United Utilities & Severn Trent agreed a Joint Venture to enter the newly deregulated Business Retail Market, delivering a new retail solution to water for business customers. This led to the creation of a new head office & operational centre based in Stoke located on a green field site, and the need for agreed ways of working.
Challenge
- Both organisations had existing business units that dealt with customer interactions for their own Business Retail Water Clients – these were to be transitioned to the new site & systems, with minimal BAU impact.
- The new business was to take the best of the existing operations, but was built around a new way of working and operating model specifically designed for the more competitive marketplace that had been created by the market regulator – Ofwat – which had a specific regulatory code that needed to be met.
Solution
- Worked in conjunction with the technology programme to design the operational build & transition plan, including work streams for: People; Place; Process; Operations; MI & Insight & Compliance.
- New organisation structure, created to support the brand and increase the focus on exceptional Customer Experience, leveraging digital interactions – this involved creating a new Solutions, Quality & Compliance team.
- Developed the Operational Team, through interactive ideation workshops to plan, prioritise and design effective approaches to improve performance, resilience and innovation.
- Delivered a series of Customer Experience workshops, designed personas, explored current and future state journeys. Designed improvements where required and built a prioritised change plan.
Outcome
- 400 person site set up and operational in 4 months.
- Existing operational activities successfully transitioned and the new brand cemented as a key competitor in the Business Water Utilities market, within 9 months of design and delivery.
- Improved customer & colleague experience through Csat, service level and complaint resolution metrics.
“We were able to bring a wealth of real world experience to this project gained creating, building and running some of the UK’s most groundbreaking Service Operations. I could not be more pleased we were able to play a part in this JV in the Water market” Nicola Collister, Founder, Custerian
