Chartwell, Inc. and IVR Doctors Announce Strategic Partnership to Optimize Utility Call Center Operations and Customer Service
Atlanta, GA – October 9, 2024 – Chartwell, Inc., a leading provider of insights and issue-targeted collaborative forums serving the utility industry, has announced a new strategic partnership with IVR Doctors, a premier IVR (Interactive Voice Response) research and usability consulting firm. The collaboration, announced today at the 26th annual EMACS conference, aims to enhance operational efficiency and customer service for utilities through advanced IVR solutions.
By combining Chartwell’s extensive research on utility customer care with IVR Doctors’ deep expertise in IVR functionality and best practices, the partnership will equip utilities across North America with innovative solutions to optimize their call centers. Chartwell’s network of over 75 utilities will provide a valuable source of industry insights, while IVR Doctors will leverage this data to deliver research and advisory services tailored to the evolving needs of the utility sector.
Chartwell CEO I.S. Dunklin expressed excitement about the partnership: “Chartwell, now in its 31st year of directly supporting utilities through industry and consumer research, as well as operational solutions created and shared in our leadership councils, is partnering with IVR Doctors to deepen our research in the crucial area of customer service via the phone channel. This collaboration will enable us to deliver even more actionable insights to our members so they can continue to improve both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.”
One of the key initiatives of this partnership is the collaboration on the 2025 IVR Benchmark Report for the Energy Industry, a comprehensive evaluation of 100 utility IVRs in North America now in its 15th year. This report assesses automated telephone systems across three key categories—Functionality, Usability, and Aesthetics—which are recognized as the primary drivers of customer satisfaction and system utilization.
Peter Brandt, co-founder of IVR Doctors, highlighted the importance of the report, stating, “No other Benchmark Report with such a consistent set of design principles has been in place and proven effective in the utility industry over the 15+ years of this Benchmark. Correlation between top performance in this Report and a utility’s operational and caller satisfaction (CX) performance measures is very high.”
Mark Camack, co-founder of IVR Doctors, added, “We’re excited about our new association with Chartwell, which will broaden our collective reach to improve the phone channel experience for callers and optimize system performance for those managing these critical systems. Years of direct caller experience testing have ensured our design principles return big dividends for our clients.”
Both companies share a philosophy of keeping utilities and their priorities at the forefront of all their services, and are excited to work together to further drive innovation, efficiency, and improvements in the customer service experience.
To learn more, please email Tim Herrick, Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
About IVR Doctors
IVR Doctors is a premier IVR usability consulting firm specializing in improving the functionality, usability, and aesthetics of IVR systems. With over 15 years of experience in the utility sector, IVR Doctors helps utilities optimize their call center operations and enhance customer satisfaction. To learn more visit ivrdoctors.com or contact Mark Camack and Peter Brandt at info@ivrdoctors.com.
