Research Reports

• Billing and Payment Profiles & Best Practices 2007

  The Ascent Group, Inc. - May 2007
  This detailed 266 page color report delivers the results of our research on billing and payment practices and technologies. This is the third annual study of billing and payment options conducted by the Ascent Group. Research was conducted during the first and second quarter of 2007 to better understand how companies are improving practices and optimizing technology to increase billing and payment efficiency and effectiveness and reducing operating costs. We asked companies to share strategies and experiences to identify the practices that lead to higher productivity, reduced costs, and increased performance. We also asked companies to provide their plans moving forward as well as lessons learned along the way.

• Billing And Payment Preferences In Australian Residential Supply

  Datamonitor - October 2006
  With utilities focused on reducing cost-to-serve, opportunities exist within the billing and payment operations to reduce costs in line with customer preferences, thus securing both a lower cost-to-serve and improved customer satisfaction. This brief draws on results from a survey of over 2000 Australian households to highlight customers' predilections for lower-cost billing and payment options.

• Customer Care Outsourcing Report

  Warren B. Causey, a division of Energy Central - January 2004
  This 2004 report includes a complete update on this technology and utilities that seem to be increasingly embracing the idea. The report contains 124 pages including, survey reports of what utilities are actually doing, detailed vendor profiles and extensive analysis.

• Best Practice Utilities Billing - An Operational Assessment of Systems and Services

  Datamonitor - August 2004
  With IT billing spend in excess of EUR450 million in 2003, utilities are failing to efficiently bill and sell to residential customers. The onset of competition has brought market consolidation, unbundling and a need for scale. This has left utilities with an array of disparate legacy systems, undermining utility efforts to develop their strategic propositions.

• Strategies for Small and Regional Utilities: The challenges of scale in energy markets

  Datamonitor - July 2004
  What is the optimum size for an energy retailer? Can everyone reduce costs by outsourcing their customer billing? What is the optimum way to procure 500GWh electricity? In an industry historically characterized by high fixed costs, large businesses have a competitive advantage, and small suppliers struggle for survival.

• Credit & Collections in the Utility Industry

  Chartwell, Inc. - November 2003
  New Chartwell report spotlights innovative initiatives deployed by utilities to fight bad debt

• Web-based Customer Service in the Utility Industry

  Chartwell, Inc. - August 2003
  Utility companies begin to tap Internet’s potential with customer service applications, new Chartwell report shows

• Customer Retention Strategies for the European Electricity Mid-market

  Datamonitor - July 2003
  The report analyses the value of each of the customer groups that populate the electricity mid-market and ascertains what measures are necessary to retain customers. By also considering the cost of these measures, the report advises on the best strategies to adopt in order to boost retention rates without compromising profitability.

• Chartwell's Report on Special Billing Services 05

  Chartwell, Inc. - May 2003
  Business customers want special billing services but utilities aren’t necessarily filling the bill, says new Chartwell report based on more than 450 industry surveys

• The Chartwell Report on Proactive Customer Service Solutions

  Chartwell, Inc. - July 2003
  Utility companies taking new, proactive approaches to customer service issues and outage situations, says Chartwell report

• Fall 2002 CIS/CRM Software Report

  Skipping Stone - October 2002
  This comprehensive, 409-page report delivers a thorough comparison of the functionality for 33 CIS and 15 CRM software providers,delivering a detailed compilation of company and software information collected from the various vendors.

• Superior service and savings in billing queries

  Datamonitor - November 2001
  Datamonitor’s report ‘Superior Service and Savings in Billing Queries’ identifies opportunities for European utilities to increase customer satisfaction, customer retention and make cost savings – fundamental objectives in today’s increasingly competitive environment. Partial fulfillment of these objectives can be achieved by changes in billing procedures and, more specifically, in the handling of bill-related queries.

• Best practice in residential Customer Relationship Management: Maximising efficiency and productivity

  Datamonitor - November 2001
  Utilities across Europe are experiencing growing customer expectations in service which are necessarily driving up costs in metering, billing, and customer service.

• Superior Service & Savings in Billing Queries: Segmentation opportunities for European utilities

  Datamonitor - November 2001
  Datamonitor’s brief ‘Superior Service & Savings in Billing Queries’ identifies opportunities for European utilities to increase customer satisfaction, customer retention and make cost savings – fundamental objectives in today’s increasingly competitive environment. Partial fulfillment of these objectives can be achieved by changes in billing procedures and, more specifically, in the handling of bill-related queries.