Vectren Streamlines Customer Service & Complaint Tracking i-Sight Complaint Software

Ottawa, Canada – May 29, 2008 – Customer Expressions announced today that Vectren Corporation, an energy provider, has implemented the i-Sight Customer Service & Complaint Tracking Software.

Vectren Corporation, an energy holding company headquartered in Evansville, Ind., is subject to compliance with two state commissions. Its energy delivery subsidiaries provide gas and/or electricity to more than one million customers in adjoining service territories that cover nearly two-thirds of Indiana and west central Ohio. Each state has its own requirements for how the utility should handle customer issues and how long it should take.

Vectren’s Customer Relations Management department must maintain customer complaints per those commissions’ requirements, as well as according to its own internal service objectives. Moreover, the team tracks and reports complaints separately for its three utility holding companies: Vectren Energy Delivery - North, Vectren Energy Delivery - South, and Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio.

The Opportunity - As Customer Relations Management worked to improve its service and processes, it was limited by its system at the time. The team used a document storage system that lacked workflow or tracking capabilities. Nor did the system provide any automated reporting to determine the status of issues or identify trends. As a result, it took hours to create the necessary reports.

“It was very labor intensive,” said Breck A. Sparks, Director, Customer Relations Management. “We assimilated the data for reports by pulling it from several sources.”

As complaints come in directly from customers or from other public and private entities, the department needs workflow capabilities to ensure it handles complaints in the way each commission requires and reporting features to drive corrective action and reduce the number of customer issues over time.

The Solution - Customer Relations Management initiated a formal request for proposal (RFP) outlining a number of requirements. From there, it narrowed down to a short list of vendors, all of whom presented and demonstrated their solutions before a group of Vectren users, IT representatives and executives.

i-Sight Service and Complaints from Customer Expressions emerged as the clear choice. The customizable, Web-based solution helps customer service teams quickly and consistently respond to every complaint and inquiry. The utility’s IT department was particularly attracted to the hosted solution from Customer Expressions, which would mean easier ramp-up and no ongoing maintenance.

For the Customer Relations Management team, the hosted solution also lowered upfront implementation costs, which would allow the team to begin seeing a return on its investment more quickly. Additionally, i-Sight offered key automation and functionality to meet the department’s specific needs.

“i-Sight was more intuitive and user friendly than some of the others we looked at,” Sparks said. “Not everything is hard coded, so we can make modifications easily. This flexibility allows us to react to process-driven changes.”

i-Sight also includes extensive reporting that the department needs for analysis and continuous performance improvement. The solution comes with standard reports and enables the team to tailor reports on an ad hoc basis. Automated reporting allows Customer Relations to run reports in a matter of seconds – instead of hours.

Customer Expressions consultants assisted during implementation, following their proven process model. It’s a comprehensive approach—ensuring that company’s unique requirements would be incorporated into i-Sight’s configuration. This approach gave Vectren greater confidence in selecting i-Sight and Customer Expressions.

“The implementation process went well,” said Sherri Bell, Customer Relations Supervisor. “Prompt completion of our requested modifications allowed us to achieve the targeted implementation date.”

i-Sight is configured to manage Vectren’s three separate operating utilities. Specific workflows established in i-Sight ensure that the department handles all complaints consistently.

Business rules established by Customer Relationship Management in i-Sight automatically move issues along the process, alerting the relevant parties and escalating issues until they are addressed. That automation frees the team to focus on customers. The access controls are also uniquely configured for Vectren; some users are actively inputting and modifying the information, while others have view-only access.

“i-Sight streamlines administrative tasks, maintains the status of inquiries and helps us communicate to the right people at the right time,” Becky Brann, Customer Relations Manager. “We can see issues in real time as well as identify trends.”

Expected Results - With streamlined processes and automated reporting, Customer Relations Management will continue to meet internal and external guidelines while identifying root causes and trends more quickly.

The team more efficiently meets the requirements for both Indiana and Ohio commissions. Over time, the team anticipates that i-Sight will also help improve customer service.

“With i-sight, we expect a consistent process to reduce issue resolution time and streamline the identification of causes through analysis and reporting,” Brann said.

About Customer Expressions
Based in Ottawa, Canada, Customer Expressions (www.customerexpressions.com) is a leading provider of web-based customer complaint software, case management software and customer service solutions. Customer Expressions has gained an international reputation for best-in-class software to optimize the management of various business processes. The privately held firm provides i-Sight, integrated case management software for investigations, call tracking, customer service, complaint tracking, corrective and preventive action management (CAPA Management), and other business processes that require case management.

For further information, please contact:
Joe Gerard, Vice-President, Sales & Marketing
800-465-6089 or media@customerexpressions.com