Essex & Suffolk Water, part of Northumbrian Water Group (NWG), is aiming to become the most innovative and forward thinking company in the water industry and beyond.
That’s the ambitious goal they have set themselves set as part of their 2020- 2025 business plan that is currently being assessed by industry regulators OFWAT.
Already the only water company to sit on the CBI innovation Council, Northumbrian Water Group is promising to continue to lead in innovation by investing in new and exciting ideas that can make a real difference to business and to customers’ lives.
Essex & Suffolk Water is looking beyond the water industry for inspiration and hosts an Innovation Panel, which brings together experts from global customer service leaders including Apple, Amazon and IBM to challenge their thinking to help get the most from innovation.
The company is currently working on a number of industry leading innovative projects including:
Utileyes: See through the eyes of customers. Being able to see the exact problem remotely will often remove the need to send a technician to make an initial assessment, meaning they can send a crew out straight away, armed with the knowledge of what they are facing and need to do. The app is a great piece of innovation and will reducing the time and cost spent dealing with enquiries. Another example of how they’re delivering an unrivalled customer service;
Digital Twin models: which are replicas of NWG’s physical assets, systems and processes to provide the best environment for them and their partners to experiment and run large-scale simulations using cloud-computing power;
Innovation Festival 19: Annual Innovation Festivals to push through innovative ideas at scale and speed, and to promote innovation within the company. The festival has been held two years running with thousands of attendees.
NWG Group Information Services Director Nigel Watson said: “Super-charging our innovation culture is essential if we are to continue to deliver world class experiences to our customers and if we are to become the industry leaders in this field.
“It’s the target we’ve set ourselves, and it’s an ambitious one, but we’ll continue to rise to this challenge by finding new solutions, working in partnership, and adapting the very best from within and beyond the sector to help get there.”
To find out all about the work we’re doing around innovation and for more details on ‘Our Plan’ visit www.nwgourplan.co.uk and follow us on social media @ESWH2O / @eswater_care #ESWOurPlan
