Clearwater Utility Services Set a New Standard with Genesys Cloud, Ensuring Resilience and Exceptional Customer Support During Hurricane Season 

San Francisco, Nov. 19, 2024 — Genesys®, a global cloud leader in AI-Powered Experience Orchestration, and the City of Clearwater announced today that the city’s Utility Customer Service Division has undertaken a significant transformation in how it delivers utility services to its residents, resulting in substantial improvements in both customer satisfaction and employee morale. Since upgrading to the Genesys Cloud™ platform, it has achieved remarkable improvements in performance metrics. Answer rates surged from 47% to as high as 98% within just two weeks of implementation — a critical transformation that ensured the right systems were in place ahead of hurricane season. 

Set in Florida’s Tampa Bay, the City of Clearwater provides a wide range of quality, cost-effective public services to meet the needs of more than 117,000 residents and 14 million visitors annually. Prior to implementing Genesys Cloud, the city had a legacy phone system that left callers with no idea about wait times and had ineffective reporting, quality assurance and recording tools that did little to inspire employees.  

By embracing modernization and digital transformation, the City of Clearwater was well-equipped to manage this year’s hurricane season. As residents prepared for Hurricanes Helene and Milton, many chose the convenience of having the city’s agents call them, rather than waiting on hold, resulting in a more than 175% spike in callback volume. This helped keep the lines clear for more urgent customer needs and keep hold times down from prior months. Despite the surge in demand, agents were able to continue providing excellent service, reinforcing the city’s commitment to residents during critical times.  

“Before modernizing our systems, more than half of our callers were frustrated that they were dropping before ever getting help,” said Amy Sessions, customer service division manager at the City of Clearwater. “With the addition of Genesys Cloud, abandoned calls have nearly disappeared, creating a more positive experience for our customers and an empowering environment for our team. The record call volumes during Hurricanes Helene and Milton proved how essential these improvements were in managing crises smoothly and effectively, helping address issues before they impacted service quality.”  

Upon its move to modernize its utility services systems with Genesys Cloud, the City of Clearwater experienced a 16-fold reduction in abandoned calls — dropping from 53% to just 3% — and an average speed of answer that’s now 82% faster than neighboring utility providers. The impact of these improvements is far-reaching, with customer complaints significantly decreasing and overall service levels holding steady at 85% over the past 10 months, 8% higher than they were with the legacy system. 

In addition to improving the customer experience, the City of Clearwater is committed to creating a safe and positive environment for employees, enabling them to serve citizens with passion, empathy and kindness. The adoption of the Genesys Cloud platform has empowered supervisors with advanced tools to support live conversations, rebalance resources, and access high-quality call and screen recordings, further enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the service division. As a result of these initiatives, employee positivity has surged, and turnover rates have plummeted from 40% to nearly zero, far exceeding the industry standard of 30% to 45%. Through happier, more tenured employees, the company has driven a significant reduction in complaint emails and calls, underscoring the widespread impact across the business.  

“The City of Clearwater’s success story exemplifies the transformative power of the Genesys Cloud platform in public service and underscores the importance of city services to its people, particularly in times of crises,” said Olivier Jouve, chief product officer at Genesys. “Interruptions in utility services can have major implications on people’s lives. Being able to quickly connect to help and successfully navigate an issue is imperative. By prioritizing both customer and employee experiences, the City of Clearwater has set a new standard for public utilities, showcasing the importance of innovation and technology in delivering exceptional service.” 

Looking ahead, the City of Clearwater is poised to continue its innovation journey with plans to enhance email management, improve the website experience and introduce AI-driven solutions, including chatbots and real-time agent support with Genesys Cloud Agent Copilot to further elevate its customer service. 

Read more about the City of Clearwater story here.  

To donate in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, visit https://www.volunteerflorida.org/donatefdf/ 

About Genesys 

Genesys empowers more than 8,000 organizations in over 100 countries to improve loyalty and business outcomes by creating the best experiences for their customers and employees. Through Genesys Cloud, the AI-Powered Experience Orchestration platform, Genesys delivers the future of CX to organizations of all sizes so they can provide empathetic, personalized experience at scale. As the trusted platform that is born in the cloud, Genesys Cloud helps organizations accelerate growth by enabling them to differentiate with the right customer experience at the right time, while driving stronger workforce engagement, efficiency and operational improvements. Visit www.genesys.com. 

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CONTACTS 

Kelley Crane, Genesys 

Kelley.crane@genesys.com 

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