From 200,000 to 9M: Scaling Customer Service for a Global Energy Provider

Adapting to Rapid Growth 

At the start of our partnership, the client managed a customer base of 200,000. Over nine years, this has grown to over 7.3 million domestically and 9 million globally. Initially, we supported them with a UK-based team of 12 and a nearshore team of 5 in Sarajevo.

Today, this has evolved into a team of over 500 customer service and back-office energy specialists across both onshore and nearshore locations. 

Transition to the Universal Agent Model 

As part of our client’s commitment to autonomy and accountability in operations, we began transitioning to the new operational model in June 2024.

Starting with a trial of three teams, we refined our approach and rapidly scaled to 20 teams, now supporting over one million customers. This milestone has established us as the client’s largest BPM partner. 

Enhancing the Kraken Platform

Leveraging our expertise with the client’s platform, we designed and implemented several enhancements to improve operational efficiency and user experience. Our internal developer capabilities have been pivotal in deploying these improvements effectively.

Supporting International Expansion

To enable the client’s growth in Europe, we structured our teams to provide multilingual support for key markets, including Germany, Spain, France, and Italy, with plans to expand further. This has ensured seamless service delivery across regions. 

Streamlined Back-Office Operations 

Our dedicated team delivers over 30 back-office services, including billing, disputes, and settlements. By proactively addressing potential issues, we’ve reduced customer touchpoints and improved overall satisfaction. 

Customer-Centric Service Excellence 

Our teams manage inbound and outbound customer interactions, embodying the client’s customer-first philosophy. We’ve fostered a shared culture with their internal teams, allowing seamless integration with their operating model.

This model empowers our teams to take ownership of large cohorts of the client’s customers, providing end-to-end services. Our teams include specialist support agents ready to handle complex and specific tasks and support pre-pay and business accounts. 

Specialist Onboarding & Acquisition Support 

Numerous acquisitions have taken place to support their growth targets, with DDC playing a central role.

Collaborating closely with the client to manage extensive customer onboarding, we have ensured smooth and cost-effective transitions while consistently meeting ongoing customer needs. Our experienced team has successfully managed four of our client’s acquisitions of domestic UK energy suppliers. 

Experienced Vulnerable Customer Support

Our teams excel at managing vulnerable customer scenarios with care and efficiency. Through mandatory daily training, we remain up to date on compliance requirements. We proactively ensure that vulnerable individuals are registered on the Priority Service Register before any emergency occurs, allowing for swift and effective responses.

Our team is also equipped to handle financial vulnerabilities, manage high outstanding balances and provide solutions to expedite resolutions. This includes arranging payment plans and directing customers to additional financial support made available through the client’s customer support grant.

Outbound Smart Meter Conversions

To assist with the uptake of smart meters, our customer service teams efficiently coordinated engineer visits on behalf of our client. We matched customers with engineers based on location and availability and conducted safety and access assessments to ensure critical information was accurately transferred.

This enabled successful first-visit installations and allowed us to address the needs of vulnerable individuals. As a result, we've achieved significant customer conversions to smart meters, enhancing energy usage and awareness and advancing our client's clean energy mission.