In The Lean Startup, author and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Eric Ries explores the idea that “our future prosperity depends on the quality of our collective imaginations”. He argues that imagination may traditionally have been seen as the preserve of the arts, thinkers and philosophers, but now within an industrial context, it can be seen to spark innovation.
I am delighted to say that this was proved this month when colleagues from across the sector gathered in London to put their collective imaginations to the question of how we can strategically collaborate across the gas and electricity networks to improve customer experience.
While it is true that the networks have fewer, and less frequent, touch points with consumers than suppliers, it is also true that each touch point the networks have with consumers is likely to be much more time-sensitive and service-critical – for example, emergency repairs, un/planned disruptions and new connections.
The industry and Ofgem recognise that meeting the needs of all consumers is central to our mandate; each gas distribution network and electricity distribution network operator has already begun a profound transformation to become more customer-centric.
This has created a remarkable consistency in the challenges faced across all network businesses, and as we strive to achieve the financial incentives that are on offer through regulation, it has also resulted in a culture of competition. Our competition, however, is not always in the public’s interest. Duplication of effect and resources gets passed on to the consumer in bills, and has led many of us to conclude that we have much more to gain through collaboration, than competition.
The ambition behind the latest Innovation Summit, focused on customers, was to explore what collaboration in this area might look like and to understand how, as an industry, we might work together to deliver better, fairer, more accurate and responsive proactive customer service.
The energy, goodwill and ambition at the event resulted in us identifying two clear opportunities for further exploration and development. The industry has committed to maintaining momentum and pace to deliver the first development stage of these proposed projects, because 95 per cent of innovation fails through inertia.
This is innovation − it may work, it may not − but collectively the industry will learn from having the ambition and will to try, which in itself will move the sector forward in its quest to deliver exceptional customer experience.
Denise Massey, managing director, Energy Innovation Centre