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the consumer. The catalogue is implemented
dynamically using a generic structure, the generic
catalogue, to support any kind of update of products
and services offered by participating utilities of the
e-utilities
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com or implied by the integration of a
new participating utility. It allows in a flexible
manner to query and display information available in
the catalogue and supports comparison between
products and services.
All information gathered from the
questionnaires, together with additional information
provided by the user, where needed, is used to
retrieve from the catalogue the most fitting offers for
the customer’s special needs.
The prospect will be offered the opportunity to
view all unitary products and packages that apply to
his situation, but also compare on their price, quality
related standards, contracting restrictions, or
payment options.
All information gathered during this procedure,
plus the results of the consumer selection, will
update the prospect/customer databases for future
use in statistics and customisation of the portal’s
pages.
Contracting
The consulting facility guides the prospect
customer through the selection of the most fitting
products to the personalised establishment of his
contract with the Marketplace. The main issues
introducing the contracting conditions related to the
following points:
a- Customer Identification
After having selected all consumer’s personal
information, a third party will be involved to handle
the financial activities intended in the Marketplace’s
functionality. This third party will also undertake the
role to provide information related to the customer’s
credit score, so that the portal accordingly offers to
the user the relevant contracting options. Completion
of the registration form will conclude in the
assignment of the user’s log in ID.
b- Selection of Billing Party
Offering the consumer more customer-centric
provisions and trying to enhance its flexibility
towards special conditions of any participating
utility, the Marketplace will provide the option to the
customer to select the specific utility and not the
Marketplace as the billing party of the contract. In
such a case, the Marketplace’s role will end at the
contract subscription, whereas all billing, payment
and service activities will be on the utility’s side, out
of the Marketplace’s responsibility.
c- Selection of payment method
Depending on his profile and requirements, the
consumer is able to choose between different
payment methods, via credit card, auto-pay etc. The
third party will support any payment method
selected and update the Marketplace with all
payment or non-payment-related information.
d- Subscription of the Contract
Accordingly to the above, the contract document
consists of the following components:
- Contract Conditions related to the
Marketplace business requirements (static
part).
- Contract Conditions set by the product.
(information and restrictions of the Product
Catalogue).
- Contract Conditions according to the place
of delivery (local laws and geographical
restrictions)
- Contract Conditions set by the supplying
utility.
- Contract Conditions regarding billing and
payment methods.
The actual contract document, resulting from the
above, can be subscribed either on-line, forwarded
as an order to the utility, or by paper, printed for
postal delivery.
Customer servicing
Finally, the Marketplace is the origin point for
customer servicing, routing customer’s requests to
the responsible point. The customer is able to access
all his prior billing and account information, report
problems and submit requests, monitor on-line the
status of the outstanding services and receive
technical support and information from a technical
help line.
Recording all customers’ requests in the
customer database results in an improved
organisation aiming at quicker and customised
processing of customers’ requirements.
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