Welcome Mark Wilkinson, New Expert in the Customer Care Community- [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Expert Interview]
Looking across the landscape, it’s hard to imagine that any sector is going through as many comprehensive and rapid changes as the utility industry. While that might be hard to believe as the digital age is bringing about new industries that were never even dreamed of previously, that same digitalization is hitting utilities in a very impactful way. Combine that trend with a focus on converting to clean energy, increasingly distributed generation resources, the importance of reliability and affordability becoming absolutely undeniable, and it’s clear that these long-overdue evolutions to utilities will be continuing for years to come. And for the utility professionals who deal directly with customers, that means that the utility-customer dynamic is becoming newly exciting and innovative in a way it never has before.
Tracking the change from customers who touched base with their utility just once per month to pay the bill to an arrangement where there are apps, emails, web portals, and social media platforms from the utility, where customers likely have smart devices in their home connected directly to their utility, and where utility and end consumer alike are collaborating to ensure energy use is efficient and optimized can be a full-time job itself. That’s why we look to subject matter experts and thought leaders to keep tabs on the fast pace of change for us—and that’s exactly what Mark Wilkinson, Senior Vice President of Products at Ibex Digital, is doing for the Energy Central Community.
As the latest member to join our Network of Experts, specifically focused on the Customer Care Community, Mark will be providing the community with an inside view of the new digital tools transforming utilities, the best practices utilities should be utilizing to make best use of these newfound solutions, and general impressions of industry trends. Mark leads the Ibex teams that deliver Customer Engagement, Voice of the Customer, and Marketplace solutions for utilities, but to introduce him to the Energy Central community he was gracious enough to sit down and answer some questions as a part of the Energy Central Power Perspective ‘Welcome New Expert Interview Series.’