearly threequarters of utilities companies—whose toughest challenge is perceived commoditisation of their products
and services—do a poor job of using customer feedback to improve their performance in this area.
What are your biggest challenge in acquiring customers?
(% respondents)
Customers see our products and services as commodities
48

Regulatory restrictions in providing services
30

Large infrastructure costs in fulfilling new orders
24

Perceived cost of switching (base is overly entrenched)
19

We have not sufficiently differentiated our brand
18
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit survey, September 2009.

5

© Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2009


Beyond transactions

Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

How the regions differ
The survey of utilities executives spanned three regions: the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA. Each faces
its own challenges.
The Americas Of the three regions, the Americas has the farthest to go in partnering with customers.
Most firms in the Americas have neither used customer feedback to differentiate offerings nor developed
products collaboratively with customers. The Americas is less focused on customer service, and most
focused on operational excellence, and respondents in the Americas tend to say that margins are thin and
pricing flexibility minimal.
Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific has made the most progress in partnering with customers. It is the antithesis
image of the Americas: most focused on customer service and the least on operational excellence.
Asia-Pacific firms are most likely to say that customer service, sales and marketing are well integrated in
almost every category, and most emphatic in stressing the need to develop and share a unified picture of
customers.
EMEA Companies in all three regions cite reliability above all other factors in persuading potential
customers to buy. But after reliability, companies in the EMEA region have the strongest focus on flexible
product offerings. This differentiator is higher ranked in EMEA than elsewhere.

6

© Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2009


Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Conclusion

A recent Harvard Business Review essay said, “Electricity and gas customers—aided by the utilities
themselves—are reducing consumption. Sales are already flattening and they’ll only fall faster as
governments put in place more incentives to control greenhouse gas emissions.”2 In this low-demand
environment, utilities will need to reach out to customers to find things that they will pay for—service,
reliability, shared values—to maintain margins and keep them from switching providers.
That nearly half (49%) cites operational excellence as their core strength (rather than customer
service or product innovation) is no surprise in a capital-intensive industry with long lead times and a
focus on reliability. But there are limits to the customer benefits of operational improvements, especially
when these improvements are not informed by customer intelligence. The biggest benefits may come
from making better use of customer information, gathering it and sharing it across sales, marketing and
customer service. Not only will companies be able to act on the information more quickly, they may be
able to persuade regulators to provide more flexibility.
To achieve the goals of information gathering and integration, utilities should:
l Integrate marketing, sales and service activities, sharing information among customer-facing
departments, achieving economies and lowering the cost of sales
l Increase their understanding of customers, and their ability to market to them, based on their lifetime
value
l Build a consistent brand image, and reinforce it in dealings with the customer

2. Fix Utilities Before They Need
a Rescue, Peter Fox-Penner,
Harvard Business Review, JulyAugust 2009

7

Customers take utilities for granted. Water flows from a tap; electricity comes from an outlet; waste
disappears with the press of a button. But modern life would end without the services provided by
utilities. Despite their underlying value, most utility companies are only noticed by customers when there
is a problem.

To be noticed by customers, management needs to move beyond the operational mindset that has
historically dominated the industry. Utilities need to better understand what customers value, share
this information among customer-facing functions, and hammer home this value at every opportunity.
More than the organisation itself is at stake: Healthy and profitable utilities are necessary for a growing
economy as well as a clean environment.
© Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2009


Appendix 1
Overall survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Appendix: Overall survey results

In your view, which of the following best represents the core strength of your overall business? Select only one.
(% respondents)

Operational excellence: Creating highly efficient processes

49

Customer service: Providing superior service to clients

36

Product innovation: First to market with groundbreaking new products or services

12

Other

3

Each of the organisation’s customer-facing departments influences the customer via different channels. For each of the
processes below, how closely do your marketing, sales and customer service units work together? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5.
(% respondents)
1. No coordination;
units are completely
separate

2. Ad hoc coordination;
not systematic
or consistent

3. Some procedures
established, but not
consistently followed

4. Procedures
established, regular
interaction

5. Broad, systematic and
consistent integration of
information and strategies

Don’t know

Generating, tracking and measuring leads
3

10

28

32

17

10

Developing and launching new products
2

13

20

38

15

11

Planning and executing campaigns
3

10

23

41

16

8

Analysing and segmenting customers
5

10

27

28

19

11

Gauging customer satisfaction
5

9

28

30

24

4

Measuring effectiveness of processes
4

12

35

33

13

5

Responding to customer demands or complaints
1

12

16

42

25

4

Incorporating customer feedback into products/services
7

18

24

32

14

5

Other
5

0
8

5

26

20

16

40

47

60

80

100

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 1
Overall survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
(% respondents)
Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

In chosing to do business with my organisation, price is the single most important factor most customers consider
31

65

4

Compared to our competitors, my organisation’s customers are more loyal
52

27

21

My organisation has an accurate way to estimate the lifetime value of customers
41

42

17

My organisation prioritises sales and marketing resources based on each customer’s lifetime value
34

40

26

We are currently developing a social media strategy
42

34

25

My organisation has more flexibility than its competitors in pricing its products
36

48

17

Despite the recession, my organisation has greatly strengthened customer relationships over the past 12 months
58

27

15

We are more engaged in developing products or services collaboratively with customers than we were 12 months ago
51

36

13

Customers view my organisation’s products and services more as commodities now than five years ago
55

27

17

Our margins are higher than the margins of most of our competitors
27

0

46

20

40

60

In your view, which of your organisation’s activities are most
in need of improvement? Select up to four.
(% respondents)

27

80

100

Which of the following would provide the biggest benefits in
integrating your organisation’s marketing, sales and service
activities? Select up to three.
(% respondents)

Building long-term relationships
33

Providing a consistent customer experience

Developing and sharing a detailed picture of customers,
behaviour and preferences
31

32

Gathering customer intelligence in the course of providing service

Presenting customers with a consistent picture of the organisation
30

25

Targeting the right customers in order to close a high percentage of prospects
24

30

Segmenting and profiling customers
21

Cross-selling or upselling customers
20

Ensuring that customer complaints are resolved quickly
20

Measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty
19

Involving customers product/service development (eg, co-creation)
18

Generating qualified leads
17

Creating effective collateral
15

Efficiently acquiring customers (eg, reducing the cost of sales)
14

Measuring/optimising effectiveness of marketing and promotional campaigns
11

Maximising the number of repeat sales
11

Making each unit aware of how the others have
interacted with a given customer
Prioritising resources directed towards customers
by total value over life of customer
28

Helping each function find and act on ways to support the others
26

Integrating customer tracking from lead through post-sales service
25

Establishing common definitions, assumptions and data
18

Measuring the probability that leads will turn into sales,
and using these scores to guide sales
9

Our company sees no need to integrate our marketing,
sales and service activities
4

Other
4

Don’t know/Not applicable
12

Other
4

Don’t know
8

9

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009

Appendix 1
Overall survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Which of the following trends have had the greatest impact on
your business over the past 12 months? Select up to three.
(% respondents)

Given the trend towards increasing customer choice among
differentiated utilities services, which factors has your
organisation best presented to customers to influence
purchase decisions? Select up to four.
(% respondents)

Global economic downturn
65

Significant demand shifts for our products/services

Reliability

28

65

Finding access to credit/capital

Customer service

27

41

Focusing on sustainability efforts

Environmental “green” concerns

23

38

Emergence of new competitors

Price

21

32

Changing customer requirements

Flexibility in changing offerings

21

30

Disruptive technology developments

Safety

16

26

Emergence of new markets for our products and services

Overall customer experience

11

25

Accessing key components or resources through our supply chain

Ability to scale quickly to meet demand spikes

10

18

Other

Source of power generation (hydroelectric, natural gas, wind, solar, etc.)
7

18

Don’t know

Variable pricing (based on demand, season, etc.)

3

17

Convenience
12

Other
1

In which of the following ways does your organisation
empower its customers? Select all that apply.

Don’t know
3

(% respondents)
Improving usability, search and navigation of customer-facing websites
38

Improving online or self-service product support tools
38

Making prices and sales terms more transparent for easy comparability

37

How well has your organisation made use of customer feedback
to differentiate utilities offerings and make them appear less
commoditised?
(% respondents)

Investing in self-service tools across multiple channels
(eg, web, mobile devices, e-mail, point of sale)
31

Building or supporting online customer communities
28

Other
4

Don’t know
10

10

Seamlessly

2

Very well

25

Somewhat

57

Poorly

12

Not at all

4

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 1
Overall survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

In which region are you personally based?

Which of the following represents your institution’s biggest
challenge in acquiring customers? Select up to two.

(% respondents)

(% respondents)

Western Europe
35

Customers see our products and services as commodities
48

Asia-Pacific
24

Regulatory restrictions in providing services
30

North America
24

Large infrastructure costs in fulfilling new orders
24

Eastern Europe
9

Perceived cost of switching (base is overly entrenched)
19

Middle East and Africa
5

We have not sufficiently differentiated our brand
18

Latin America
4

Too difficult to compile and analyse leads from different sources
8

Other
2

Don’t know
6

Which of the following services does your company provide?
(% respondents)
Power
57

Gas
38

Water
8

Sewage
5

Other
34

Which of the following best describes your title?

(% respondents)
Board member
2

CEO/President/Managing director
10

CFO/Treasurer/Comptroller
6

CIO/Technology director
2

Other C-level executive
4

SVP/VP/Director
12

Head of Business Unit
5

Head of Department
23

Manager
30

Other
7

11

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 1
Overall survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Who are your organisation’s primary customers?

What are your organisation’s global annual revenues
in US dollars?

(% respondents)

(% respondents)
Business-to-business 47
$500m or less

27

$500m to $1bn 17
$1bn to $5bn

13

$5bn to $10bn

10

$10bn or more

33

Consumer/retail

12

Both

41

Which perspective—consumer/retail or
business-to-business—are you sharing in this survey?

What are your main functional roles? Please choose no more
than three functions.

(% respondents)

(% respondents)
Consumer/retail

General management
35

Strategy and business development

69

Business-to-business 31

35

Operations and production
21

Finance
17

IT
13

Marketing
11

Customer service
11

Sales
10

Risk
9

R&D
8

Human resources
8

Procurement
5

Information and research
3

Legal
3

Supply-chain management
2

Other
5

12

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 2
Americas survey results

Beyond transactions

Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Appendix: Americas survey results

In your view, which of the following best represents the core strength of your overall business? Select only one.
(% respondents)

Operational excellence: Creating highly efficient processes

59

Customer service: Providing superior service to clients

38

Product innovation: First to market with groundbreaking new products or services

3

Other

0

Each of the organisation’s customer-facing departments influences the customer via different channels. For each of the processes
below, how closely do your marketing, sales and customer service units work together? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5.
(% respondents)
1. No coordination;
units are completely
separate

2. Ad hoc coordination;
not systematic
or consistent

3. Some procedures
established, but not
consistently followed

4. Procedures
established, regular
interaction

5. Broad, systematic and
consistent integration of
information and strategies

Don’t know

Generating, tracking and measuring leads
3

14

24

24

21

14

Developing and launching new products
3

14

31

14

17

21

Planning and executing campaigns
3

7

28

31

17

14

Analysing and segmenting customers
3

7

24

24

24

17

Gauging customer satisfaction
7

7

17

31

31

7

Measuring effectiveness of processes
3

14

24

38

17

3

Responding to customer demands or complaints
14

21

28

31

7

17

7

Incorporating customer feedback into products/services
10

14

21

31

Other
29

0
13

20

14

40

57

60

80

100

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 2
Americas survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
(% respondents)
Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

In chosing to do business with my organisation, price is the single most important factor most customers consider
32

64

4

Compared to our competitors, my organisation’s customers are more loyal
63

22

15

33

15

My organisation has an accurate way to estimate the lifetime value of customers
52

My organisation prioritises sales and marketing resources based on each customer’s lifetime value
37

41

22

We are currently developing a social media strategy
46

31

23

My organisation has more flexibility than its competitors in pricing its products
44

41

15

Despite the recession, my organisation has greatly strengthened customer relationships over the past 12 months
43

39

18

We are more engaged in developing products or services collaboratively with customers than we were 12 months ago
37

37

26

Customers view my organisation’s products and services more as commodities now than five years ago
52

19

30

Our margins are higher than the margins of most of our competitors
33

0

41

20

40

60

In your view, which of your organisation’s activities are most
in need of improvement? Select up to four.
(% respondents)

26

80

100

Which of the following would provide the biggest benefits in
integrating your organisation’s marketing, sales and service
activities? Select up to three.
(% respondents)

Providing a consistent customer experience
28

Presenting customers with a consistent picture of the organisation

Measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty

38
24

Involving customers product/service development (eg, co-creation)

Developing and sharing a detailed picture of customers,
behaviour and preferences
31

24

Generating qualified leads
21

Targeting the right customers in order to close a high percentage of prospects

31

21

Helping each function find and act on ways to support the others

21

Prioritising resources directed towards customers
by total value over life of customer

24

Building long-term relationships
Gathering customer intelligence in the course of providing service
21

Segmenting and profiling customers
17

Efficiently acquiring customers (eg, reducing the cost of sales)
17

Ensuring that customer complaints are resolved quickly
17

Creating effective collateral

14

Measuring/optimising effectiveness of marketing and promotional campaigns
10

Cross-selling or upselling customers
10

Maximising the number of repeat sales
7

Making each unit aware of how the others have interacted
with a given customer

24

Integrating customer tracking from lead through post-sales service
17

Establishing common definitions, assumptions and data
14

Measuring the probability that leads will turn into sales,
and using these scores to guide sales
7

Our company sees no need to integrate our marketing,
sales and service activities
0

Other
0

Don’t know/Not applicable
17

Other
7

Don’t know
10

14

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 2
Americas survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Which of the following trends have had the greatest impact on
your business over the past 12 months? Select up to three.
(% respondents)

Given the trend towards increasing customer choice among
differentiated utilities services, which factors has your

organisation best presented to customers to influence
purchase decisions? Select up to four.
(% respondents)

Global economic downturn
62

Emergence of new competitors

Reliability
38

62

Finding access to credit/capital

Customer service
34

45

Changing customer requirements

Environmental “green” concerns

24

41

Significant demand shifts for our products/services

Overall customer experience

21

34

Disruptive technology developments

Price

17

31

Emergence of new markets for our products and services

Ability to scale quickly to meet demand spikes

14

24

Focusing on sustainability efforts

Safety

14

24

Accessing key components or resources through our supply chain

Flexibility in changing offerings

7

21

Other

Variable pricing (based on demand, season, etc.)

3

17

Don’t know

Source of power generation (hydroelectric, natural gas, wind, solar, etc.)

7

14

Convenience
10

Other
0

In which of the following ways does your organisation
empower its customers? Select all that apply.

Don’t know
3

(% respondents)
Improving usability, search and navigation of customer-facing websites
45

Improving online or self-service product support tools
41

Building or supporting online customer communities
28

How well has your organisation made use of customer feedback
to differentiate utilities offerings and make them appear less
commoditised?
(% respondents)

Making prices and sales terms more transparent for easy comparability
28

Investing in self-service tools across multiple channels
(eg, web, mobile devices, e-mail, point of sale)
24

Other

0

Don’t know
7

15

Seamlessly

3

Very well

14

Somewhat

69

Poorly

10

Not at all

3

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009

Appendix 2
Americas survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Which of the following represents your institution’s biggest
challenge in acquiring customers?
Select up to two.

In which region are you personally based?

(% respondents)

North America

Customers see our products and services as commodities

Latin America

(% respondents)

86
14

45

Asia-Pacific

Regulatory restrictions in providing services
38

Large infrastructure costs in fulfilling new orders
24

Perceived cost of switching (base is overly entrenched)
17

We have not sufficiently differentiated our brand
14

0

Eastern Europe
0

Western Europe
0

Middle East and Africa
0

Too difficult to compile and analyse leads from different sources
7

Other

Which of the following services does your company provide?

0

Don’t know

(% respondents)

7

Power
62

Gas
28

Sewage
10

Water
7

Other
17

Which of the following best describes your title?
(% respondents)
Board member
0

CEO/President/Managing director
10

CFO/Treasurer/Comptroller
7

CIO/Technology director
0

Other C-level executive
3

SVP/VP/Director
17

Head of Business Unit
3

Head of Department
10

Manager
38

Other
10

16

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009

Appendix 2
Americas survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Who are your organisation’s primary customers?

What are your organisation’s global annual revenues
in US dollars?

(% respondents)

(% respondents)
Business-to-business 39
$500m or less

34

$500m to $1bn 24
$1bn to $5bn

Consumer/retail

14

Both

46

7

$5bn to $10bn

7

$10bn or more

28

Which perspective—consumer/retail or
business-to-business—are you sharing in this survey?

What are your main functional roles?
Please choose no more than three functions.

(% respondents)

(% respondents)
Strategy and business development
38

General management

Consumer/retail

58

Business-to-business 42

31

Operations and production
28

Finance
21

Customer service
17

Risk
14

Sales
10

R&D
10

Human resources
10

Marketing
7

Procurement
7

IT
3

Legal
3

Supply-chain management
3

Information and research
0

Other
3

17

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 3
Asia-Pacific
survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Appendix: Asia-Pacific survey results

In your view, which of the following best represents the core strength of your overall business? Select only one.
(% respondents)

Customer service: Providing superior service to clients

44

Operational excellence: Creating highly efficient processes

40

Product innovation: First to market with groundbreaking new products or services

12

Other

4

Each of the organisation’s customer-facing departments influences the customer via different channels. For each of the processes
below, how closely do your marketing, sales and customer service units work together? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5.
(% respondents)
1. No coordination;
units are completely
separate

2. Ad hoc coordination;
not systematic
or consistent

3. Some procedures
established, but not
consistently followed

4. Procedures
established, regular
interaction

5. Broad, systematic and
consistent integration of
information and strategies

Don’t know

Generating, tracking and measuring leads
4

4

21

50

13

8

Developing and launching new products
4

4

17

46

17

13

Planning and executing campaigns
4

8

13

54

13

8

Analysing and segmenting customers
8

4

33

29

25

0

33

25

0

38

21

0

50

21

0

Gauging customer satisfaction
4

8

29

Measuring effectiveness of processes
4

4

33

Responding to customer demands or complaints
4

4

21

Incorporating customer feedback into products/services
8

8

21

38

17

8

Other

0
18

20

40

20

40

60

40

80

100

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 3
Asia-Pacific
survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
(% respondents)
Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

In chosing to do business with my organisation, price is the single most important factor most customers consider
24

72

4

Compared to our competitors, my organisation’s customers are more loyal
52

24

24

My organisation has an accurate way to estimate the lifetime value of customers
40

48

12

40

12

My organisation prioritises sales and marketing resources based on each customer’s lifetime value
48

We are currently developing a social media strategy
25

42

33

My organisation has more flexibility than its competitors in pricing its products
36

56

8

20

8

Despite the recession, my organisation has greatly strengthened customer relationships over the past 12 months
72

We are more engaged in developing products or services collaboratively with customers than we were 12 months ago
60

36

4

Customers view my organisation’s products and services more as commodities now than five years ago
52

32

16

56

16

Our margins are higher than the margins of most of our competitors
28

0

20

40

60

In your view, which of your organisation’s activities are most
in need of improvement? Select up to four.
(% respondents)

80

100

Which of the following would provide the biggest benefits in
integrating your organisation’s marketing, sales and service
activities? Select up to three.
(% respondents)

Building long-term relationships
52

Providing a consistent customer experience

Developing and sharing a detailed picture of customers,
behaviour and preferences
40

36

Targeting the right customers in order to close a high percentage of prospects

Helping each function find and act on ways to support the others
32

32

Cross-selling or upselling customers
28

Segmenting and profiling customers
24

Ensuring that customer complaints are resolved quickly
24

Gathering customer intelligence in the course of providing service
24

Generating qualified leads
16

Creating effective collateral
12

Measuring/optimising effectiveness of marketing and promotional campaigns
12

Measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty
12

Maximising the number of repeat sales
8

Efficiently acquiring customers (eg, reducing the cost of sales)
8

Involving customers product/service development (eg, co-creation)
8

Prioritising resources directed towards customers
by total value over life of customer
24

Establishing common definitions, assumptions and data
20

Integrating customer tracking from lead through post-sales service
20

Making each unit aware of how the others have
interacted with a given customer
20

Measuring the probability that leads will turn into sales,
and using these scores to guide sales
20

Presenting customers with a consistent picture of the organisation
16

Our company sees no need to integrate our marketing,
sales and service activities
12

Other
8

Don’t know/Not applicable
8

Other
0

Don’t know
8

19

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 3
Asia-Pacific
survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Which of the following trends have had the greatest impact on
your business over the past 12 months? Select up to three.
(% respondents)

Given the trend towards increasing customer choice among
differentiated utilities services, which factors has your
organisation best presented to customers to influence
purchase decisions? Select up to four.
(% respondents)

Global economic downturn
68

Focusing on sustainability efforts

Reliability
36

80

Significant demand shifts for our products/services

Customer service

32

52

Emergence of new competitors

Safety

28

44

Finding access to credit/capital

Environmental “green” concerns

24

36

Disruptive technology developments

Price

16

32

Accessing key components or resources through our supply chain

Overall customer experience

16

32

Emergence of new markets for our products and services

Ability to scale quickly to meet demand spikes

8

20

Changing customer requirements

Variable pricing (based on demand, season, etc.)

8

16

Other

Flexibility in changing offerings

4

16

Don’t know

Source of power generation (hydroelectric, natural gas, wind, solar, etc.)

0

16

Convenience
4

Other
0

In which of the following ways does your organisation
empower its customers? Select all that apply.

Don’t know
0

(% respondents)
Making prices and sales terms more transparent for easy comparability
40

Building or supporting online customer communities
36

Investing in self-service tools across multiple channels
(eg, web, mobile devices, e-mail, point of sale)

How well has your organisation made use of customer feedback
to differentiate utilities offerings and make them appear less
commoditised?
(% respondents)

36

Improving online or self-service product support tools
36

Improving usability, search and navigation of customer-facing websites
24

Other
4

Don’t know
12

20

Seamlessly

0

Very well

32

Somewhat

56

Poorly

8

Not at all

4

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 3
Asia-Pacific

survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Which of the following represents your institution’s biggest
challenge in acquiring customers?
Select up to two.

In which region are you personally based?

(% respondents)

Asia-Pacific

Regulatory restrictions in providing services

Latin America

(% respondents)

100
40

0

North America

Customers see our products and services as commodities

32

0

Eastern Europe

Large infrastructure costs in fulfilling new orders
32

Perceived cost of switching (base is overly entrenched)
28

We have not sufficiently differentiated our brand
24

0

Western Europe
0

Middle East and Africa
0

Too difficult to compile and analyse leads from different sources
12

Other
0

Don’t know

Which of the following services does your company provide?
(% respondents)

0

Power
52

Gas
24

Water
12

Sewage
0

Other
32

Which of the following best describes your title?
(% respondents)
Board member
4

CEO/President/Managing director
16

CFO/Treasurer/Comptroller

8

CIO/Technology director
0

Other C-level executive
8

SVP/VP/Director
12

Head of Business Unit
8

Head of Department
16

Manager
16

Other
12

21

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 3
Asia-Pacific

survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Who are your organisation’s primary customers?

What are your organisation’s global annual revenues
in US dollars?

(% respondents)

(% respondents)
Business-to-business 60
$500m or less

40

$500m to $1bn 24
$1bn to $5bn

Consumer/retail

16

Both

24

12

$5bn to $10bn

4

$10bn or more

20

Which perspective—consumer/retail or
business-to-business—are you sharing in this survey?

What are your main functional roles?
Please choose no more than three functions.

(% respondents)

(% respondents)
General management
36

Strategy and business development

Consumer/retail

80

Business-to-business 20

36

Operations and production
32

IT
24

Finance
20

Customer service
12

Marketing
8

Procurement
8

Human resources
8

Risk
4

Sales
4

R&D

4

Legal
4

Supply-chain management
4

Information and research
0

Other
4

22

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 4
EMEA survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Appendix: Europe Middle East and Africa
survey results
In your view, which of the following best represents the core strength of your overall business? Select only one.
(% respondents)

Operational excellence: Creating highly efficient processes

47

Customer service: Providing superior service to clients

31

Product innovation: First to market with groundbreaking new products or services

18

Other

4

Each of the organisation’s customer-facing departments influences the customer via different channels. For each of the processes
below, how closely do your marketing, sales and customer service units work together? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5.
(% respondents)
1. No coordination;
units are completely
separate

2. Ad hoc coordination;
not systematic
or consistent

3. Some procedures
established, but not

consistently followed

4. Procedures
established, regular
interaction

5. Broad, systematic and
consistent integration of
information and strategies

Don’t know

Generating, tracking and measuring leads
2

10

35

29

16

8

Developing and launching new products
18

16

49

14

4

16

4

Planning and executing campaigns
2

12

26

40

Analysing and segmenting customers
4

14

26

30

14

12

Gauging customer satisfaction
4

10

35

29

18

4

Measuring effectiveness of processes
4

14

41

27

6

8

Responding to customer demands or complaints
14

12

47

24

4

Incorporating customer feedback into products/services
4

26

28

30

10 2

Other
14

0
23

14

20

14

40

14

43

60

80

100

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009


Appendix 4
EMEA survey results

Beyond transactions
Creating value through customer
partnerships in utilities

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
(% respondents)
Agree

Disagree

Don’t know

In chosing to do business with my organisation, price is the single most important factor most customers consider
33

63

4

Compared to our competitors, my organisation’s customers are more loyal
46

32

22

43

22

My organisation has an accurate way to estimate the lifetime value of customers
35

My organisation prioritises sales and marketing resources based on each customer’s lifetime value
25

39

35

We are currently developing a social media strategy
47

31

22

47

22

My organisation has more flexibility than its competitors in pricing its products
31

Despite the recession, my organisation has greatly strengthened customer relationships over the past 12 months
59

24

18

We are more engaged in developing products or services collaboratively with customers than we were 12 months ago
55

35

10

Customers view my organisation’s products and services more as commodities now than five years ago
59

29

12

Our margins are higher than the margins of most of our competitors
24

0

43

20

40

60

In your view, which of your organisation’s activities are most
in need of improvement? Select up to four.
(% respondents)

33

80

100

Which of the following would provide the biggest benefits in
integrating your organisation’s marketing, sales and service

activities? Select up to three.
(% respondents)

Providing a consistent customer experience
33

Building long-term relationships

Making each unit aware of how the others have
interacted with a given customer
35

31

Gathering customer intelligence in the course of providing service

Presenting customers with a consistent picture of the organisation
33

27

Integrating customer tracking from lead through post-sales service

Segmenting and profiling customers

31

22

Targeting the right customers in order to close a high percentage of prospects

22

31

Cross-selling or upselling customers
22

Ensuring that customer complaints are resolved quickly
20

Measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty
20

Involving customers product/service development (eg, co-creation)
20

Creating effective collateral
18

Generating qualified leads
16

Maximising the number of repeat sales
16

Efficiently acquiring customers (eg, reducing the cost of sales)
16

Measuring/optimising effectiveness of marketing and promotional campaigns
12

Prioritising resources directed towards customers
by total value over life of customer
Developing and sharing a detailed picture of customers,
behaviour and preferences
27

Helping each function find and act on ways to support the others
24

Establishing common definitions, assumptions and data
20

Measuring the probability that leads will turn into sales,
and using these scores to guide sales
4

Our company sees no need to integrate our marketing,
sales and service activities
2

Other
4

Don’t know/Not applicable
12

Other
4

Don’t know
6

24

Economist Intelligence Unit 2009