Domestic water data and marketing

A good data audit will tap into other data sources, not only to validate existing information but to enrich it with additional insights too. This is best achieved by entering into a data-exchange programme such as that offered by Experian. Its data-exchange programmes cover a wide range of sources to ensure your audit is as accurate and complete as possible.

Validation is key for a successful data audit, comparing your customer contact details against reputable databases to identify gaps, outdated information and errors. Experian’s Aperture Data Studio is one option, which can also check records against suppressions and movers databases. In addition to enriching data with additional contact information, Aperture Data Studio can group customers into precise segments to help generate additional insights.

Ongoing monitoring of your customers’ financial standing is one key benefit of pairing your customer data with that of a credit bureau. Once this is done, the audit process can also be used to link customer records across multiple databases to enable you to generate a Single Customer View (SCV) which provides your organisation with a single, consistent record of each customer applicable to all departments.

Ensuring customers ongoing water payments or repayments for debt are affordable are ideally made with a conversation with the customer. However, this is costly and often doesn’t occur. Data and solutions can help underpin this process. Affordability IQ can be used to help understand whether a payment plan/regular payment is affordable using flags derived from current account turnover data.

If you’re looking to better understand a customer’s finances, seek solutions that can draw more insights from Open Banking shared data to help determine risk. For example, Experian’s Delphi for Customer Management examines a customer’s credit history to look for possible early indicators of financial distress, while Arrears Foresight can help predict future dangers through a variety of data assets, including unemployment risk data.

Before signing off on a debt repayment plan with your customer, can you be confident that the plan is both affordable and sustainable? Customer-centric solutions such as Affordability Passport and DebtSense encourage customers to share their data with Open Banking. Not only do they gain a better sense of their own finances, but the data also enables you to propose an affordable and realistic repayment plan that will reduce the risk of debts going unpaid. Water companies are also starting to use Open Banking to identify customers who could be eligible for social tariffs, which can also expedite their processes.

The sooner you can spot signs of potential financial distress, the quicker you can act to put in place measures to help both your customers and protect your business. This can be achieved with the help of alert-based tools. Experian’s Bureau Insights, for example, can be configured to trigger fortnightly alerts to help spot those struggling to pay.

The sooner you intervene, the less likely you’ll need to move debts to a collections process. A good collections system will help you to help your customers – for example, PowerCurve Collections allows you to implement an online self-service portal for those customers wanting a discreet way to make repayments once you’ve agreed a repayment plan.

If a customer can’t repay what they owe, you’ll need to explore other options for recovering some or all of that debt. Another benefit of a system like PowerCurve Collections is that it can streamline your collections process, plus help you determine whether more drastic action – such as litigation – is likely to be worth pursuing.

If customers leave a property without settling their debts, or a property claims to be unoccupied when it’s clearly using water, how do you go about tracking down the debtor? Experian has two tools that can help: PlaceTrace helps determine the current occupational status of a property, while SuperTrace provides you with the means to trace individuals to their new address through the use of shared data sources.

Don’t wait for customers to contact you. Many may not be able to ask for help, or feel too embarrassed to reach out. By improving the quality of your data and adding additional data from reputable shared sources such as those offered by Experian, you can verify who your customers are and discover if they may benefit from proactive help and support.

Often, a customer’s vulnerability may be recorded in one database, but not another. By bringing all your customer records together under a Single Customer View, you can ensure that everyone across your organisation has access to a complete picture of their status.  

Another benefit of a SCV is that it improves your ability to offer high-end customer service. A tool like PowerCurve Customer Management places everything your staff need to know about your customers at their fingertips, tailoring all your conversations to their needs as well as yours, plus ensuring your customer dealings are both compliant and fair.

There are now more vulnerable customers out there than ever before, but it’s not a problem that can’t be managed. By combining tools such as Experian’s Arrears Foresight, which provides you with a portfolio-level view of customers at risk of default, and Delphi for Customer Management, you’re better able to manage customer risk and formulate strategies to protect both you and them from running up unsustainable debts.

How do you know when your current forecasting model requires updating – or even replacing – to ensure your picture of potential debts and losses remains accurate? The answer may lie in upgrading your current analytics platform – for example, making use of Experian’s Ascend Intelligence Services (AIS) Pulse plug-in allows you to constantly monitor your models to ensure they remain fit for purpose.

With economic uncertainty growing, look for a model-building tool that simplifies the process of building, testing and deploying new models. AIS’s Challenger makes the process quick and easy, drawing insight from Experian’s extensive data sets to provide you with handy overlays to help visualise the current risks in your portfolio.

IFRS9 regulations have expanded beyond simply requiring you to deploy an IFRS9 Expected Credit Loss framework. Make sure you remain compliant by employing the services of a tool that remains abreast of IFRS9 requirements – for example, Experian IFRS9 Credit Loss Insight enables you to show how your framework can power more profitable decision-making.