The multi-utility SaaS billing solution can be a game-changer for companies, providing traditional commodities, electricity (incl., renewables), water, gas, and additional home services. The latter have become essential for navigating tight retail margins and combating high customer churn.
Having collaborated with several utilities across Europe and globally, we have directly observed the intense pressure on retailers, who already offer multiple products and solutions, to rapidly expand their portfolios. EY reports that 94% of energy service providers acknowledge that their capacity to move quickly is a significant challenge.
In this overview, we’ll show how MaxBill multi-utility SaaS billing software helps energy and utility service providers manage complex multi-offering and roll out new products and services efficiently and quickly.
It is particularly tailored for energy and utility leaders—business development representatives, CEOs, CFOs, Heads of Operations Transformation, COOs, Managing Directors, Growth Product Directors, and Digital Service Directors—who are currently up to actionable strategies for streamlining operations, driving innovation, and achieving sustainable growth.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
Multi-Utility SaaS Billing Solution: 6 Pillars of Efficiency
Scalability and Operational Excellence
With MaxBill utility billing software, companies across the globe seamlessly integrate both traditional and innovative business models. By converging numerous brands and offering packages on one platform, MaxBill empowers service providers to scale virtually without limitations. Whether it’s managing tenants, customers, products, services, brands, or partners, multi-utility organisations get a unified system for efficient and streamlined operations.
Multi-Service Delivery and Product Management
Companies get the ability to manage multiple product lines and services within a single solution. Organisations are empowered to offer diverse utility offerings, from electricity, gas, and water to heating & cooling systems, EV charging, waste management, and municipality services. This versatility allows businesses to cater to a wide range of customer needs without the complexity of managing multiple systems.
Advanced Metering Infrastructure and Business Models Support
Organisations receive full support for advanced metering infrastructure, including pre-paid meters, smart meters, standard meters, and consolidated systems. This ensures accurate metering and billing processes, enhancing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Moreover, companies get extensive support for various business models, including B2B, B2C, B2B2X, billing service bureaus, wholesale billing, and residential domestic billing. This flexibility allows businesses to adapt to changing market demands and capitalise on new revenue opportunities.
Technicalities of Multi-Utility SaaS Billing Solution
Cross-Product Functionality
MaxBill empowers businesses to create cross-product functionality for multiple items (part of the Product Catalog), facilitating complex discounts, bundles, and shared consumption accumulators. Let’s illustrate this with an example of a dual-energy proposition.
Consider a scenario where a customer is offered a combined subscription for electricity and gas. Businesses apply discounts between these two product lines as part of a single proposition. This offering is relevant to both standard and smart metering infrastructure, ensuring compatibility with various customer setups.
Furthermore, service providers are enabled to base their offerings on accumulated consumption, assigning different rates based on consumption tiers. Additionally, businesses can share these accumulators within hierarchical structures, such as companies with subsidiaries or retail networks. For instance, achieving a certain level of consumption in one service may trigger discounts for another service, incentivizing customer loyalty.
Pay For Hierarchy
MaxBill facilitates the billing hierarchy, consolidating charges for subscribers and parts of charges for employees into a single invoice issued to the company. Let’s explore how our modern billing software for multi-utility companies works through an example.
Imagine Company X, which has subsidiaries, each utilising different services. It can now consolidate all charges into one invoice thanks to the Pay For Hierarchy capability. Additionally, Company X may offer a policy for remote employees, providing a 30% discount on electricity usage as part of their benefits package.
Describing the Customer Journey: From Offer to Activation
The journey begins when a potential customer, like Jane Smith from Kenilworth, UK, receives a promotional email from Company X. Intrigued by the offer, Jane explores the product details through the Customer Portal and decides to sign up, entering the required information. MaxBill’s Activation API seamlessly integrates Jane’s data from the portal into the system, automatically activating her as a customer.
Order Fulfilment Principles
MaxBill multi-utility SaaS billing solution also suggests a robust business process management engine that automates requests for customer activation and service fulfilment. Based on a workflow-based engine, this system configures order fulfilment steps according to specific operational processes and policies. This ensures efficient and accurate activation of customer contracts, with minimal manual intervention.
Customer Troubleshooting and Invoice Investigation
Once Jane begins using the electricity and gas services, MaxBill handles bill generation and delivery seamlessly. In case of any anomalies or discrepancies in the bill, Jane can engage with the chatbot to request amendments or clarification.
For instance, if Jane spends time away from home, resulting in no submitted consumption information, the system recalculates charges based on estimated values.
Dive shortly into the customer journey inside the MaxBill system!
Billing Solutions for Multi-Utility Services Providers Powered By AI and ML
Predictive Analytics for Customer Insights
MaxBill’s AI capabilities enable predictive analytics, providing valuable insights into customer behaviour and preferences. By analysing historical data, the system predicts future trends, allowing companies to anticipate customer needs and tailor offerings accordingly. For example, ML churn prediction models identify customers at risk of churn, enabling proactive retention strategies to be implemented.
Optimised Pricing and Revenue Management
AI algorithms optimise pricing and revenue management strategies, maximising profitability for multi-utility companies. By analysing market trends, competitor pricing, and customer segmentation, MaxBill recommends optimal pricing structures and promotional offers. Additionally, AI-driven revenue forecasting models provide accurate revenue projections, facilitating informed decision-making.
Automated Process Optimisation
AI-driven automation streamlines operational processes, reducing manual intervention and enhancing efficiency. From customer activation to service fulfilment, an integrated workflow-based engine automates tasks, ensuring rapid response times and minimising errors. By automating routine tasks, companies can focus on strategic initiatives and value-added activities.
Personalised Customer Experiences
ML algorithms enable personalised customer experiences, enhancing satisfaction and loyalty. By analysing customer data and preferences, MaxBill tailors offer communications to individual needs, increasing engagement and retention. For example, personalised retention offers, such as loyalty programmes and discounts, are automatically generated based on customer profiles and behaviour.
Advanced Risk Management
AI capabilities extend to risk management, identifying and mitigating potential risks for multi-utility companies. ML algorithms analyse data to detect anomalies and patterns indicative of fraud or non-compliance. By proactively addressing risks, companies can safeguard their operations and reputation, ensuring compliance with regulations and industry standards.
What Do Utility Leaders Get at the End of the Day?
Utility billing software for multi-utility companies delivers the following outcomes, based on the role within a company:
Business Leaders
- Expansion into New Markets: Utility companies can seamlessly enter new markets, leveraging their comprehensive solution to support diverse offerings and customer segments.
- Facilitation of Easy and Rapid Scaling: MaxBill empowers business leaders to scale their services and business models rapidly, adapting to evolving market demands and opportunities.
- Fostering of Customer Growth and Retention: By delivering personalised offers and exceptional customer experiences, MaxBill helps utility companies attract and retain customers, fostering long-term relationships and loyalty.
- Increase in Revenues and Profits: Optimisation capabilities drive revenue growth and profitability by maximising pricing strategies, minimising operational costs, and identifying revenue opportunities.
- Enhanced Trust and Reputation: Through reliable service delivery and superior customer satisfaction, MaxBill enhances the trust and reputation of utility companies, positioning them as industry leaders.
IT Department
- Unified System Integration: IT departments get a unified platform for integrating various services and technologies, simplifying system management and reducing complexity.
- Modernised Solutions: MaxBill’s modern and configurable billing and CRM platform for multi-utility providers replaces legacy systems, enabling IT departments to streamline operations and improve efficiency.
- Cost Optimisation: By streamlining billing system maintenance costs, MaxBill helps IT departments optimise expenses and allocate resources more effectively.
Sales and Operations
- Faster Time to Market: MaxBill accelerates time-to-market for new services, enabling IT departments to bring innovative offerings to market quickly and capitalise on revenue opportunities.
- Improved Customer Experience: Customer relationship management for multi-utility companies as part of the MaxBill SaaS solution enhances the purchasing and delivery experience for customers, reducing churn and increasing satisfaction through streamlined processes and automation.
- Reduced Workload: MaxBill’s consolidation of systems and automation of critical tasks reduces the workload for IT departments, freeing up resources and reducing costs.
- Holistic Business Processes: Our holistic approach to business processes eliminates the need for system redesign, reduces capital expenditures, and ensures scalability for future growth.
MaxBill empowers utility leaders to achieve their strategic goals by providing comprehensive solutions that drive growth, efficiency, and customer satisfaction across all departments.
Responsible for the company’s growth and expansion? Let’s discuss how we can help your company become more agile and ready for further growth.
Related:
Top 5 Challenges Multi-Utility Companies Face & How to Tackle Them?
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