Case Study
AGL Energy transforms customer relationships with Pega
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Created one centralized platform for customer engagement
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75% reduction in cost per opportunity
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Real-time, automated reporting for 200+ staff members
“The core objective of our customer engagement engine is to build strong and lasting connections with our customers. So by leveraging advanced technologies, data analytics, and insights, we ensure that every interaction with our customers is personalized, relevant, and valuable.”
The Business Issue
AGL, established in 1841, has a rich history in providing essential services in Australia. Today, it delivers electricity, gas, mobile, and broadband services to more than four million customers, representing nearly 30% of Australian households.
Operating in a highly competitive market, AGL is also a leader in the clean energy revolution, offering renewable energy solutions, such as solar power, home battery options, and electric vehicle choices. AGL's commitment extends beyond supplying energy. It strives to connect customers to a sustainable future and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
Over the past decade, AGL has undergone a significant transformation, expanding its services beyond energy into telecommunications and other essential offerings. The nature of customer relationships has evolved from simple electricity and gas sales to orchestrating complex solutions for residential and commercial customers. Tailoring experiences to unique preferences and requirements has created challenges in managing multiple product lines and addressing that complexity effectively.
An outdated and cumbersome CRM interface further hindered productivity and user experience for frontline staff, creating a ripple effect on the customer experience. Targeted campaign activity was focused on sales through push marketing in outbound channels and data was fragmented, making it difficult to extract meaningful insights.
In response to this, AGL embarked on a transformative journey aimed at harnessing the power of technology to drive efficiency, scale, and automation. It sought to leverage its customer data to have meaningful, right-time conversations that reshape the customer experience and deliver exceptional value.
The Solution
AGL’s core objective was to establish strong and lasting connections with customers by leveraging advanced technologies, data analytics, and real-time insights to ensure every interaction is personalized and relevant. Its approach shifted from primarily sales-focused campaigns to a more balanced strategy that includes retention, service conversations, and support, all of which are now powered by AI and autonomous decisioning.
Central to AGL's transformation is its Customer Engagement Engine. Built on Pega Customer Decision Hub™, it’s a dynamic combination of people, processes, and technology designed to shape customer interactions.
AGL's journey toward customer engagement transformation was characterized by three distinct goals:
- Driving real-time, contextual conversations: AGL aimed to have meaningful, right-time customer conversations that drive value. A fragmented data landscape was transformed into a centralized data source that supports insights, customer communications, propensity models, and reporting across the enterprise.
- Promoting innovation in delivery: AGL introduced cross-functional pods to work across sales, retention, service, and loyalty propositions, increasing scalability and collaboration throughout the project.
- Fostering trust in technology: AGL also focused on enhancing the user experience for frontline staff. It leveraged technology and AI as an enabler rather than a threat, offering comprehensive training and transparent communication that demonstrated its value in practice.
The Results
AGL's transformation journey resulted in notable successes. Several use cases highlight the effectiveness of its strategy:
- Carbon neutral offering: A focus on carbon neutrality through a two-click sign-up via AGL's mobile app resulted in 11.5 million interactions with an 8.1% click-through rate, helping AGL reach its carbon-neutral targets.
- Demand and response program: Large residential energy users registered to reduce energy demand when requested, with 40,000 registrations since November 2022 and a 12.2% click-through rate.
- Diversification into internet and mobile: AGL's entry into telecommunications resulted in 5.6 million total interactions within three months, exceeding yearly expectations.
- Shift to personalized customer engagement: By switching focus to one-to-one customer engagement instead of push marketing campaigns, AGL is now leveraging inbound channels for over 65% of customer interactions.
- Real-time reporting: The organization shifted from manual campaign analysis and reporting to digitized, daily reporting for over 200 staff members, enabling them to act on insights in real time.
AGL also saw significant results across the organization:
- +30-point Net Promoter Score improvement in the past five years
- 75% reduction of cost per opportunity
- $800K savings per year