Origin Energy's head of analytics on aligning to marketing and CX ambitions

Recently installed head of analytics shares how she's ensuring numbers are a foundation for customer engagement and retention

Analytics is often thought of as a discipline based in numbers. But Sandra Hogan is taking a very human-centric approach to her role as group head of customer analytics at Origin Energy.

The first thing she did after taking on her newly-created role late last year was speak to the heads of marketing, digital and retail at Origin to understand their pain points and align her team accordingly.

“We want people to change the way they do something and make a decision,” Hogan said. “So if you are integrating analytics into business processes, you are actually asking people to do something differently.

“And it is actually really hard to do, because in some areas, such as call centres, the way that people work and the way they manage their time is very ingrained and very systematised.”

Hogan joined Origin Energy in late 2017 following lengthy stints in analytics in consulting, telecommunications, banking and transport safety. Speaking ahead of her appearance at this year’s Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia (IAPA) national conference, Hogan shared with CMO the role analytics could play in understanding Origin’s customers and their needs.

“My ambition is to build a very mature function in data and analytics for customers, so when we are engaging with our customers and serving an offering to them, we are really targeted,” she said.

Hogan has already had some wins, including a complete redesign of the framework that Origin uses to understand customer churn.

“We have taken a segmented approach around customer value and their churn risk and made our offers more targeted to the different segments that sit underneath the different attributes,” Hogan said.

“That went into market from June onwards, and we are starting to see some good results as a result of not taking a blanket approach. It is about using analytics to try and pre-empt that churn event as much as possible.”

And while the energy industry generally has been arguably slow to the analytics party, Hogan’s role is backed by a sense of urgency.

“Customer expectations are shifting, and there is a new normal coming,” Hogan said. “What was acceptable in the past around personalisation and engaging with your energy supplier is absolutely shifting.”

Hence she said the analytics capability will grow in importance as Origin itself evolves as an energy provider.

“As we look at how we decarbonise and at that new world of renewable energies, we’re looking at which customers are going to be the first movers in that space, because it is not going to be the same for every customer,” Hogan said. “So it is about personalisation and understanding our customers in detail. “

For that reason she has been busily reorganising the team and recruiting to build out the skill sets.

“At the end of the day it is people who make things happen,” Hogan said. “People are too hung up on the tools and the technology. I spend most of my time on people and process, and particularly people – just selling the story to the business and helping them understand where data and analytics can make a difference, and where it can’t.

“My aspiration in any role I do is to be the trusted adviser to the people who are running the business.”

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+:google.com/+CmoAu

 

 

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.
Show Comments

Latest Videos

More Videos

More Brand Posts

What are Chris Riddell's qualifications to talk about technology? What are the awards that Chris Riddell has won? I cannot seem to find ...

Tareq

Digital disruption isn’t disruption anymore: Why it’s time to refocus your business

Read more

Enterprisetalk

Mark

CMO's top 10 martech stories for the week - 9 June

Read more

Great e-commerce article!

Vadim Frost

CMO’s State of CX Leadership 2022 report finds the CX striving to align to business outcomes

Read more

Are you searching something related to Lottery and Lottery App then Agnito Technologies can be a help for you Agnito comes out as a true ...

jackson13

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Thorough testing and quality assurance are required for a bug-free Lottery Platform. I'm looking forward to dependability.

Ella Hall

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Blog Posts

Marketing prowess versus the enigma of the metaverse

Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.

Liz Miller

VP, Constellation Research

Why Excellent Leadership Begins with Vertical Growth

Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?

Michael Bunting

Author, leadership expert

More than money talks in sports sponsorship

As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.

Simone Waugh

Managing Director, Publicis Queensland

Sign in