Utility company Meralco has been keeping the lights on in the Philippines for more than 115 years. Now the company is turning to Salesforce to create customer experiences worthy of the digital age.

Meralco will be an internet company​​​​​​​​​ with a power business. That’s the 2021 vision from its chairman, Manuel V. Pangilinan, for the largest private sector electricity distribution utility company in the Philippines. And Meralco has already taken several major steps towards achieving that vision.

For Tony Valdez, Head of Marketing, Customer Solutions and Product Development at Meralco, becoming an internet company with a power business means embracing organisation-wide digital transformation to deliver seamless customer experiences based on transparency.

“Meralco's service will be available on all​​​​​​​​​ screens whenever and wherever our customers are,” he says. “We will be reached via a PC, tablet, smart phone,​​​​​​​​​ smart TV, watch, or whatever new screen may come up.”

That’s an ambitious goal, and one that Valdez believes will not only drastically improve the customer experience, but also solve one of the major pain points for the company – and its customers.

“Around 70 per cent of our customers pay beyond the due date,” he explains. “That’s why lines are long in Meralco business centres on certain days of the month. And if customers pay through a bank, it takes three to four days to process, and they risk getting disconnected.

“Our customers want to know everything from price increases to brownouts, but the industry is complex. How do we achieve that transparency? How do we put that on their smartphones?”

The solution, says Valdez, is digital transformation with the new Meralco Online initiative at the heart of a reimagined customer experience worthy of the digital age. And the company has turned to the Salesforce platform to help drive this digital pivot.