Manager, Customer Experience

Aquarion Water Company is the public water supply company for more than 750,000 people in 72 cities and towns throughout Connecticut, as well as serving customers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. It is the largest investor-owned water utility in New England and among the seven largest in the U.S. Based in Bridgeport, CT, it has been in the public water supply business since 1857. Across its operations, Aquarion strives to act as a responsible steward of the environment and to assist the communities it serves in promoting sustainable practices. Aquarion Water Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eversource.

Job Summary

The Manager Customer Experience,  is accountable to the Director, Customer Services.  This position is responsible for developing, planning, and implementing policies and procedures pertaining to service inquiries and communications with customers to ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction and first call resolution.  Advises management on matters relating to service and oversees the resolution of concerns.  This position is responsible for establishing the vision, direction, and culture of the Customer Service team by managing individual and team performance expectations and goals, maintaining focus on ensuring and improving customer satisfaction across the Company and managing technology projects specific to enhancing the customer experience, such as SAP contact center, Everbridge communication channels and other technology vendors.

Principal Responsibilities

• Establishes and maintains work standards for quality and quantity of work with an emphasis on excellent customer service and reduced complaints; develops and recommends improvements to workflow, internal procedures, or forms design and usage.
• Recommends, implements and tests enhancements to SAP in support of customer service and Company objectives.
• Establishing, reviewing and achieving, business results/KPIs including  call answer speed, call handling time, and abandonment rate.  Troubleshoots system problems; assists IT in the implementation of recovery plans in the event of system failure.
• Primary liaison with third party vendors who provide critical services to the Company, such as Kubra (customer portal and e-billing), Sitefinity (corporate website for outage mgmt.), Everbridge (customer outage and alert communications).
• Works closely with Customer Advocate to ensure timely response to PURA complaints and inquiries; monitors and reviews each complaint for corrective action or process change to eliminate root cause; may review and resolve special account problems with PURA.
• Utilizes SAP to develop reports and analytics to support effective decision making including KPI’s and utilization of technology in meeting service delivery expectations.
• Prepares the annual operating budget for the department; staffing, equipment and supply needs based on trend and planned activities, monitors expenditures after budget adoption, approves purchase requisitions.
• Reviews and manages JD Power and Customer Satisfaction Survey vendors to understand results and implement changes to improve the customer experience.
• Investigates best practices in customer satisfaction and makes recommendations to improve the customer experience.  This could be technical changes, process improvements or training opportunities.
• Maintain familiarity and compliance with applicable PURA regulations, state and local statutes and Company regulations and policy.
• Work closely with management and Billing to ensure surcharges, rate changes, and other rate adjustments are accurate. This includes participation in testing of changes to ensure accuracy.
• Develop and implement appropriate staff training for monthly workshops, technical skills enhancement, and customer relations skills.
• Works directly with the business in support of Company initiatives and customer business processes, such as Water Quality (complaints), Service, Distribution and Corporate Communications
• Participate in community affairs and industry associations as appropriate.
• Manages and directs the Customer Assistance Programs as required by regulations, including building relationships with third party vendors such as Operation Fuel, Community Action Agencies, reporting and advancing communications to increase enrollment in the program.
• Handle other duties as assigned.

Preferred Requirements

• PROBLEM SOLVING (Situations are identical; similar; differing; variable; nonrecurring): Situations can be recurring or variable in nature, pertaining to customer billing or service issues, interpretation of state and regulatory compliance issues, and computer and telephone system breakdowns.  Ability to make sound decisions based on previous experience and knowledge of Company Rules & Regulations, Compan