From hours to minutes: How Con Edison transformed outage communication with Convey

For a utility serving millions of customers across New York, outage communications need to move quickly. But before 2024, Con Edison’s outage communications were slow, inconsistent and manual, making it difficult to keep customers informed during critical situations.

Coordinating messages across six regions took more than six hours. The legacy system lacked the speed, flexibility and visibility needed to support both everyday interruptions and large-scale emergencies.

Con Edison partnered with Convey, formerly Message Broadcast, to transform that process.

Outage communications went from six hours to minutes with Convey

The challenge was straightforward: outage communications needed to happen faster.

With messages taking more than six hours to coordinate across six regions, internal teams were spending valuable time managing disconnected systems and manual processes. Meanwhile, customers were left waiting for information about outages that affected them.

Con Edison needed a more streamlined approach that could improve communication speed while giving teams greater visibility into their campaigns.

One hub for outage communications

In July 2024, Con Edison partnered with Convey to launch the Outage Communications Messaging Center (OCMC), a unified, real-time platform designed to improve how customers are informed during planned and unplanned outages.

OCMC replaced multiple disconnected systems with one streamlined hub, giving Con Edison teams a more efficient way to manage outage communications.

The result was a faster, more transparent communication process that could better support customers during both everyday interruptions and large-scale emergencies.

Faster communication across every major channel

Convey brought multiple communication channels together in a single campaign, enabling Con Edison to reach customers through:

• SMS
• Email
• Voice

This multi-channel approach allowed teams to communicate with customers through their preferred channels while simplifying the process internally.

Messages that once took hours to coordinate could now go out in minutes across all regions at once.

Real-time visibility into every campaign

Speed was only part of the transformation. Con Edison also needed better visibility into what was happening with its outage communications. Convey provided real-time delivery tracking and campaign monitoring, allowing teams to monitor communications, test messages and launch updates instantly.

Self-service tools and AI-powered voice messaging also gave teams greater flexibility when managing communications. Instead of working across multiple disconnected systems, teams could manage more of the process from one place.

Built for everyday outages and major emergencies

Outage communications need to work under pressure. Whether responding to an everyday interruption or a large-scale emergency, Con Edison needed a way to deliver rapid, clear updates when customers needed them most.

Convey gave teams the tools to execute communications faster while maintaining greater transparency throughout the process. The result was faster execution, better transparency and higher customer satisfaction during both everyday interruptions and large-scale emergencies.

Why Convey isn’t just faster

The transformation was about more than reducing the time it took to send a message.

Convey gave Con Edison a more streamlined way to manage outage communications, bringing speed, flexibility and visibility together in one place. With multi-channel delivery, self-service tools, AI-powered voice messaging and real-time campaign monitoring, the solution was designed around the needs of both internal teams and customers.

Messages that once took hours could now go out in minutes. And when an outage happens, those minutes matter.

What changed for Con Edison

Con Edison’s partnership with Convey transformed outage communications from a slow, manual process into a faster and more streamlined experience.

Faster response times
Messages that once took hours now go out in minutes across all regions at once.

Multi-channel delivery
Customers can be reached through SMS, email or voice in a single campaign.

Real-time visibility
Teams can monitor delivery, test messages and launch updates instantly with AI-powered tools.

Performance under pressure
Convey supports rapid, clear communications during both everyday outages and large-scale emergencies.

By bringing disconnected systems together into one intuitive hub, Con Edison created a faster, more transparent way to keep customers informed when they need information most.

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Frequently asked questions about Convey’s partnership with Con Edison of New York (ConEd)

What is the Outage Communications Messaging Center?

The Outage Communications Messaging Center, or OCMC, is a unified, real-time solution Con Edison launched with Convey in July 2024 to improve communications during planned and unplanned outages.

How does Convey improve outage communication?

Convey brings multiple disconnected systems together into one streamlined hub. It provides real-time delivery tracking and campaign monitoring, along with self-service tools and AI-powered voice messaging.

How quickly can messages be sent with Convey?

Messages that previously took hours to coordinate can now be sent in minutes across all regions at once.

Can Convey support major outage events?

Yes. Convey’s solutions were designed to support both everyday interruptions and large-scale emergencies, providing rapid communication, and real-time visibility when customers need updates most.