user success story
User - Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative
Challenge - GVEC wanted to prioritize its service expansion to maximize customer value and satisfaction.
Solution - ArcGIS Enterprise
Result - The app provides more detail and better customer engagement with less manual processing and updating. GVEC is proud of this customer-facing application that improves customer engagement, increases efficiency, and reduces costs.
Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative (GVEC) serves electricity to 90,000 customers across 3,500 square miles of south central Texas. What makes GVEC unique is the way it expanded beyond electric service into additional lines of business. The utility wanted to do more for the community by providing additional services and improving customer communication.
The electric cooperative expanded its offerings to better serve its customers. It now provides high-speed wireless and fiber-optic internet; heating, cooling, and ventilation (HVAC); solar; and electrician services. Although GVEC supplies electricity throughout its territory, not all additional services are yet available in all areas.
GVEC wanted to prioritize its service expansion to maximize customer value and satisfaction. Customers needed to understand their choices and the timeline for services to be rolled out. The utility sought a superior way to communicate with its customers about the choices available to them and their interest in additional services.
GVEC replaced outside contract marketing with a web application specifically customized for the needs of its customers. The app is conveniently embedded directly on the corporate website.
Customers can quickly search for an address to see all the services available at that exact location. For example, the mobile-friendly app clearly shows where the popular fiber service is offered. Going one step further, it also shows where fiber service is projected to be offered in the coming year. With the app, customers can learn more, sign up for services, or express interest in a service that is not yet available.
The application makes use of the free Serviceability Lookup configuration template for ArcGIS Online. This template allows public users to easily view services for a given location. Multiple layers of information are organized in a single pop-up menu to enhance the user experience. A customer's interest is captured by Survey123 for ArcGIS in a convenient form that summarizes the exact location, desired services, and all related information.
The Serviceability Lookup app is very popular with customers and has received thousands of views. Because all the data is captured in ArcGIS, the production of routine reports for marketing efforts is now straightforward. Visibly tracking customer interest helps planners prioritize service expansion projects in line with customer needs.
GVEC saw great value consolidating its marketing efforts to create a single message around its offerings. The solution was implemented quickly and eliminated the cost of external marketing services.
Customers and the utility's leadership readily embraced the innovative solution and appreciate its ease of use. The app provides more detail and better customer engagement with less manual processing and updating. GVEC is proud of this customer-facing application that improves customer engagement, increases efficiency, and reduces costs.
The expanded capabilities of this new app save us $1,800 per month in marketing expense, give us the ability to offer a more streamlined customer experience, and maximize the tool to cross-market additional Cooperative services.