"We now have a streamlined collection process, giving the collections team more overview, lower workload, and the ability to work more efficiently."

Arthur Bennink, Collection Team Leader at Alliander

Smooth processes

Alliander develops and manages energy networks. Over 3 million Dutch households and businesses receive electricity, gas, and heat through the cables and pipes. They do this in the societal interest of keeping energy reliable, affordable, and accessible for everyone. In total, the network company serves about 3.3 million customers. With such a large number, smooth processes are necessary, including in the collections process, which needs to run efficiently with as much overview for employees and as low a workload as possible.

A complex system

The Expertise Center Collection (ECI) of Alliander already used SAP CX for handling customer inquiries and complaints, and SAP IS-U for billing. Additionally, they used a separate Credit Management tool with reports from a Dataplein. This complex system did not provide a good overview. Arthur Bennink, Collection Team Leader at Alliander, said, 'We wanted to move towards an integrated collection process.' To achieve this, they enlisted the help of Acorel.

Project completed ahead of schedule

Data from the Credit Management tool was transferred to SAP CX. Subsequently, the Dataplein server was shut down. The collections team now works solely with SAP IS-U and SAP CX, which simplifies their tasks. They also benefit from automated processes, saving time. Thanks to a good collaboration between IT and the business, the project was completed a month earlier than planned. Bennink said, 'The consultants from Acorel provide well-founded advice and deliver on their promises.'

Workload reduction

ECI employees also handle customer inquiries. Roel Rutten, Senior SAP Consultant at Acorel, said, 'We have integrated these customer inquiries into SAP CX, essentially consolidating the workload.' Additionally, the project team looked at the contact moments between ECI and the customer. Rutten said, 'These moments were not effective enough, simply because they occurred too early in the process. Therefore, we moved these moments back, and it is already showing results. Fewer contact moments are needed, which reduces the workload for the collections team.'