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Ameren
Employee profile story
While at Ameren I wrote a newsletter for 900+ digital employees. My department, Customer Experience, built and maintained all of Ameren’s digital products and we wanted to share our innovative, complex work with the entire Digital department.
Most of us have to chase opportunity. Mike Scholze lets it come to him.
Now a senior user experience designer on Ameren’s Digital Enablement team, Scholze has always approached life with equal parts patience and curiosity. The spark that led him to design came unexpectedly. Back in high school, his then-girlfriend Elicia—now his wife—was working on a book report about Thurgood Marshall. Scholze illustrated a drawing to go with it. Elicia’s father was so impressed by his talent that he encouraged Scholze to pursue design professionally.
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At the time, Scholze was studying both graphic communications and automotive fuel systems at Forest Park Community College. He was torn between the two interests until that conversation helped clarify his path. “I didn’t find design—design found me,” he said.
Scholze asked his illustration professor what it would take to land a job in the design field. The advice: get a Mac and learn how to use it. He bought one that same night and began teaching himself HTML and CSS.
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Since then, Scholze has held a range of roles, including production artist, web designer, UX
designer, front-end engineer and digital creative director. Most recently, he served as digital
creative director and UX team lead at WWT Asynchrony Labs.
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Though he chose design as a career, Scholze never let go of his passion for auto mechanics. He recently restored a 1991 Fox Body Mustang.
Still, he says his proudest accomplishment is his family. He and Elicia have two daughters, Clara, 15, and Hannah, 13. Hannah enjoys drawing, while Clara has been learning JavaScript. Both girls have played club soccer, with Scholze as one of their coaches.
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“Mike never planned on getting so involved with their soccer,” said Elicia. “We signed them up, and the opportunities just kept coming.”
Chris Fuchs, director of WC St. Louis Soccer Club, says Scholze’s adaptability and eagerness to learn make him a natural coach. “I can pull him in at the last minute to demo something for athletes he’s never met,” said Fuchs. “He connects immediately and can break down complex skills in a way that just clicks.”
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Scholze is no stranger to athletic success himself. In high school, he was once asked to wrestle a peer during gym class. He won, and word of his talent reached the wrestling coach. He went on to have an undefeated freshman season, earn three varsity letters, and qualify for state twice, placing seventh once.
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With a deep well of experience and a fresh perspective, Scholze brings something unique to Ameren. The Digital Customer team is thrilled to welcome him aboard.
Ameren
CRM integration story
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While at Ameren I wrote a newsletter for 900+ digital employees. My department, Customer Experience, built and maintained all of Ameren’s digital products and we wanted to share our innovative, complex work with the entire Digital department.
The CRM (customer relationship management) team has officially retired iAvenue and completed a major integration of Salesforce CRM with CSS and MuleSoft. The result is a more modern, streamlined platform designed to improve both the customer and employee experience.
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“Think of the integration as a series of three boxes,” said Maryellen Kliethermes, supervisor of applications development and digital enablement. “CSS is the back end. MuleSoft, which moves data to and from the cloud, is the middle. And CRM is the front end.”
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By placing Salesforce CRM in front of the legacy CSS system, Ameren gains the benefits of a powerful, modern user interface without giving up the strength of its existing billing engine. One of the most noticeable upgrades is a simplified experience for customer service representatives (CSRs). Many of the multiple CSS screens have been combined into a single CRM interface, allowing CSRs to quickly access relevant customer information in one place.
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Now, when a customer calls, the system can identify who they are, consolidate data from multiple systems and processes, and even suggest why they might be calling. This helps reduce average handle time and gives CSRs a more complete, 360-degree view of the customer.
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Other teams across Ameren are also benefiting from the integration. Key account executives (KAEs), who work directly with large commercial and industrial customers such as Walmart, BJC and McDonald’s, now have easier access to data that was previously unavailable in iAvenue.
This allows them to generate custom reports, offer deeper insights and deliver a more personalized service experience.
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Looking ahead, Ameren plans to continue exploring the Salesforce platform. Future enhancements may include customer self-service options, online communities, and AI-powered tools like chatbots to help answer customer questions and reduce call volume. Teams are also evaluating additional Salesforce capabilities such as the Analytics Cloud, Field Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud to further improve the customer experience.