Background

Power NI is the largest electricity retailer in Northern Ireland, supplying over 700,000 homes and over 40,000 farms and businesses. They strive to provide their customers with great value for money and the highest standards of customer service.

Power NI had commissioned research on its customer base that revealed a high level of interest in mobile payment options.

Challenge

Eckoh has been working with Power NI since 2005, initially delivering EckohPAY, a telephone-based PCI DSS-compliant solution using speech recognition that allows Power NI customers to purchase electricity. The EckohPAY service was extended in 2007 to incorporate a compliant web-based solution. Power NI has seen more and more of its customers opting to ‘pay as they go’. A quarter of a million people in Northern Ireland now have electricity Keypads installed in their homes.  

Solution

Power NI research revealed a high level of customers were interested in mobile payment options. Due to the well-established relationship with Eckoh, Power NI approached their Mobile Team to discuss how the payment services could be enhanced to include a smartphone-based payment solution for both iPhone and Android phones.

Eckoh’s needed to first understand what the end-user would be trying to achieve and design a solution that would satisfy their goals in an engaging but convenient manner. The project started with requirements gathering, wireframing and graphical mock-ups. Throughout the development, Eckoh worked closely with Power NI to adjust the design and features of the Apps in response to feedback and end-user testing.

"The user-friendly apps created by Eckoh are a welcome addition for our 270,000 ‘pay as you go’ Keypad customers. It makes it easy for Keypad users to manage their electricity usage, as well as getting a guaranteed 2.5% discount off all electricity bought. We’ve listened to our customers’ comments and feedback to help create an easier and quicker method of topping up, day or night." -Ralph Graham, Power NI

The iPhone app was launched in August 2011, with the Android version made available in October 2011. Both smartphone apps identify customers through a unique meter ID detailed on a top-up card. The payment card authorization and settlement is handled in real-time, and the customer is issued with a code to activate the purchased electricity. The customer has the option to create a quick pay account, which stores their details securely and compliantly, making future top-ups even faster. The mobile payment process itself is completely PCI DSS compliant.

Ralph Graham, at Power NI, comments, “We have been delighted to work with Eckoh to develop a multi-channel payment model for our customers, which includes a telephone, web, and smartphone payment service.”

“The smartphone apps enable us to offer our customers yet another way to purchase discounted electricity for their ‘pay as you go’ keypad, and is designed to make the process even easier for them.”

Value

The simple-to-use free app enables Keypad customers to ‘top-up’ at any time and securely store payment details making future top-ups effortless.

The smartphone apps complement the existing phone and web solutions for Power NI’s customers and demonstrate true multi-channel capability. By using a supplier who offers multiple channels, Power NI reduces the number of potential suppliers and takes advantage of consolidated volume pricing.

Customer feedback:

• “Brilliant app - no more going to the shops to top up”

• “Best idea ever. Easy to use and with “Play Top-Up Code” feature!”

• “This is the most convenient app I’ve used. No more having to log into the computer!”

• “Excellent app, easy to use, fantastic app!”

Looking Forward

As a solution unique to Eckoh, we recognize that this example is likely a challenge many other enterprise organizations struggle with when they begin tackling payment security within their contact centers. Some organizations may even feel like their only option is to either deploy hardware on-premise – likely disrupting long-term cloud transformation strategies – or only achieve partial PCI DSS de-scoping.

As a result, the methodology innovated for The Client is now part of the Eckoh architecture. In fact, multiple other clients have also taken advantage of this solution, allowing them to maintain their existing telephony architecture while maintaining the strictest possible standard for payment security.

To learn more about how Eckoh secures payments across all engagement channels, please contact to one of our trusted advisors.

Key Outcomes