AWS re:Invent 2025 - So Energy streamlines customer service with AI-powered automation (BIZ211)

Transforming Customer Experience with Amazon Connect: The So Energy Story

Challenges in Delivering Seamless Customer Experience

• Customers often contact energy providers with frustration, as the industry is seen as providing poor customer service
• So Energy faced several challenges in delivering a seamless omnichannel customer experience:
  • Fragmented platforms with different solutions for each communication channel
  • Lack of context and continuity across customer interactions
  • Inefficient agent workflows and manual processes
  • Difficulty scaling to handle spikes in customer contacts during crises
  • Inability to proactively address customer issues before they escalate

Selecting the Right Platform: Amazon Connect

• So Energy evaluated various contact center platforms and chose Amazon Connect for several key reasons:
  • Unified omnichannel platform with voice, chat, email, and emerging channels like WhatsApp
  • Deep CRM integration to provide agents a single, comprehensive view of the customer
  • Intelligent routing and dynamic resourcing to match customer needs with agent capacity
  • AI-powered capabilities for future-proofing and continuous improvement

Implementing the Amazon Connect Solution

• The implementation took about 6-7 months, with a focus on:
  • Establishing the technical foundations first before expanding capabilities
  • Closely collaborating with Amazon and AWS experts to leverage best practices
  • Prioritizing change management and training to get the organization aligned

Transforming the Customer and Agent Experience

• For customers:
  • Instant recognition and intent detection across all channels
  • Seamless context and case management, eliminating the need to repeat information
  • Self-service options like chatbots to quickly resolve common inquiries
• For agents:
  • Unified workspace with full customer context, reducing manual effort
  • AI-powered agent assist features like contact summarization
  • Ability to handle multiple channels concurrently (voice, email, etc.)
  • Intelligent scheduling and routing to match agents' skills to customer needs

Business Impact and Outcomes

• 33% reduction in call wait times
• Increase in chat volume from less than 1% to 15% of total contacts
• Improved customer satisfaction (CSAT) and Trustpilot ratings
• Enhanced agent productivity and efficiency

Next Steps: Advancing Towards Predictive and Autonomous Customer Service

• Leveraging agent assist and performance evaluation tools powered by AI
• Expanding self-service capabilities with context-aware chatbots and voice bots
• Empowering agents with more autonomous problem-solving tools and workflows

Key Takeaways

1. Focus on the foundation first - understand the root causes of customer experience issues before implementing new technology.
2. Prioritize people and processes alongside technology - change management and aligning the organization is crucial.
3. Leverage AI and automation strategically - to enhance, not replace, the human touch in customer service.
4. Invest for the future, but deliver value in the present - build a platform that can grow with evolving customer expectations.
5. Measure what matters - identify the key metrics that truly reflect customer and business success.