Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesischer Wasserverband (OOWV), a leading water utility in Germany, transformed its customer service operations with babelforce. Facing surging call volumes, the team needed a faster, smarter way to handle customer requests. By introducing babelforce’s automated voicebot, powered by Deepsearch’s pre-trained voice AI, OOWV streamlined meter reading submissions and eased the pressure on its customer service team – all without changing its existing phone system.
15,000+
40%+
24/7 service
Agents
About OOWV
OOWV is one of Germany’s 10 largest water utilities, delivering drinking water and wastewater services to over one million people across households, businesses, and local authorities. As a critical public service provider, OOWV handles a constant flow of customer requests – with call volumes spiking sharply during regulatory deadlines.
To keep up, they needed a scalable way to handle seasonal surges, capture accurate meter readings, and cut down manual work for agents.
Industry:
Size:
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Use Case:
Utilities
500 – 1000 employees
Germany
babelforce CCaaS with automated voicebot for meter readings
The Challenge: Manual Processes Slowing Down Customer Service
Regulatory changes meant that OOWV customers had to submit water meter readings within a strict 10-day window at the end of the year. This left OOWV’s 30-person customer service team facing an overwhelming task: manually handling tens of thousands of customer calls within days.
The result? Long wait times, stressed agents, and a customer experience under pressure. And with this regulatory requirement repeating every year, OOWV needed a future-proof solution that could scale fast and automate routine processes – without overhauling their existing phone systems.
The Solution: babelforce Automation, Powered by Voice AI
To ease the pressure on agents, OOWV introduced an automated voicebot. It’s built on babelforce’s flexible automation platform and powered by Deepsearch’s deepassist AI for natural language understanding.
Here’s how it works:
- Instead of a rigid menu (“Press 1 for X, 2 for Y”), callers are asked open-ended questions like “What can we help you with today?”
- The voicebot, using deepassist’s pre-trained AI, understands natural, conversational speech and identifies the customer’s intent. In this case, it’s reporting a meter reading.
- Callers can provide meter numbers, contract details, and more. This is all captured automatically by the voicebot and passed directly into OOWV’s systems for processing.
This full automation means customers can submit readings 24/7 without waiting for an agent. Meanwhile, babelforce’s integration-ready platform worked with OOWV’s existing telephony setup – no need for costly rip-and-replace installations.
Why babelforce? Built-in Flexibility for Utilities
OOWV’s decision to work with babelforce wasn’t just about solving one immediate challenge. It was about creating a flexible, future-proof customer service platform. babelforce’s no-code automation builder meant OOWV could quickly adapt processes as needs evolved, without depending on external developers. And since babelforce integrates seamlessly with both telephony systems and customer service platforms, OOWV could add automation without disrupting its existing workflows.
For OOWV, babelforce offered:
- Fast, scalable automation for peak periods.
- Seamless integration with existing phone systems.
- Full no-code control for swift changes.
- Future-ready platform for adding new use cases like outbound campaigns or email automation
The voicebot’s intelligence came from Deepsearch’s deepassist AI, which was pre-trained with industry-specific knowledge – dramatically reducing setup time. Together, babelforce and Deepsearch created a plug-and-play automation engine tailored to OOWV’s unique needs.
The Results: Faster Processes, Happier Agents, Better Service
With babelforce and Deepsearch working together, OOWV launched its voicebot within weeks – just in time for the next peak period. The results were immediate. OOWV could handle over 15,000 meter readings without agent involvement, streamlining a process that previously required heavy manual input.
Customers could submit readings in just minutes, day or night, without waiting on hold. That shift dramatically reduced routine calls, giving agents more time to handle complex service requests. As a result, overall process efficiency improved by more than 40%.
And because the voicebot runs entirely on babelforce’s platform, OOWV can easily expand its use to other routine inquiries. This includes tasks like invoice requests or appointment scheduling, all while maintaining the same seamless integration with its existing systems.
A Scalable Foundation for the Future
What started as a quick solution for peak-period meter readings has now evolved into a strategic platform for automation at OOWV. With babelforce, OOWV can continuously optimize its customer service workflows – adding new automations, scaling to new channels, and freeing up agents to focus on delivering better customer experiences.
From seasonal surges to everyday service, babelforce gives OOWV the flexibility to stay ahead, no matter what’s next.
Book your demo today
We’re super proud of our no-code contact center platform, and we’d love to show you everything it can do. During your free demo we’ll:
- Show you key features designed to make your agents’ lives easier
- Demonstrate how babelforce’s intuitive builder puts contact center optimization in your hands
- Assess your requirements and recommend your ideal babelforce use case
- Answer any questions you might have!
