Eurotel Case Study
Eurotel, one of the UK’s leading independent communications specialists, has implemented a ‘green’ strategy with the successful transition from paper billing to an e-billing solution, which has not only reduced the carbon footprint, but significantly reduced costs and enhanced their customer service by providing a range of additional billing functionality.
Eurotel provides the latest voice, data and internet products to the SME marketplace. Over the past 15 years, Eurotel has gained its leading reputation through an understanding of customers telecommunications needs and providing a tailored solution.
Their focus on managing costs and increasing efficiency by realising the true benefits of communications technology has enabled them to acquire and retain over 10,000 SME customers.
Challenge 1 – identify ways to reduce the volume of paper bills
With over 10,000 customers, the average bill is 10 pages (duplex) long resulting in 100,000 pieces of paper being printed every month. Put another way, that is a staggering 1.2 million sheets of paper printed every year.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Carbon Management are high priorities for Eurotel and as such they wanted to consider options for decreasing the volumes of paper used every month.
Challenge 2 – identify ways to improve the ‘customer experience’
Eurotel constantly looks for ways to improve customer service and the overall ‘customer experience’. As part of this, they wanted to investigate opportunities to enhance the billing management information available to their customers.
The Solution – An AKJ E-billing System
AKJ presented their e-billing demonstration to Eurotel, who were so impressed they commenced the project which went live within three months.
The e-billing system is a web based billing platform offering much more than a paper billing with an array of additional features and benefits. The bills are sent via e-mail with a pdf of the bill attached to view and a link to an online web account, thus reducing the paper used in the process.
Implementing the Plan
A very detailed and clear implementation project plan was created. Initially it was decided that Eurotel would roll out to 400 customers on a trial basis. AKJ carried out all the technical work involved to create a seamless integrated system which would automatically send out pilot customers their bill via e-mail, attaching a pdf of their bill and a link to a specially designed website where a host of extra functionality was available.
Not only were an array of billing features added, a number of changes were also made to the actual design of the bill to be sent, making it clearer, easier to read, making better use of the space available and using the bill as an opportunity for tailored marketing messages.
The first phase was a success. Customer’s feedback was very positive and only two customers phoned as a result to query the e-bill. However, once they were taken through the e-billing system and how it works, the majority were impressed by all the extra features.
The Roll Out
Since the first phase, customers have continued to be moved onto e-billing and only 6 months later 36% of their customer base was enjoying the benefits of e-billing. Plans are in place to roll this out to all remaining customers.
The ‘Green Benefits’
The removal of paper from the process has helped protect the environment by preserving trees. This in turn has lowered the carbon footprint of the paper supplier; eliminating the energy emissions in the paper manufacturing process and the carbon emissions from the fuel use and electricity.
E-billing Enhanced Features
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The phone bill summary presents a number of options available to analyse the data.
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All itemised calls can be viewed online – up to a previous day’s unbilled usage so customers can constantly monitor usage levels.
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There is an array of reports customers can run and export to excel.
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There is an option to print off a pdf copy of the invoice should the customer wish to.
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There is also an online archive in case customers need to refer to any previous invoices.
Benefits From Implementing Carbon Management
- Cost savings – vast savings have been made from moving to an e-billing solution including the removal of the cost of paper, printing, fulfillment and postage.
- Operational efficiency – the time and resources spent in the process of sending out printed bills was removed with the automated e-bill.
- E-billing speeds up the cash collection process with customers receiving their bills much quicker.
- Improved corporate responsibility and reputation.
- Peace of mind – carbon management makes sense of the business implications of climate change and helps to assure customers that these issues are being effectively managed.
The Results
From the 4,161 customers now on one-billing, there were only 5% of customers who have opted out and continue to receive a hard copy in the post as before.
Overall, the e-billing initiative has been a huge success. The implementation plan went according to plan and the results have been better than expected.
It has resulted in a win-win solution for both Eurotel and their customers who are receiving a number of additional benefits with the e-billing solution not to mention helping protect the environment.
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