Vattenfall Streamlines sales and service, scales for sustainability and growth with Dynamics 365

Improving the customer experience while supporting net zero

As one of Europe’s largest producers and retailers of electricity and heat, Vattenfall AB is committed to enabling fossil-free living within one generation. The company produces electricity from many types of energy sources including hydro, nuclear, wind, solar, biomass, waste, coal, and natural gas—and has a commitment to phasing out fossil fuels, including coal. With that, the company wants to be net zero by 2040 in its operations, and across suppliers and customers. “Electrification will reduce CO₂ emissions for industries, businesses of all sizes, and individual customers, enabling fossil fuels to be replaced by renewable and climate-neutral energy,” says Emile Das, Manager of IT Architecture at Vattenfall AB. “It’s driving all areas of our business.”

To meet its sustainability goals, Vattenfall AB must efficiently deliver the right customer solutions—ones that align with the company mission and will allow scalability to grow into a changing market. A challenge for the company was that its marketing, sales, service and billing divisions were using different tools, applications, and interfaces. Disparate data collection and processes sometimes made it challenging for Vattenfall employees to find needed information quickly, disrupting the customer experience, and limiting opportunities for customer engagement with the company’s sustainability efforts.

The company wanted a flexible customer engagement (CRM) platform that could give each business division the tools it needed to best serve customers while unifying the customer experience. With an aim to provide a central way for marketing teams, salespeople, and customer care representatives to view the engagement, purchase, and service history for any customer, the company chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Microsoft Unified Service Desk, and Dynamics 365 Customer Service. “Dynamics 365 was a natural choice given that we have a large Azure footprint, extensive Office 365 usage and a Dynamics 365 Competence Center,” says Das.

Since implementing the CRM solution, Vattenfall AB has substantially reduced customer inquiry resolution time. Sales and service employees are working more efficiently, and the number of different tools and interfaces opened by an employee per customer inquiry has fallen from eight to one. Dynamics 365 has also helped Vattenfall simplify how its sales and service teams work together and deliver on one of the company’s core values: customer focus. Agents can now focus on the customer dialogue and not on complex administrative tasks.

“Internally we are more streamlined and responsive,” says Das. “We have what’s needed to provide faster, more connected, and personalized customer service now and support future capabilities required in a fast-changing environment. This builds trust with customers that we can continue to meet their needs, and that together we can meet our Net Zero goal.” 

Supporting customers and sustainable innovation

The electrification of transportation is another area where Vattenfall is using Dynamics 365 to create innovative solutions that support both customers and sustainability efforts. The company is building a vast network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and assets under the flag of InCharge, and currently operates around 40,000 charging points in Northern Europe.

To enable this network and support both public and commercial charging locations, InCharge partners with many different types of organizations like automotive companies, energy organizations, municipalities, various retailers and even fast-food locations to support in the different local charging needs. The company also sells and installs smart charging stations for home use by electric car owners and to businesses that want to offer electric vehicle charging onsite. 

Dynamics 365 is a foundation of InCharge and helps the company engage individual and business customers, facilitate sales and installation, and support any post-install questions related to service, usage, and billing. For engaging with prospects and customers, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing is used with different modules like Dynamics Sales, Customer Service, and Field Service. The combination allows Vattenfall to assure a high quality and personalized experience when charging stations are being installed or serviced at homes and businesses while enabling the team to optimize their schedules and stay coordinated with other departments.

Having InCharge customer data as part of the overarching customer view allows sales and service teams to coordinate and provide the best follow-up with customers and develop a more personalized relationship. With more consumers choosing electric vehicles—and using InCharge EV charging stations and services—this additional insight can help sales and service representatives in other divisions, especially around sustainability focused products and services. 

Simplifying and scaling for climate neutral solutions

As Vattenfall continues to innovate and develop more climate-neutral energy solutions, Das says this simplification will be important, helping the company scale and adapt. “We now have a cost-effective solution that can grow and adapt as customer demand changes, but at the same time it offers a basis that is future proof,” says Das.

He adds, “We know we’re just at the beginning of how new sustainable solutions will affect the organization. With our relationship with Microsoft, we feel confident we can reach our goals, and continue to be a leader in providing more sustainable, cost-effective options to decarbonize the energy industry and help make fossil-free living a reality.”

Find out more about Vattenfall AB on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.