Power play: how Salesforce Einstein GPT gives you the edge in energy and utility customer support

We’re about to witness a revolution in customer support. OpenAI’s ChatGPT is already hugely popular in business - but Salesforce has taken things one step further. Using private AI models, they’ve augmented ChatGPT to create a secure and powerful new tool called Salesforce Einstein GPT. It’s a combination of natural language processing (NLP) and generative artificial intelligence (AI) that can help your support teams get the most out of data, improve security and provide all-round smarter customer service.

Technology will push the energy and utilities market forwards

There’s a great deal of nuance to the energy and utilities market right now. On one hand, the cost of living crisis has caused demand to fall to the lowest level in 50 years as households cut back. But the interest in renewables is booming. With the news that the UK will likely meet its net zero targets, demand is growing for technology that will support the green energy industry. 

Consumers are looking for guidance when it comes to choosing affordable, sustainable energy. And energy and utilities companies are facing tighter regulations on fossil fuels, as well as working out how best to serve their customers when teams are working remotely. For a while, there’s been an atmosphere of uncertainty and inertia. But we think that technology is about to enable a breakthrough. Generative AI tools, like Salesforce Einstein GPT, can help move the industry towards better, simpler and more secure customer experiences - and help everybody make smarter decisions.

What is Salesforce Einstein GPT?

In short, it’s machine learning technology with an impressive understanding of words. You’ve probably heard how OpenAI’s ChatGPT software has gained popularity recently. Business users have been wowed to find that they can generate emails, marketing proposals and just about anything else with a few clicks and keyboard prompts. 

Salesforce Einstein GPT does this too, but it’s specific to Salesforce and can adapt to the exact needs of your business. You can use it safely on your network and join it up with your own company infrastructure. It works with your customers’ data, so you can automate processes and make smarter decisions. When the software is up and running, your teams can write natural language prompts straight from Salesforce CRM. And because Einstein GPT is trained on your data from your business, with bespoke personas and products to learn from, the results are much more trustworthy and relevant than with a generic AI tool. 

CRM is just the start

Once Salesforce Einstein GPT is up and running, you’ll unlock benefits across a wide range of teams and functions.

• Sales: Write emails, book meetings, and prep for contact.
• Service: Create articles and personalised replies.
• Marketing: Create content for ads, communications and your website.
• Slack Customer 360: Get summaries of sales opportunities and rapidly update knowledge articles.
• Development: Use AI to write code and work in languages like Apex.

To get benefits like these, you need to be using a Salesforce Sales, Service or Marketing Cloud. Once you have one of these in place, Salesforce Einstein GPT slots in perfectly.

What are the benefits?

Generative AI is making waves in every industry. But in the energy and utilities sector, we think these benefits really stand out. 

#1 Safer, more accurate data

Recently, we’ve seen companies reporting data breaches because they’ve used free external AI tools that simply don’t offer enough protection. Salesforce Einstein GPT mitigates this risk because it uses ‘closed loop’ training, reducing the chance that sensitive data will leave Salesforce CRM. And because Einstein GPT is drawing directly on your live customer data, it’s also more accurate and reliable than using free workarounds. 

#2 Better customer support and experience

Salesforce Einstein GPT makes customer service more personalised and more efficient. It creates knowledge base articles instantly, directly from support cases, and writes friendly and relevant chat replies in real-time. It can create high-conversion emails and one-to-one meeting invites right in the sales environment, or predict customer behaviour in the marketing cloud to reduce churn. This increases the customer lifecycle and improves overall customer experience.

#3 Streamlined operations and production

Salesforce Einstein GPT can help you improve your internal operations and find new opportunities to engage customers. Our clients are using AI to find new high-value customers within their leads, predict peak demand periods and identify leaky processes before they become real customer service issues. Having access to real-time data can help you stick to regulations. And machine learning insights can inspire changes to organisational design and customer experience such as in call analytical model to determine customer intent and to suggest potential interventions.

#4 Greener choices without the guesswork 

By sharing the real-time, accurate data you have with your customers, you can help them compare products to make informed decisions. Salesforce Einstein GPT can help you explain things in a clear, persuasive way, so that your customers better understand what they’re using and how upgrading or switching can help them save energy. 

Start your own AI experiment

If you’re thinking about adopting generative AI in your customer support team, here are some questions to ponder. Some of them might lead to quick wins and help you prove that the concept works. 

• Adding value. Where can we boost revenue, cut costs or enhance efficiency from day one?
• Speeding up. Where can we bring up launch timetables or reduce the labour required?
• Automating content. Where can we create text, video, voice or image content rapidly and with minimal effort?
• Enhancing tech. Where can we improve access to data, curate information or improve security or performance?
• Reducing risk. Where can a closed-environment solution help us minimise risk? 

It’s clear that generative AI is shaking things up for businesses everywhere. For energy and utility companies, technology like Salesforce Einstein GPT is an opportunity to get ahead. You can start small in your Salesforce Sales, Marketing and Service environments – then quickly scale up to improve customer experience and find ways to work more efficiently across your organisation. 

If you’d like to explore the benefits of Salesforce Einstein GPT, get in touch. We’re experts in Salesforce, with deep experience in the energy and utilities sector. Together, we can create a customised approach to implementing new technology and find the right starting points to make your generative AI programme a long-term success.