Vattenfall Netherlands has made great strides in data-driven working. After focusing on customer-driven working, it was now time to take the next additional step: data-driven working. This is just as well, as it has paid off in a big way. From nothing, Customer eXperience Optimization (CXO) has become a widely known concept within the organization. Marco Moerman, Manager Agile Delivery, is very proud of this.

Marco Moerman has worked at this Swedish utility since 2012. As Manager Agile Delivery he is responsible for the processes, systems and customer interaction around customer retention. From this position Marco works as a lead on the personalization of customers, also called marketing automation. In addition, he is also the lead for Vattenfall's web domain. In doing so, he makes a big impact on the organization; together with lead Digital Analyst, John Tran, he started the CXO journey. In this blog, we talk to Marco about the developments Vattenfall has experienced in data-driven working, what their CXO journey looks like, and what the ingredients are for a successful CXO process.

Online Dialogue has been working with Swedish energy company Vattenfall since 2021. Marco explained that this cooperation did change over the years. "Initially, there was intense cooperation in setting up the project. Because of the knowledge of the process and support in setting up the training, setting up the basis could not have been done without Online Dialogue. Now that it is embedded in the organization and we can grow further from there, the cooperation has changed to specific knowledge and also a temporary filling of extra capacity. In fact, more funding is now also becoming available to apply data-driven working more widely in specific places."

From customer-driven to data-driven work

Vattenfall has experienced many developments in the field of data-driven working in recent years. Customer-driven working has always been a big topic in the company. This has its advantages but unfortunately also its disadvantages. For example, Marco explains, "In customer-driven work, we work a lot from qualitative research and specific customer experiences. The disadvantage of this is that you may not get representative results and the outcomes more easily reason toward your own preferences." Data-driven working has less of this challenge and is therefore a very valuable addition to customer-driven working.

CXO is the way for Vattenfall to improve customer experiences in a data-driven way. The goal was to get not only a specific group of specialists working data-driven, but also the entire customer-facing organization working data-driven. The process can be divided into 3 projects. First, Vattenfall switched from Adobe to Google Analytics. This way, more colleagues have access to data. Second, they provided the website with a new data structure and tagging, making it very easy to set up dashboards. Even new starting teams have the dashboards they need to work data-driven within a few weeks. Finally, work is now underway to raise data-driven work to a higher level throughout the organization.

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CXO program at Vattenfall

Marco explains that they laid the foundation of the CXO journey with the help of Online Dialogue. "That basis consists of a Process and Knowledge stream. After comparison, we came to the conclusion that FACTACT is a good methodology for data-driven work. Using the advice of Online Dialogue, we adopted the process and created a set of online training courses with certifications."

After this foundation was laid, ambassadorship and technology received more attention. "It was critical to get the CXO sound heard as broadly as possible in the organization," says Mr. K., "and to get the CXO sound heard as widely as possible." It worked! There was interest from different disciplines, including Product Owners, Data Scientists and Managers.

"For this growth to continue, a stage was needed. Therefore, we started an Experiment Challenge. Twice a year we organize this with success. There are high quality entries and involvement from the organization by being able to vote. There is also a ceremony. This in turn encourages others to participate next time."

Marco says he is not done with the process yet. "Now that we successfully have a broad infill, we can grow it in a focused way."

Requirements for a successful CXO program at Vattenfall

The key requirements for a successful CXO program, according to Marco, are:

1. The people
2. Collaboration with UX
3. Ambassadors
4. Collaboration with Online Dialogue

"First and foremost: the people. Without enthusiastic colleagues, we would never have come this far after putting the first flag in the ground." In addition, Marco explains that the collaboration with UX is of great importance. "Indeed, this CXO trajectory runs parallel to the growth of UX within Vattenfall. That discipline is also booming. I have placed the UX specialists on the same team as the digital analysts. They strengthen each other in bringing in CXO thinking and applying research at the qualitative and quantitative level."

Ambassador flow was also an important factor. "Through their reviews and inspiring presentations, CXO has become a real concept within the organization." Finally, Marco highlights the collaboration with Online Dialogue. "Without their expertise, we didn't have the right model, sound board and deep knowledge of this field."

However, a successful CXO program was not without trial and error. Marco explains that it did not always grow: "Sometimes it did not grow further or we fell back in activities. Nevertheless, we continued to work on the thinking. So perseverance is an important element."

Marco also offers another tip for organizations looking to make changes on such a large scale: Trigger yourself to get started, keep it accessible and do it in steps. This way, it stays especially fun to do and your team can get used to the CXO principles.

The main learning

From nothing, Vattenfall has made CXO a widely known concept within the organization; customer-facing colleagues know CXO and more and more of them are now applying it. Executives are now also becoming more relevant to avoid inhibiting growth. Sponsorship is the next area of focus that needs to be well invested. "We have a nice customer-driven mindset as an organization that can be complemented well with a data-driven mindset so that our customers are even happier with us." According to Marco, the key learning is: What starts small will eventually affect everyone in the organization.

The future of CXO at Vattenfall

In the coming years, Vattenfall plans to grow CXO steadily. As more and more managers and project managers experience the benefit of data-driven work, more and more specific knowledge will be added. However, the main goal in the future for Marco is that the thinking will increase in others. "In growth paths of positions like Product Owner, marketer and software tester, we will include data-driven CXO." Also, the setup of a multidisciplinary team working value-driven will need to be replicated. "Then you achieve the economies of scale that we set as our goal and provide the greatest value to the organization."

Vattenfall will continue with the targeted deployment of CXO within the organization. Online Dialogue is happy to assist Marco and his team in realizing future plans. Would you like to know more about our collaboration or are you perhaps interested in working together? Feel free to contact with us.

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