Outage Communications Conference 2014 Insight for Tomorrow’s Utility November 13-14, 2014
Transcription
Outage Communications Conference 2014 Insight for Tomorrow’s Utility November 13-14, 2014
Insight for Tomorrow’s Utility Outage Communications Conference 2014 November 13-14, 2014 Hyatt Regency San Antonio San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com Conference Organizer Insight for Tomorrow’s Utility Gold Sponsor Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 General Information1 Registration2 Hotel2 Agenda 3 Speakers 6 Sponsors 8 Key Takeaways • • • • • Learn effective customer outreach strategies for planned and unplanned outages Network with utility professionals responsible for outage communications Take away best practices from industry leaders Discover how to deliver the best service in a cost-effective manner Choose from sessions related to information flow to the utility or to the customer Topics Chartwell’s Outage Communications Conference will address: • • • • • • • • Damage Assessment Field Communications Ready Contact Centers Storm Communications 2014 Chartwell’s Best Practices in Outage Communications Award Winner Best Practices Roundtables And much more! Who Should Attend? The Outage Communications Conference content is designed for utility professionals responsible for: • • • • Outage communications Customer care Contact centers Communications • • • • Marketing Social media Market research Customer experience About Chartwell, Inc. Based in Atlanta, Chartwell, Inc. is a specialized information provider for the utility industry. We provide strategic research and facilitate issue-targeted forums for collaboration among industry peers. Our wide range of services ensures that our members have access to the best, most timely information available to make their business decisions. For more information visit www.chartwellinc.com. November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 1 Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 Registration Utility Early Bird (thru Oct. 17) Regular (Oct. 18 - Nov. 14) $895 $995 $1,245 $1,445 Member Non-Member Attendance is limited to utilities only with the exception of vendor sponsors. For more information on sponsoring, contact: Nancy Brand at (404) 237-9099 ext. 257 or [email protected] CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Cancellations and No-Shows Cancellations received in writing by October 31, 2014 will receive a refund of registration fees, less a $75 processing fee. Cancellations after October 31, 2014 and no-shows will not receive a refund. Hotel Hyatt Regency San Antonio 123 Losoya St. San Antonio, TX 78205 (210) 222-1234 www.sanantonioregency.hyatt.com Room Rate: $199 Single/Double plus tax Chartwell has reserved a room block for conference attendees at specially discounted rates. Call (210) 222-1234 and mention “Chartwell.” Reservations made after October 13, 2014, or after the room block is sold out (whichever comes first) will be honored on a space-available basis at the prevailing rate of the hotel. *Room rates do not include tax and are subject to availability. November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 2 Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 The Road to Transformation In 2005, CenterPoint Energy tasked a small team to create a vision for the smart grid of the future and embarked on a journey to make it a reality. From a 10,000 meter pilot to a now fully implemented AMI supporting 2.3 million advanced meters with an extensive communication system, CenterPoint Energy continues to aggressively pursue their Smart Grid vision. The company is building on their AMI investment by implementing Advanced Analytics, intelligent Equipment Load Management, Power Alert System, and transformer metering. The Intelligent Grid (IG) Project is another component of CenterPoint Energy’s Smart Grid journey. The IG project integrates smart distribution sensors, automated field reclosers, integrated substation intelligence, an upgraded Mobile Data and new Advanced Distribution Management and Outage Management systems. This session will describe CenterPoint Energy’s smart grid journey from inception to deployment and future considerations. Presenter: John Slanina, Division Vice President, Operations Support & Technology, CenterPoint Energy Best Practices in Outage Communications This presentation will bring together the results so far of Chartwell’s Best Practices in Outage Communications project. The project’s goal is to establish a set of best practices in the area of outage communications that are endorsed by Chartwell’s Outage Communications Research Council and presented in a quick, user-friendly format. The project combines case studies, industry and consumer survey data as well as secondary research in an effort to help educate regulators and utility managers about what leading utility companies are doing in outage communications and what may or may not be reasonable or necessary for regulators to require. Presenter: Russ Henderson, Senior Research Analyst, Chartwell Inc. Case Studies Showcasing the Latest Trends in Outage Communications Outage communications continue to evolve to meet the growing needs of customers and other community stakeholders. In this panel discussion led by iFactor, we’ll share the latest trends in outage communications, including new levels of data transparency, expanding communication channels, and new audiences for communications. Presenter/Moderator: iFactor ComEd’s “One Stop Shop” for Employee and Customer Outage Communication Outage Communication System (OCS) supports ComEd’s visions for enhancing its ability to provide clear and consistent outage communications to external and internal customers and stakeholders. The foundation was set in 2012 by providing outage reports, dashboards, and maps to internal employees as well as improving the customer experience by providing summary outage information to them via external channels. ComEd built on that foundation in 2013 by shifting the focus to the integration of crew and resource information, planned outage information and detailed outage information for operations management and decision support through several new dashboards and reports. Attendees will learn about the new developments with ComEd’s centralized information system. Presenter: Kimberly Smith, Director, Emergency Preparedness, ComEd Customer Engagement Strategies Customer engagement remains a top priority for utilities hoping to optimize customer satisfaction with outages. Approaches to customer education, communication channels and messaging content, all facets of a customer engagement strategy, can make the difference between a good outage experience and a bad one. This panel will focus on various strategies and approaches to engaging customers with outage communications. Specific topics to be addressed: November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 3 Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 • • • • Engagement via social media Metrics for customer engagement Mobile messaging engagement Approaches to increasing customer adoption Panelists: Jack Hierholzer, Distribution Support Analyst, Gulf Power Dheeraj Jalali, Program Manager, London Hydro Matt Chagnon, Social Media Strategist, Public Service New Hampshire Improving Winter Storm Communications Major winter storms hit large swathes of the country in 2013 and early 2014. For some utilities, it was the first chance to see their proactive communications tested by a major outage event. For many, it was also an opportunity to learn lessons regarding communications through social media, texting, IVR and the call center. See actionable items that came directly from lessons learned during a winter storm, and how those lessons provided insight into the customer experience during a large-scale outage. Presenter: Jill Beavers, Manager, Customer Experience, Oncor Mobile Outage Communications In an increasingly connected world, a power outage is more than an inconvenience- it can completely isolate customers. Mobile devices are the equivalent of a light in the storm, keeping customers connected to the outside world. As more utilities leverage customers’ mobile access to communicate during outages, more companies are gleaning best practices for keeping customers informed via text, apps and mobile web. Innovations such as proactive texts and mobile-responsive websites have taken many utilities to the next tier of mobile outage communications. Specific topics to be addressed: • Best practices for texting, apps and mobile responsive websites • Challenges and lessons learned • Improving the customer experience Panelists: Donna Goodrich, Group Leader, LG&E/KU Energy Joe Trentacosta, Senior VP and CIO, Information & Customer Services, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative Navigating the Post-Sandy Regulatory Environment At the end of 2013, the New York Public Service Commission issued an order that included the establishment of a scorecard to be used as a “guidance document to assess utility response to significant outages.” That is, the scorecard – which grew out of public sentiment after Hurricane Sandy and was pushed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – set exact standards according to which utility companies must now issue estimated restoration times to customers. In this session, Con Edison will discuss navigating and managing the current regulatory and political environment. Presenter: Andy Tiao, Director of Emergency Management, Con Edison Outage Communications: Improving Field Communications A number of utilities have recently made technology investments and process changes to improve communications with field crews with the goal of improving both outage restoration and communication with customers about outages. Some utilities have developed mobile apps that keep crews better informed about the ‘big picture,’ while others are developing protocols for major events that would allow them to integrate mutual-aid crews by merely obtaining the crew members’ mobile phone numbers. This session will showcase cutting-edge work to drive faster restorations and better customer satisfaction. Specific issues to be addressed: November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 4 Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 • Technologies being used to improve communications with field crews • The importance of keeping both crews and customers “in the loop” • Lessons learned from deploying these solutions Presenter: Ted Allan, Manager, Outage Management Systems, FirstEnergy Corporation Outage Communications: Xcel’s Preference Portal Not every customer wants to be communicated with in the same way about power outages. A number of utilities have now launched online portals through which the customer can choose the channel he/she prefers. Many of these portals also let customers select the frequency with which they would like to receive information as well as the times they prefer to get notifications. In this session, Xcel Energy will tell the story of launching its own preference portal. Presenter: Tim Laughlin, Manager, Customer Experience, Xcel Energy Outage-Ready Contact Center As the influence of social media and mobile technology grows, the contact center still remains the central focus of customer contact during both major events and blue-sky outages. The approach to priming a contact center for all varieties of outages includes a two-pronged approach to systems and personnel. This may involve more specialized outage training for contact center representatives (CSRs), skills-based routing during outages, outage-optimization of IVR during major events and the improvement of contact center processes to maximize efficiency of outage communications. This session will address: • Skills-based routing during outages • Outage-optimized interactive voice response (IVR) • Operational efficiency during major events Presenter: Ryan Harris, Customer Program Manager, Hydro One Networks Roundtables Meet with peers facing similar challenges at their respective utilities and seek workable solutions during this facilitated session on Thursday afternoon. Pose your questions and share your ideas with other professionals tasked with like responsibilities at utilities across North America. Trade ideas and business cards – we encourage you to build your network of resources at the conference (an extremely valuable benefit according to attendees) and continue the conversation beyond the event. Topics include: • • • • • • • • Analytics Customer Education ETR Field Communications Mobile Proactive Contact Social Media Systems Integration • Outage-specific training for CSRs For more information about the agenda, please contact Belinda Roberts at [email protected] or (404) 237-9099 ext. 234. November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 5 Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 Speaker Biographies Ted Allan, Manager of Outage Management Systems, FirstEnergy Ted started working as an engineer in the utility industry 12 years ago working for a subsidiary of a Canadian utility called Fortis Inc. In 2005, he accepted an engineering position with Jersey Central Power and Light, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy. In 2007, he transferred to their corporate headquarters in Ohio and began working in Operations Support. In his current position, Ted focuses on enhancing their Outage Management System, reliability and outage reporting, outage communications, and outage mobility solutions. Jill Beavers, Manager, Customer Experience, Oncor Jill is responsible for the overall strategy and performance of Oncor’s end to end customer experience efforts. She manages all of the voice of the customer efforts, including customer satisfaction surveys, segmentation studies, focus groups and panels. Jill also facilitates the development and execution of the Customer Experience goals and objectives and management of Oncor’s Customer Experience Council. Matthew Chagnon, Senior Social Media Strategist, Northeast Utilities Matt oversees social media strategy for Northeast Utilities and its operating companies, including Public Service of New Hampshire. The company has been at the forefront of social media use by utilities and has been widely recognized for its efforts during several major storm restorations. Matt has recently focused on expanding 24/7 coverage of social media to all of NU’s electric operating companies across three states. Matt’s ongoing work includes web design, photography, and video production, notably for the Northern Pass transmission project. Donna Goodrich, Group Leader, LG&E/KU Donna manages service restoration for customers in all KU and ODP service territories across the state of Kentucky and western portions of Virginia. She has held various positions for LG&E and KU over the past 26 years including distribution engineer, SCADA technical lead and business project lead on numerous software initiatives. Some of those initiatives include trouble call entry development and implementation, outage management implementation and upgrades, mobile dispatch integration, and outage map and mobile (texting) customer communication implementation. Ryan Harris, Customer Program Manager, Hydro One Networks Ryan has over 14 years of experience in the area of customer management. His current areas of accountability include managing the outsourcing contract for contact services, overseeing the Customer Relations Centre, managing the customer self-serve channels and tools, quality monitoring, and managing the relationship with the operations division. Ryan is a champion for the customer and believes in the value of engaged customer service. November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 6 Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 Jack Hierholzer, Distribution Support Analyst, Gulf Power Jack currently supports an Oracle NMS/OMS that uses combined GIS, AMI and customer calls to predict how many customers are out based on meter reports and call patterns. His focus is in determining tools and channels to deliver useful information to Gulf Power’s employees and customers affected by outages. Future initiatives involve integrating this system with DSCADA, automatic fault location analysis, electronic switching and improving repair time estimates. Russ Henderson, Senior Research Analyst, Chartwell Inc. Russ serves as the lead analyst on the Outage Communications Research Council. Prior to joining Chartwell in 2011, he worked as a journalist for 12 years at the Mobile PressRegister and the Anniston Star in Alabama. Dheeraj Jalali, Program Manager, London Hydro Tim Laughlin, Manager, Customer Experience, Xcel Energy Tim was previously the social media manager for Xcel Energy, leading all social media engagement campaigns and day-to-day activities for the company, from online advocacy and content development to community-outreach efforts and promotions. Prior to Xcel Energy, Tim spent nearly 15 years leading the development and execution of award-winning consumer-marketing and social media campaigns, promotions, special events and media relations programs on behalf of leading brands, including Coca-Cola, Marvin Windows and Doors, General Mills and Harley-Davidson. John Slanina, Division Vice President of Operations Support & Technology, CenterPoint Energy John oversees various support functions that provide services to both the regulated gas and electric business including Telecommunication Services, Fleet & Shops Services, Land & Field Services, Electric Technology Office, Business Process Transformation and the Technology Program Management Office. He began his career with the company in 1981 as a distribution line mechanic. Over the years, he was promoted to positions of increasing responsibility such as division vice president of Distribution Operations in 2008 and division vice president of Business Transformation in 2010. Kimberly Smith, Director, Emergency Preparedness, ComEd Kimberly is responsible for oversight, development and execution of emergency preparedness and response strategies for ComEd and in collaboration with sister companies PECO in Pennsylvania and BG&E in Baltimore. She has held positions in which she represented Exelon as a Delivery Duty Officer (DDO) taking on the responsibilities of interfacing and communicating operational events and/or occurrences with the Senior Executive Leadership team. She also held the position of Manager of Field Operations for the West Region of ComEd and was Executive Assistance to the EVP/COO prior to becoming the Director of Emergency Preparedness. November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 7 Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 Andy Tiao, Director of Emergency Management, Con Edison Joe Trentacosta, Senior VP and CIO, Information & Customer Services, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative Joe directs SMECO’s Information Technology, Credit & Collections, Security, and Contact Center divisions including: developing IT strategies, overseeing and directing IT operations, physical and cyber security programs, corporate credit and collections functions, and the operation of SMECO’s 24/7 state-of-the-art contact center. November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 8 Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 Thank you to our Sponsors Gold Sponsor iFactor develops software products and delivers complete communication solutions for the utility sector, delivering information to more than 100 million people in North America through deployments at more than 30 utility websites. iFactor’s solutions enable utilities to leverage connected technologies such as the web, mobile web, and smart phones to interact with their customers. iFactor’s products include: Storm Center™, the industry-leading platform for utility outage communications; Notifi®, an innovative customer preference management and proactive communications platform; and iFactor Mobile™apps, a suite of off-the-shelf customer service apps delivering high-value transactions on the iPhone and Android platforms. Sponsors What’s your location strategy? Use the power of Esri ArcGIS platform to transform your utility. Our maps and analytics help improve storm response, manage storm restoration, and share outage information. See damage reports in real time, summarize data based on asset type, and highlight critical or severe damage reports. Visit esri.com/electric to learn more. Kaihen helps electric, gas and water utilities prepare for the kinds of fundamental business changes that improve operations and customer service. Our core competency is business readiness—ensuring that our clients’ people, processes and systems are well-prepared to adopt the change we help to implement. And we do so by managing projects, designing and improving business processes, training users, solution testing, and implementing powerful change management initiatives. Kaihen Provides Services in Three Areas: 1. Smart Grid Strategy and Implementation 2. Customer Operations & System Assessment, 3. Acquisition and Consolidation November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 9 Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 Whether a utility is implementing a new Customer Information System, a Smart Grid strategy or integrating a new acquisition, Kaihen’s business readiness approach will achieve the successful transformation of our client’s people, processes and systems. Sponsors Oracle Utilities delivers proven software applications that help utilities of all types and sizes achieve competitive advantage, business performance excellence and a lower total cost of technology ownership. Oracle Utilities integrates industryspecific customer care and billing, network management, work and asset management, mobile workforce management, meter data management, and cloud analytics applications with the capabilities of Oracle’s industry-leading enterprise applications, business intelligence tools, middleware, database technologies, as well as servers and storage. The software enables customers to adapt more nimbly to market deregulation, meet ever-evolving customer demands and deliver on environmental conservation commitments. Additionally, Oracle Utilities helps utilities prepare for smart metering and smart grid initiatives that enhance efficiency and provide critical intelligence metrics that can help drive more-informed energy and water usage decisions for consumers and businesses. For more information, visit www.oracle.com/goto/utilities. West Corporation and subsidiary Twenty First Century Communications (TFCC) provide innovative, technology-driven customer care solutions allowing utilities to create powerful connections with their customers. With our wide set of omnichannel solutions (inbound, outbound, live agent or automated support), customers are empowered to communicate and receive information – anytime, anywhere, on any device. West/TFCC, a recognized leader in integrated cloud-based communications and live agent support, provides deep expertise in multiple industries – utility, financial, retail, healthcare and more. Our clients leverage our experiences and ingenuity to quickly and easily take advantage of new technologies, producing positive business results while providing customers solutions they expect. November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 10 Outage Communications Conference 2014 2013 Sponsorship Opportunities Attendance is limited to utilities only with the exception of vendor sponsors. For more information on sponsorship, contact: Nancy Brand (404) 237-9099 ext. 257 [email protected] Outage Communications Research Council Nov. 11-12, 2014 “Chartwell continues to provide invaluable resources to help us provide the level of services our customers demand. The research council calls and summits all are top notch. I can’t say it enough, no one else can compare to Chartwell.” -Outage Communications Research Council Member Take part in this utility-only roundtable comprising 25+ utilities across North America. Contact: Chartwell Inc. 404.237.9099 ext. 221 [email protected] November 13-14 • San Antonio, TX www.chartwellinc.com • Page 11