““I think [Gravity Portals] opened the door to a more robust customer experience, allowing our customers to have the capabilities and functionality to maintain and update their accounts in our billing system. This alleviated delays during non-business hours and allowed our customers to be able to self-serve. We work as a team to provide excellent customer service and enhance our work management.”
– LAURA HUFSCHMIDT, SYSTEM REPRESENTATIVE, SHARP ENERGY.
About Sharp Energy
Sharp Energy, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, has been providing reliable propane services for over 40 years. Serving over 90,000 residential and commercial customers, Sharp Energy is known for its extensive propane storage and multiple rail facilities, in addition to AutoGas, fueling over 1,300 vehicles and significantly reducing carbon emissions.
The Challenge
Sharp Energy sought out a solution that would offer greater efficiencies and enhanced compliance. One of Sharp’s main requirements was to have a SOC2 compliant system, ensuring their customers’ data is stored and processed securely. Beyond compliance, Sharp Energy’s enhancements included the ability to differentiate between payment methods, such as bank account vs. credit card transactions. Lastly, Sharp Energy now has the ability to verify the status of a payment in real-time, enhancing the experience of both the customer and the customer service representatives (CSRs).
Working Together
“I have high respect for the team that’s working with us, and I feel that same respect is reciprocated from them. I think it is really valuable that Gravity considers our experience, knowledge base and opinion equally valuable to their own team.”
– JULI WALDROP, PROGRAM SYSTEM MANAGER, SHARP ENERGY
The collaboration between Sharp Energy and the Gravity Portals team grew to be one of mutual respect and progress. As Sharp Energy addressed core challenges their business was facing with their existing online customer experience, Gravity worked to develop a custom payment portal solution that fit their energy specific business requirements and customer needs.
Gravity Portals’ Project Scope
- Connect Sharp Energy’s existing ADD System to a payment portal to allow shared information between systems
- Sync payments between ADD System and Gravity Portals
- Create a dynamic customer form submission management tool
- Unify all propane company brands into one payment and my account platform, allowing synergy
- Offer a pay by phone option via IVR to allow customer self-service during and after business hours
- Enable the ability to accept EFT bank account payments by phone via IVR or Customer Service Representatives
- Establish options for customers to pay their bills either one-time or recurring with a credit card, debit card or bank account
- Provide a way for customers to self-enroll in paperless billing and direct debit automatic payment options
Benefits and Improvements
Financial Savings
- Billing Savings: Sharp Energy’s new portal offered users a more sustainable option by enrolling in paperless billing. With increased paperless billing enrollment, Sharp Energy has significantly reduced their costs on postage and paper invoices and statements.
Since launching with Gravity Portals, Sharp Energy has seen a 57% increase in paperless billing enrollment.
Time Savings
- Self-Service Customer Portal: Customers can now enroll in automatic payments, paperless billing, and update their account information through a self-service portal, reducing CSRs’ time spent manually doing these tasks.
- IVR (Interactive Voice Response) System: The implementation of an IVR system has allowed customers to securely make payments outside of regular business hours without CSR assistance. This enhancement has not only improved the customer experience by allowing them to pay invoices at any time, from anywhere, but it also has reduced traffic to the CSR phone queue, freeing them up to focus on other valuable tasks.
Improved Customer Experience
- Self-Service Customer Portal: Sharp Energy’s customers can now easily manage their account settings and payment details without needing to contact a CSR. This means quicker, hassle-free service and the ability to manage their accounts whenever they need, leading to a more empowering experience.
- Real-Time Payment Verification: Customers receive immediate confirmation of the status of their payments, increasing transparency and trust.
- Enhanced Communication: Additional integrations between systems provides real time visibility for both the customer service team and customers.
Relationship with Gravity
“This is what I’ve learned about Gravity and just this technology in general, that if it exists somewhere else, it can exist for you. And Gravity is the team that will help you make that happen. In my opinion, the technology we are implementing together with Gravity’s team is blazing the trail and setting the standard for the propane utility customer portal world.”
– JULI WALDROP, PROGRAM SYSTEM MANAGER, SHARP ENERGY
- Initial Challenges: As with any new business relationship, a learning curve relative to trust, communication and work flow.
- Collaborative Approach: Both Gravity and Sharp Energy’s willingness to share ideas and possible solutions for challenges has allowed Sharp Energy’s custom payment portal solution to continuously evolve to benefit their business now and in the future.
- Effective Communication: Mutual transparency and willingness to adapt and pivot based on feedback.
“Having the collaboration between our companies, [Gravity] enables forward thinking mobility not only for Sharp Energy, but for other companies that Gravity may service in the future.”
– LAURA HUFSCHMIDT, SYSTEM REPRESENTATIVE, SHARP ENERGY.
Conclusion
Sharp Energy’s partnership with Gravity Portals has made a meaningful impact on their business and customers. Together, they tackled challenges head-on, leading to impressive results improving the customer and company experience—all while maintaining full compliance with PCI and SOC2 standards. This continued partnership blazes the way for other utility companies seeking to enhance their online customer experience, payment processing options and customer service capabilities.
