Powering smarter customer experiences with unified service and data
Duke Energy empowers its customers with seamless processes to create the best, unified customer experience
Lisa had just lost power at her suburban home after a summer thunderstorm rolled through. She opened the Duke Energy app, expecting a generic update—but instead, she saw a real-time tracker, estimated restoration window, and the ability to request proactive SMS notifications. Within 30 minutes, she received a message: “Our crews are on-site. Power should be restored by 5:45 PM.”
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For Lisa, it was seamless. For Duke Energy, it was the result of a multi-year effort to reinvent its customer experience infrastructure using Salesforce and data-driven automation—powered by Stashem Salesforce Consulting.
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As one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, Duke Energy serves more than 8 million customers across six states. Delivering fast, accurate, and personalized communication—especially during outages—is central to building customer trust. Yet like many legacy utilities, Duke struggled with fragmented customer data, inconsistent service channels, and aging CRM tools.
Rethinking service from the outside in
Duke Energy wanted more than a digital refresh. The team envisioned a unified engagement model—one where customers like Lisa could move from an outage notification to a proactive update, to a resolved case, without switching channels or re-explaining their issue.
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The utility partnered with Stashem Salesforce consulting to lead the transformation. Together, they launched a modernization roadmap built on Salesforce Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Data Cloud, with deep integrations into outage management systems and field crew platforms via MuleSoft.
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This allowed Duke to centralize customer records, automate service workflows, and orchestrate omni-channel communication across email, mobile, IVR, and web—using real-time signals, preferences, and location data.
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From storm response to predictive service
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The first use case was high-impact: outage response. Previously, Duke’s support teams had to manually manage inbound calls and track status updates in multiple systems.
With Salesforce, outage cases are now created and classified automatically—triaged by location, history, and expected restoration time.
Customers can opt into proactive SMS updates or self-serve via web and mobile portals built on Experience Cloud.
Internally, field operations and customer service reps see the same data, in real time, with contextual alerts and customer sentiment indicators.
As the team gained confidence, the model expanded. Today, Salesforce powers everything from new service connections and billing inquiries to EV charger support and outage education campaigns. Einstein AI flags customers at risk of disengagement, while Journey Builder delivers personalized nudges for paperless billing or energy efficiency programs.
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“We used to spend months coordinating service improvements across teams. Now, we’re able to demo real results—faster resolution times, smarter outreach, and fewer inbound calls. Stashem Consulting and Salesforce helped us give our customers a new way of delivering energy experiences.”
+62% increase
Paperless digital Sign-ups
+42% efficiency
Pro-active messaging during major events
Co-creating for agility, scale, and trust​
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Using the Stashem Sprint Lab framework, Duke’s product, IT, and customer experience teams began working in agile squads. Developers delivered MVPs in weeks—not quarters—by leveraging pre-built components, automated test libraries, and co-creation workshops.
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An early sprint reimagined Duke’s service feedback loop. Instead of static surveys, the new journey included branch-specific follow-ups, location-based field ratings, and AI-driven triggers for escalation when feedback dipped below defined thresholds.
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As these agile practices scaled across teams, deployment velocity increased, and product owners became champions of the customer voice.
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About Duke Energy
Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the largest electric power holding companies in the U.S., serving more than 8 million customers.
With a focus on clean energy and grid modernization, Duke is investing in renewables, storage, and digital innovation across the Southeast and Midwest.
About Stashem Consulting
Stashem Salesforce consulting, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, helps enterprise and mid-market companies drive transformation through data, automation, and personalization.
With deep experience in the energy sector, Stashem delivers human-centered, AI-enabled Salesforce solutions at scale.
