Demand Response Overhaul – Sprucing up Crisis Helpdesks for Utilities

Introduction

In today's era, utilities play a vital role in the smooth operation of society and the economy. Whether it's electricity, water, telecommunication, or natural gas, these services are integral to our day-to-day activities. However, when unforeseen events, such as a hurricane, disrupt these services, there is a notable surge in calls and inquiries from panicked customers seeking urgent help and guidance, underscoring the need for a vital adaptive strategy.

One significant approach is the establishment of Disaster Recovery Helpdesks, crucial in sustaining communication and support during periods of crisis. This blog discusses how Tech Mahindra’s (TechM) Disaster Recovery (or DR) Helpdesk Model effectively tackles this challenge.

Challenges faced by Utility Service Providers during emergencies:

1. Prolonged Service Outages

• Challenge: Immediate reporting and addressing outages
• Impact: Extended outage durations, impacting people’s quality of life, and a negative perception of the brand.

2. Customer Reachability

• Challenge: Overwhelming existing support channels
• Impact: Aggravating situations leading to frustration and panic amongst customers, increasing misinformation through social media, and chaos.

3. Elevated Safety Risk

• Challenge: Rapid response is compromised
• Impact: Delayed response to emergency services increases the risk of loss of life and property damage.

4. Hindered Crisis Management

• Challenge: Impeding crisis management
• Impact: Potential escalations of emergencies into full-blown crises due to delayed or mismanaged response management.

5. Loss of Business Continuity

• Challenge: Stalled operations
• Impact: Revenue loss/penalties from regulatory bodies for the utility company and economic hardships for the affected customers.

6. Employee Overload and Burnout

• Challenge: Increased workload
• Impact: Existing personnel pushed beyond capacity, resulting in high attrition rates, and compromised service quality - all these add to the higher cost of running business operations.

Disaster Recovery Helpdesk – The critical adaptive measure during emergencies:

In response to these challenges, utility companies are turning to specialized partners with contact center and crisis management experience who can rapidly expand during an emergency, handle massive information and call flows, and play a pivotal role in disaster management and recovery.

Figure 1: Disaster Recovery Helpdesk

Key tenets of our disaster recovery helpdesk model are described below:

• Centralized Management and Monitoring: Custom operating models (WAH/WFO/Hybrid); Steady talent mobilization (Geo Dispersed/Localized/Contractual/Bilingual); and Fluid staffing (24 x 7/After-Hours/Emergency/Time-Zone based), flexible to client needs.
• Cloud-Based Infrastructure: Scalable, flexible, and resilient cloud-based solutions enable call center infrastructure and operations to relocate swiftly or scale according to the nature of the urgency or requirement, ensuring business continuity.
• Multi-Channel Communication Network: Robust and scalable technology enabling seamless and uninterrupted interaction and communication across various omnichannel platforms through an advanced comms network which is equipped to handle high-volume traffic.
• Advanced Security Measures: Multi-layered security measures including end-to-end encryption, secured access controls, and endpoint device management managed centrally, ensuring integrity and confidentiality of critical data during disaster.
• Digital Transformation and Continuous Improvement: Digital advancements through Automation & AI; Agent Assist tools; Customer Feedback loops and implementation of Lean & Six Sigma practices leading to optimization of volume, enabling lower response time and decision-making to drive agility and adaptability.
• Comprehensive Training and Testing: Periodic investments in extensive training, CX excellence, and technical aspects relevant to disaster scenarios to adeptly manage crisis, ensuring every response is informed and effective.

Value Proposition of our Disaster Call Center Model:

• Emergency Response: Proven expertise and track record in exceeding SLAs for faults and emergency contact center. Our established delivery team, process, and technology will enable immediate communication and coordination, ensuring rapid response to emergencies, minimizing the impact on customers, reducing downtime, and mitigating potential property damage.
• Incident Management: Our contact center staff are responsible for logging, tracking, and managing emergency and crisis-related incidents reported by customers. They ensure that each incident is appropriately documented, escalated if necessary, and followed up on to provide a satisfactory resolution.
• Business Continuity: Our WAH Customer Experience Management Solution enables us to manage operations remotely in the event of unforeseen circumstances that may disrupt on-site operations, allowing our agents to continue providing customer support from the safety and convenience of their homes, thereby ensuring business continuity and service reliability.
• Scalability and Flexibility: Our disaster call center services are designed to accommodate clients’ evolving needs. Our ‘Work at Home’ CX management solutions are rapidly scalable, allowing seamless expansion based on call volumes and service requirements, ensuring optimal resource allocation and cost-effectiveness.
• Potential to Digitize call center operations: Strong ecosystem of alliance partners, platforms, and in-house solutions to facilitate and help you scale digitally, providing greater engagement with customers and creating bandwidth to handle emergency scenarios at large.

Case in point:

A power firm in Puerto Rico started its urgent crisis plan after Hurricane Fiona had passed, as it caused over 1.5 million customers to lose electricity. This led to a surge in emergency calls, and there weren't enough staff to handle the calls. Just one day after getting the green light, TechM got itself up and running. We brought on board more than 200 customer service agents and handled over 100,000 urgent incoming calls. Our customer service agents spoke in two languages, English and Caribbean Spanish, which helped the utility company avoid missing about 20% to 25% of customer calls, as it had before. This ensured that things continued to run smoothly, and service remained steady, making customers happy.

When disasters strike—be it hurricanes, floods, or wildfires—utility services often face large-scale outages that can last days or even weeks. The average cost of unplanned utility downtime can run into millions of dollars, encompassing not only lost revenue but also regulatory penalties and reputational damage. For example, during Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico (Sep 2022), over 1 million customers lost electricity for up to two weeks, with local utilities struggling to manage an average of 13,000 daily incoming calls, exposing a significant service capacity gap.

Research indicates that each hour of downtime for a major utility can result in losses of up to $250,000, excluding the reputational damage caused by inadequate crisis communication. Furthermore, call volumes tend to spike by 5 to 10 times during crisis periods, and data show that quick, accurate responses during such events improve customer satisfaction by over 40%, primarily when supported by proactive, multilingual communication and digital touchpoints.

Role of Automation and AI in Crisis Situations:

Tech Mahindra’s DR Helpdesk model leverages AI, Automation, and Analytics to enable utilities to respond with agility and scale during emergencies. Key automation features include:

1. Automated ETA Updates & Follow-Ups:  
   Customers receive proactive updates on power restoration times, reducing anxiety and minimizing the need for follow-up calls.
2. AI-Powered Contact Triage:  
   Incoming calls and digital messages are automatically categorized based on urgency and customer type (e.g. vulnerable customers, critical services), enabling faster prioritization and more effective responses.
3. Digital Two-Way Contact Channels:  
   Integration of chatbots, WhatsApp, SMS, and IVR tools allows customers to confirm power restoration or report hazards instantly without needing to wait for a live agent.
4. Control Tower Operations:  
   A data-driven decision-making hub that uses analytics to highlight trends, generate alerts, and optimize productivity. This empowers teams to make better decisions during dynamic and evolving crises.
5. Virtual Agent Assist:  
   AI tools assist live agents with real-time suggestions, knowledge management insights, and next best action guidance.  This improves First Call Resolution (FCR) and shortening Average Handle Time (AHT).

In the case of a power firm in Puerto Rico, this automation-enabled approach enabled Tech Mahindra to scale to over 220 bilingual agents within three weeks, reducing call abandonment rates by 20–25% and handling over 100,000 emergency calls in just two months.

Conclusion:

Strengthening disaster response frameworks with resilient backup call centers is not just about regulatory compliance; it is a fundamental aspect of community trust and utility reliability. Leveraging cutting-edge technology, these call centers can expand rapidly in times of crisis, emphasizing the synergy of preparedness and technological agility —a necessary safeguard for utility providers to serve and protect their customers and assets effectively. This enables critical communication lines to remain open, allowing for swift reporting and resolution.