Customer Communications Management in highly regulated industries
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Drawing on Zipform Digital’s history managing customer communications in highly regulated industries, Richard Vaughan explores the critical role played by customer communications management.
Zipform Digital has built a remarkable reputation over many years in managing customer communications for clients that operate in highly regulated industries. In Australia, a highly regulated industry is subject to government oversight, strict compliance requirements and detailed legislative and regulatory frameworks due to the high risk or essential nature of their services to the general public.
Operating within a complex network of compliance requirements enforced by key governing bodies, corporations are required to undertake regular audits, comprehensive reporting and undertake strict compliance measures. Financial services for example, are regulated by ASIC, APRA and the RBA, whilst energy and utilities are regulated by the AER and state regulators.
Richard Vaughan, CEO of Zipform Digital, has worked alongside clients in some of the most highly regulated industries for many years.
“In my view, the most regulated industries in Australia are Financial Services and Energy Retailers – with ASIC, APRA and the RBA regulating financial services, and the AER, AEMC, AEMO and state government regulating Energy Retailers. Whilst regulatory compliance is a multifaceted challenge, ultimately it is there to provide consumer protection, promote competition, maintain stability, control pricing and ensure compliance with environmental standards and targets.”
Compliance within customer communications
Compliance takes many forms. In customer communications, there are requirements around the type of content to include, the communication method – which is dependent on specific rules and logic – all the way through to specific delivery timelines for communications to the end customer.
Richard highlights the pivotal role that Zipform Digital plays in helping clients manage requirements,
“It is critical for us to ensure not only a seamless solution which meets these requirements but also maintain an exceptional customer experience. The regulatory requirements around the welcome pack and life support communications within Energy Retail is an example of where we have created solutions that ensure strict compliance without compromising on the customer experience.”
When the potential consequences of non-compliance mean legal or financial penalties, Richard emphasises the importance of robust processes that leverage automations, manage risk and provide high levels of security.
He explains, “Our business requires a high level of governance achieved through multiple certifications and a culture that has respect, accountability, and security at its heart. Reconciliation is of the upmost importance as it provides a core metric for our processes. The API’s we have built back to our customers allows them to include communication status data within their billing and CRM applications.”
Supporting regulatory compliance
With regulations frequently evolving and changing in Australia, corporations face multiple change controls and often conflicting priorities. This means multiple changes in a high-pressure environment for the Zipform Digital team. Projects must be delivered accurately, on time and also require a high level of collaboration.
This is where Zipform Digital’s online change management tools come into their own, giving clear visibility and transparency to both clients and staff, while building a centralised knowledge base of business rules, logic and requirements over time.
Richard notes,
“We have many staff who have in-depth knowledge and experience within a number of highly regulated markets, with Energy Retail being one of those. Building a strong relationship with those clients is key to understanding their problems and offer appropriate solutions.”
He adds, “The regulated landscape that our clients operate in will continue to change and is likely to accelerate in the future. Zipform Digital is privately owned, operating with an internal agile model, which enables us to remain nimble, problem solve efficiently and evolve continuously. That means we will keep delivering a high quality, secure service to our clients, enabling them to meet their compliance requirements in those highly regulated industries.”