From Transformation to Trust
The New Customer Needs and the Strategic Role of Technology in the Utilities Market.
A Market Undergoing Deep Transformation
The Energy & Utilities sector is at the center of a phase of profound and rapid transformation. This evolution is driven by multiple factors, including strong price volatility and the emergence of new multiservice offers that continuously reshape the competitive landscape.
In this context, Digitalization has become the strategic lever. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation, and Cloud are no longer optional but essential components evolving business models. Data and AI now stand at the core of decision-making, enabling predictive models, behavioral analysis, and automation processes.
Added to this is a more aware consumer, for whom sustainability and social responsibility are non-negotiable decision criteria. The end customer increasingly chooses “companies that show genuine care.” For Utilities to thrive in this scenario, it is essential not only to innovate technologically but also to align internal processes to respond proactively and effectively to the expectations of this new customer base.
The New Needs of the End Customer: The Pillars of the Relationship
In this scenario, consumer expectations are clear and focus on transparency, service quality, and personalized experiences. Market needs revolve around five fundamental pillars:
- Rebuilding Trust through Transparency: The bill—often perceived as complex—must become understandable, transparent, and aligned with customer expectations. This is the first step toward rebuilding trust.
- Fostering Loyalty through Service Quality: The focus must shift from price alone to high-quality service and personalized experiences. Loyalty is not gained only through discounts but through superior perceived value.
- Managing Predictive Insights to Anticipate Needs: Companies must understand customer behavior and anticipate their needs to prevent churn. This requires advanced data usage.
- Providing Continuous and Added Value: It is essential to consistently integrate value-added services to increase engagement and perceived usefulness.
- Ensuring a Fully Omnichannel Customer Experience: The customer journey must be fluid and seamless, merging physical and digital touchpoints into a single coherent experience.
To address these needs, the sector is moving toward the creation of open ecosystems and tech contamination, establishing partnerships beyond Utilities to extend customer engagement.
Engineering’s Response: The Neta Platform
In this demanding context, Neta positions itself as the digital platform offering a concrete and modern response. Neta is the leading solution in CIS (Customer Information Systems) for managing the Meter-to-Cash (M2C) lifecycle and the main processes of the Energy & Utilities sector, covering areas such as Energy, Gas, Water, Sales, Distribution, Metering, Billing, and Credit.
The platform integrates AI, automation, and deep utility domain knowledge to reinforce customer trust and loyalty while improving operational efficiency and service quality. Through SaaS solutions, Neta enhances efficiency by leveraging Cloud, AI, Machine Learning, a Data-Driven approach, and Open APIs.
How Neta’s AI Supports Customer Loyalty and Operational Efficiency
Artificial Intelligence is applied by Neta to innovate both back-end processes (M2C) and front-end experiences (Mobile App), generating end-to-end value.
AI in Back-End Processes (Meter-to-Cash)
AI improves data accuracy, prevents errors, and enables more ethical and proactive credit management:
| AI Algorithm | Objectives and Description | Benefits for the End Customer |
|---|---|---|
| Smart Adjustment Filtering | Automatically analyzes adjustment files from distributors and blocks non-relevant ones. | Prevents errors and delays in the metering cycle, improving service quality and customer trust (more accurate bills). |
| Anomaly Detection Monitoring | Identifies significant deviations from historical consumption and triggers self-reading requests. | Reduces incorrect bills and enhances the perception of transparency and customer care. |
| Delinquency Risk Clustering | Analyzes payment patterns, historical data, and external indicators to identify customers at risk of delinquency. | Enables proactive and targeted outreach, preventing service interruptions and strengthening customer relationships. |
| Payment Plan Optimization | Suggests sustainable installment plans aligned with company policies. | Reduces friction and enhances the perception of a fair and collaborative service provider. |
AI Agents and Front-End (Customer Management)
For front-end processes, Neta integrates advanced AI Agents designed to create a trust-based and autonomous customer experience:
- Smart Compliance & Document Reader: Automatically reads and interprets bills, contracts, and forms, extracting and validating key data in real time.
- Personal Sustainability Assistant: Turns consumption into actionable insights—predicting future expenses, detecting anomalies, and providing optimization suggestions.
- AI Customer Copilot: Guides customers through various steps (switching, contract changes), providing contextual support, smoother interactions, and full traceability.
AI Enabling: The Intelligent Ecosystem
Neta promotes the concept of AI Enabling, the ability to activate and orchestrate intelligent agents belonging to different IT platforms (e.g., CRM, ERP).
AI Enabling supports a Data Federation, in which Neta’s agents can collaborate bidirectionally with agents from other strategic vendors, combining APIs, AI logic, and datasets. This federated governance transforms platforms from isolated tools into collaborative ecosystems.
A practical example is Offer and Proposition Management: an AI agent can personalize offers based on CRM customer profiles and real metering data, supporting anti-churn actions.
Conclusions: Why Choose Engineering’s Neta
Choosing the Neta platform means adopting an ecosystem-driven approach that guarantees:
- Operational efficiency thanks to advanced automation and AI/Machine Learning algorithms.
- High-quality data and Customer Experience enabled by intelligent interactions and data-driven processes.
- Full regulatory compliance with constant updates to national and European directives.
- Ecosystem-driven integration across all business processes (CPQ, CRM, M2C).
Neta accelerates the transition by connecting people, processes, and the future—providing Utilities with the tools to excel in a market focused on quality, personalization, and, above all, trust.
