By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated March 11, 2017 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Power
distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is switching to a digital platform
starting this year to cope up with the changing business landscape and customer
requirements.
The company anticipates customer and
technological transformation among power utilities to keep evolving in the
internet era, Meralco SVP Alfredo Panlilio said in his speech during the 6th
Annual Meralco Luminaries Awards Night Thursday.
“For the customer, this means that
for anything and everything you need from Meralco, you will be able to do
online. This is the ‘digital pivot’ that Meralco is embarking on to transform
the customer experience,” he said.
This transformation was first
announced by Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan in 2015, when he said the power
utility will be an “internet company with a power business.”
The digital transformation this year
will start with the rollout of four digital platforms to improve customer
experience, said Panlilio, who also heads Meralco’s customer retail services
and corporate communications.
He said these platforms are called
“I Join” which covers the application process; “I Pay” which offers online
bills and payment system; “I Ask” which provides a mechanism where customers
can give their feedback or inquire certain solutions; and “I Need Repair” where
customers can seek restoration when systems are down.
“These are the four digital
platforms we’re buildzng. As we go on to 2017, hopefully we could implement
those. We expect one, “I Join”, to come in sometime the first quarter; “I Pay”
sometime mid-year, and then “I Need Repair” sometime in the third quarter,” the
Meralco official said.
These will be launched through the
solution provided by Accenture and Salesforce, which were tapped by Meralco
last year.
“What we’ve done last year, we have
decided on a platform to launch our digital platform for customers and this is
via Salesforce and Accenture. We have completed strategy, the business casing
internally, we’ve also created [an execution plan] and we went through bidding
process and we’ve finalized the solution and made our assessment,” Panlilio
said.
Another part of Meralco’s digital
transformation is putting up a new billing platform to meet all other customer
requirements online.
“We’ve also applied with the Energy
Regulatory Commission (ERC) a new billing platform that we would need maybe two
to three years down the road to address all the requirements of our customers
and more importantly, to offer new technologies and new offerings we see in the
future,” Panlilio said.
“Meralco is earnest in transforming
to propel the customer, the community and the country,” he said.
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