In a rapidly changing energy sector, how can technological innovation be reconciled with human interaction? This is the key question for EDF Commerce, which is relying on a strategic partnership with Armatis to optimise its customer experience. Sandrine Herbelin takes us behind the scenes of a 17-year collaboration and shares her vision of striking the right balance between artificial intelligence and human expertise.
The EDF-Armatis partnership: a successful outsourcing strategy
In a constantly evolving energy market, EDF Commerce has made the strategic decision to outsource part of its customer relations to Armatis. Sandrine Herbelin, head of the department responsible for managing all outsourced services for EDF Commerce’s Residential Customers Division, explains this approach, which has made Armatis a key partner ever since it won its first tender in 2008.
Armatis has been entrusted with a comprehensive scope of work
The scope of work entrusted to Armatis covers the entire customer and commercial relationship for EDF’s retail customers:
- Taking out policies
- Termination
- All enquiries relating to the term of the contract
- Front office and back office
- Comprehensive management, using a 360° approach
17 years of partnership: the key to success
Since the first call for tenders in 2008, EDF has maintained a long-standing partnership with Armatis. For Sandrine Herbelin, this stability addresses a practical challenge: the service is complex, and training competent customer advisers takes time. The duration of the partnership allows for this continuous development of skills.
She also highlights Armatis’s role as a partner in a changing market environment, support which she considers invaluable.
The shared values of a sustainable partnership
Sandrine Herbelin sums up what makes the EDF–Armatis relationship so strong:
“Armatis is a partner that provides us with a great deal of support in an extremely volatile market environment. It is invaluable to have this partnership, which is built on transparency and trust.”
Two key elements stand out in this collaboration: transparency and mutual trust, built up over time.
Technological innovation to support advisers
EDF is gradually providing its advisers with tools and systems designed to make their day-to-day work easier:
- Tools for rewriting emails, to make it easier to draft replies
- Tools to help identify customers more effectively when they call or write, as well as the nature of their enquiry
- Routing enquiries to the most suitable advisers to handle each one
The aim is to achieve a balance between the nature of the customer’s enquiry and the expertise of the adviser handling it.
The balance between AI and humans
Sandrine Herbelin is clear on this point: EDF remains firmly focused on the human aspect of its customer relations. She estimates that around 20 per cent of the measures taken help to improve the handling of customer enquiries by simplifying or eliminating certain tasks. She herself points out that this is not a question of ‘AI capability’, but rather of tools designed to support the customer service adviser.
In practical terms, this means:
- Simplified tasks, which are no longer carried out manually by advisers
- Advisers who focus on creating value, both for the business and for the client
- Customers who are better able to handle simple enquiries themselves
- Advisers are on hand to answer more complex questions
Lessons for your customer strategy
3 keys to success to bear in mind
- Prioritise long-term partnerships over short-term contracts
- Investing in staff development
- Using technology to support advisers, rather than as a replacement for people
The future of customer relations
The example of EDF shows that technological innovation and human expertise are not mutually exclusive, but complementary. The aim is not to replace humans with AI, but to create a system in which each component contributes its own value.
