Despite COVID-19, it has been a very successful year for CMC’s six-person Illinois-based ComEd Energy Efficiency Call Center team.
Officially awarded the Energy Efficiency ComEd Call Center contract in January 2020, Mike Waller, Customer Care Center Manager, filled his staff and began training the team remotely. One of his key hires was Andre Edwards, the Illinois Call Center Supervisor, who provided vital support.
“Even though our programs were shut down in PA, NJ, and MA, ComEd asked us to move forward and get the program up and running, and we rose to the challenge,” Waller said. “We had three energy efficiency programs to manage for ComEd including residential, commercial and the marketplace programs.
In addition to staffing the ComEd Energy Efficiency Call Center, Waller had to oversee the staff’s training for ComEd’s 41 different energy efficiency programs. Fortunately, Waller and Edwards found a great team to support ComEd.
“Not only did we reach our goals for ComEd this year, but we exceeded them on all levels,” Waller said. “We surpassed all of our key performance indicators including our customer service levels, average answer speed and abandon rate.”
The team’s excellence was rewarded when its scope of work was expanded to support energy efficiency customer call inquiries on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the weekend after. Another sign of the team’s success is the decision by Pepco to select CMC for its Energy Efficiency Call Center. ComEd and Pepco are both owned by Exelon, a key target for business growth. When CMC first bid on the ComEd Energy Efficiency Call Center, there was the possibility that other Exelon companies could hire CMC for similar work.
“Pepco chose not to put out an RFP and instead gave the contract to us because they were aware of our success with ComEd,” Waller said.
The Energy Efficiency Call Center for ComEd, however, has faced some challenges.
“It was challenging to implement new additions and program updates and information in a timely manner and to train the team effectively,” Edwards said. “It’s never easy, but our goal is also to try to get better every time there’s new information to master. It’s not just about communicating the information. It’s about thoroughly training on it.”
“I’m looking forward to continuing the energy efficiency call center’s growth in 2021,” said Waller. “We’re pursuing new contracts and outreach work with ComEd and we are confident that our success and hard work will lead to more business for our team,” he concluded.