47 A PARTNERSHIP BUILT ON TRUST CHAPTER TWO picks it up: “CC&B Blue Team support. This is Bryan Drilling. What can I do for you today?” Wilson was trying to run refund checks for customers who had installed solar panels on their roofs and sold the power back to the grid — a payment called a “net metering refund” — when she hit a problem. The refunds appeared in the Customer Care and Billing software but not in the accounting ledger. The numbers had to match for Wilson to move forward and issue checks. Drilling’s job, like that of the other Blue Team members, is to take all types of support calls about the Customer Care and Billing solutions from a group of 45 Members. The Blue Team launched in February 2016 as a pilot project to enhance Member relationships. The goal is to provide a personalized approachtoservingMembers,wheresupportspecialistsunder- stand the Members’ specific business practices and needs. When Members call, “They’re talking to somebody who is a partner,” says Char Bono, Manager of Utility Support, where the Blue Team concept was being piloted. Rather than special- izing in specific areas of the software, individuals specialize in helping specific Members. A rainbow of other teams will follow that method as well. Drilling logs into Wilson’s system remotely and locates the error message. A programmer will need to make the fix. He creates a tracking page to make it easier to follow up on the issue and assigns the case to the programming group. Soon Lead Software Engineer Tami Peine figures out the problem and advises Drilling. Drilling walks Wilson through the change she needs to make, and Peine starts the process to update the software. Shortly after, Wilson is able to issue the net metering checks. Wilson, Supervisor of Information Processing at Trico, calls Drilling her “go-to guy.” She appreciates the partnership with NISC, and it’s a partnership she feels confident will continue into the future. “I know who I’m going to contact anytime there’s any issue at all,” says Wilson. As part of the Blue Team, Drilling gains a new perspective on the workflow of NISC’s Members — which improves his ability to provide support. “We have a better picture of what they’re trying to do [with the software],” he says. “You really build a relationship with the person on the other end of the phone.” Bryan Drilling in Member Support.