Interactions Case Studies Westar Energy Sees 80% Customer Satisfaction with Intelligent Virtual Assistant

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	Westar Energy Sees 80% Customer Satisfaction with Intelligent Virtual Assistant Interactions

Westar Energy Sees 80% Customer Satisfaction with Intelligent Virtual Assistant

Interactions

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Applicable Industries	Utilities
Use Cases	Chatbots
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Challenge	Westar Energy, the largest energy provider in Kansas, was facing challenges with its legacy, traditional IVR system. The system was managed in-house with little support, making it difficult to obtain and analyze crucial customer data. Without these analytics, Westar was unable to detect and fix issues with the technology. The company needed a solution that could better handle their volume of self-service customer inquiries and provide better insight into the customer experience. This would allow them to add functionalities and improve the solution moving forward. Read More
About Customer	Westar Energy is the largest energy provider in Kansas with 2,400 employees and nearly 700,000 customers in much of east and east-central Kansas. Headquartered in Topeka, Kansas, their energy centers generate more than 7,000 megawatts of electricity, and operate and coordinate 35,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines. Westar’s mission is to provide safe, clean, and reliable electricity and superior customer care. Read More
Solution	After considering other cloud-based solutions, Westar decided to implement an Intelligent Virtual Assistant from Interactions. This solution was more intuitive than a typical, menu-driven IVR and provided better analytics. The Intelligent Virtual Assistant was capable of all typical IVR functions, and then some, including proactive outage messaging that gives customers an update on their outage as soon as they call. Westar was able to add functionalities that its legacy IVR was unable to complete, including updating email addresses and phone numbers which cut down on average CSR handle time. The new solution also included an option that allows its customers to go straight to a live agent when that option is preferred. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

Applicable Industries

Utilities

Use Cases

Chatbots

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Challenge

Westar Energy, the largest energy provider in Kansas, was facing challenges with its legacy, traditional IVR system. The system was managed in-house with little support, making it difficult to obtain and analyze crucial customer data. Without these analytics, Westar was unable to detect and fix issues with the technology. The company needed a solution that could better handle their volume of self-service customer inquiries and provide better insight into the customer experience. This would allow them to add functionalities and improve the solution moving forward.

About Customer

Westar Energy is the largest energy provider in Kansas with 2,400 employees and nearly 700,000 customers in much of east and east-central Kansas. Headquartered in Topeka, Kansas, their energy centers generate more than 7,000 megawatts of electricity, and operate and coordinate 35,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines. Westar’s mission is to provide safe, clean, and reliable electricity and superior customer care.

Solution

After considering other cloud-based solutions, Westar decided to implement an Intelligent Virtual Assistant from Interactions. This solution was more intuitive than a typical, menu-driven IVR and provided better analytics. The Intelligent Virtual Assistant was capable of all typical IVR functions, and then some, including proactive outage messaging that gives customers an update on their outage as soon as they call. Westar was able to add functionalities that its legacy IVR was unable to complete, including updating email addresses and phone numbers which cut down on average CSR handle time. The new solution also included an option that allows its customers to go straight to a live agent when that option is preferred.

Impact #1	The Intelligent Virtual Assistant was able to handle a large volume of self-service customer inquiries.
Impact #2	The solution provided better insight into the customer experience, allowing Westar to add functionalities and improve the solution.
Impact #3	The Intelligent Virtual Assistant was capable of proactive outage messaging, giving customers an update on their outage as soon as they call.

Impact #1

The Intelligent Virtual Assistant was able to handle a large volume of self-service customer inquiries.

Impact #2

The solution provided better insight into the customer experience, allowing Westar to add functionalities and improve the solution.

Impact #3

The Intelligent Virtual Assistant was capable of proactive outage messaging, giving customers an update on their outage as soon as they call.

Benefit #1	39% of callers complete their transactions through self-service.
Benefit #2	More than 80% of callers are satisfied or very satisfied with the overall experience.
Benefit #3	Since implementation in 2016, Westar has seen improvement in scores by 25% or more.

Benefit #1

39% of callers complete their transactions through self-service.

Benefit #2

More than 80% of callers are satisfied or very satisfied with the overall experience.

Benefit #3

Since implementation in 2016, Westar has seen improvement in scores by 25% or more.

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Overview

Westar Energy Sees 80% Customer Satisfaction with Intelligent Virtual Assistant

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit