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Scott Perl

Senior PartnerWashington DC

Serves major utility and energy clients across a variety of strategic, organizational, and downstream operational issues, including cost reduction, process efficiency, strategy, growth opportunities, field operations, digital topics, and customer experience

Scott coleads practice groups focused on customer experience and field operations in the utilities sector. In his advisory work, he supports executives across several industries, with a focus on energy, materials, and the public sector.

Since joining McKinsey, Scott has worked to address both operational and strategic challenges. He applies deep expertise in lean performance management to help utility and other types of companies improve their visibility into operations, which can directly lead to enhanced profitability and greater customer loyalty.

With an emphasis on innovative strategies, Scott helps companies boost operational performance and improve the customer experience. He advises executives to put customer needs at the core of any operational transformation.

Examples of his recent client work include the following: 

  • directing work with a large utility company to improve customer-service operations and boost customer-satisfaction scores while lowering cost
  • leading a performance diagnostic for a major utility company that, resulting in a program that improved field operations efficiency by more than 20 percent across multiple operating districts and regions
  • guiding a comprehensive cost-reduction and process-efficiency program for the customer-service and other customer-facing functions of a large utility company
  • guiding an initiative to help a utility company identify growth opportunities for products and services associated with distributed generation and energy efficiency focused on industrial and commercial customers
  • helping a pay TV company redesign its onboarding experience to improve customer satisfaction and increase profitability

 Before joining McKinsey, Scott served more than five years in the US Army. He coauthored a recent article addressing opportunities for utility companies in the United States to transform their distribution systems to improve efficiency and deliver better service.

Published work

Transforming customer experience in utilities,” McKinsey & Company, October 2021

The power of untapped potential: How US utilities can transform their distribution systems,” McKinsey & Company, February 2015

Past experience

US Army
Captain

Education

Harvard Business School
MBA, management

Brown University
BA, history