Centrica, the leading international energy and services firm with well-known customer brands British Gas, Dyno and Direct Energy, has formed a strategic partnership with Microsoft designed to transform the way its 12,000-strong team of British Gas engineers serve customers across the UK. The agreement is at the heart of the Centrica purpose to “provide energy and services to satisfy the changing needs of their customers”.
Microsoft is working in close partnership with Centrica’s UK consumer division, implementing an integrated end-to-end software and services solution based on Microsoft Dynamics 365. The new system will provide intelligent automation of planning and dispatch, reducing time-intensive manual processes and existing legacy systems.
Centrica employees will be provided with real time and actionable insight, ensuring customers can be kept up to date with accurate and timely information. The new system is underpinned by the latest artificial intelligence technology from the Microsoft Azure cloud platform and Microsoft 365 applications such as Power BI, Logic App, Flow and PowerApps.
Matthew Bateman, Managing Director for Field Operations at British Gas, said: “Just over a year ago we announced that Centrica had transitioned to Microsoft Azure, a move at the heart of our digital transformation ambitions. This announcement marks the next stage on that journey – building cutting-edge intelligence into the way we run our field operations to improve the service we deliver for our customers in their homes.
“If a boiler or home appliance breaks down, a customer wants us to fix their issue quickly and to know when an engineer will be there. Working with Microsoft, we will develop a seamless digital journey for our customers, offering more flexibility and reliability for engineer appointments.”
“Microsoft is proud to deepen its relationship with Centrica. It is a great example of how a large organisation can build advanced intelligence into its operations to transform processes and empower employees to make better decisions,” said Cindy Rose, Chief Executive of Microsoft UK. “Most importantly, we look forward to seeing how our technology will help the millions of Centrica customers across the country receive an ever greater service.”