Survey Exploring Customer Complaint Management and Smart Water Technology Adoption Across U.S. Water Systems

Abstract

High profile water quality events, including the Flint Lead in Water Crisis, have contributed to a decline in customer trust in their water utilities. For example, a recent study indicates as many as 60 million Americans do not drink tap water because they perceive risks in the cleanliness of water and do not trust water providers [1]. One way that utilities can build trust with customers is through improved management of customer complaints. Utilities can store, track, visualize, and share customer complaints to improve service and improve the way that customers interact with information about water quality. Smart water technologies, including Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), data portals, and personal device applications (apps) can be utilized to better communicate with customers. Advanced data analytics can improve the insight that is gained about the source of water quality problems. We surveyed utilities about their perspectives on trust and customer complaint management. This research explores the development, implementation, and results of a survey instrument distributed to water service providers across the United States. Survey questions explore the existing tools that utilities use to collect customer complaints, the adoption of smart technology by utilities, and characteristics of customer complaints. This research will assess capabilities to detect issues from customer complaints trends and the level of smart technology integration in United States water systems. We employ cross sectional analytical techniques to assess differences in complaint reporting and management system by utility size, urbanization, and socioeconomics of their service area. This research will develop new insight about the types of tools that utilities need and are willing to adopt to receive, analyse, and report customer complaints.