Grid operator Liander emerged as the best grid operator for gas and electricity in the recent service research among grid operators conducted by WUA!: Liander scored higher than colleagues Stedin and Enexis on 6 of the 8 service tasks. In this double interview, a conversation with Suzanne Donselaar and Erna van der Neut about the results of this service research and how a relatively unknown organization is performing digitally better and better.
Liander.nl convincingly finishes in 1st place in our latest WSS research. You score as the best in six of the eight tasks. Congratulations!
SD: "We're naturally very happy with this! This service research reveals the entire customer journey: by asking how the customer would begin, we see that many journeys start offline, for example in the meter cupboard. That has given us a lot of insight."
Working at Stedin or Enexis and interested in the results or want to know more about the research? Contact us via [email] and receive additional free results and the research setup.
Before you did this research, were you already looking closely at what your colleagues at Stedin and Enexis were doing digitally?
SD: "We always keep an eye on our colleagues. The other two grid operators, like us, are working very hard to improve their service. I thought Stedin might have come out better in this research."
The research and examined service tasks show that most people don't directly approach you to solve problems, but first go to the energy provider and secondly try to find an answer via Google...
EvdN: "If you don't know us, it's difficult to approach us. But we'll never run big advertising campaigns, that doesn't fit with our social mission. What we do want to do is modestly stand out. At moments when it's relevant for the customer, we need to tell them who we are and what we do. For the average consumer, it's sometimes difficult to know what an energy provider does exactly, and what a grid operator does. What we'd like to tell is what the large network that lies underground means for you. What convenience it provides and how important it is THAT it works and is in order, that there's quick action during outages and gas leaks, for example. Then you immediately understand better what a grid operator makes possible. Without gas or electricity, you can't make coffee, for instance. You can compare it well to NS and ProRail: an energy provider is the train and Liander, Stedin and Enexis are the rails.
One of the recommendations in the November research was to offer direct communication options on frequently visited information pages in the form of chat and WhatsApp. Are you going to do that?
SD: "We had already started with a WhatsApp pilot. We're going to implement WhatsApp as a permanent channel, at least during outages. There will also be live chat on the website this year in places where people can't figure it out themselves."
Your playing field seems manageable with Stedin, Enexis and yourselves as players in the grid operator landscape. The delivery is geographically determined and you're more colleagues than competitors of each other. How important is it to be the best and what did you think of the direct mutual comparison in the research?
SD: "The research helps to substantiate why we need to implement further improvements and it helps confirm that we're on the right track. This direct customer feedback gives me a lot of confidence personally. The recommendations also help us make a digital leap and improve further. You see where the most pain lies, per service task. That helps enormously."
EvdN: "To be honest: there was previously some cynicism about digital and online at Liander and we're still sometimes inclined to point out what's not so good. But we know that service is becoming increasingly important and we're obligated by our social mission to bring our online service delivery to an ever higher level. Then it helps to see that we're on the right track while simultaneously realizing that we're far from finished. The research gives us so many insights to build upon and improve!"
What are digitally the biggest challenges and hurdles you need to overcome at Liander?
EvdN: "Indeed. Our biggest challenge, in my opinion, is mainly having the 'front end' of the company in order and aligning that with the processes and effectiveness of the organization at the back end. What Liander.nl has also brought is that it's a flywheel for customer convenience from a service mindset. And thinking from the customer's perspective. By setting up the online properly, you've also created a flywheel for the organization."
