Water Customer Conference: Customers are key

Delegates to Utility Week's Water Conference learned how water firms can fulfil Ofwat’s aim of a customer-centric culture.

With customers being a key area of the regulator’s 2019 price review (PR19), water companies are all too aware that Ofwat is looking closely at how they aim to become truly customer-focused.

Delegates at Utility Week’s Water Customer Conference were in prime position to get tips on how to do just that. From how to create a customer-centric culture in AMP7 to the digital transformation the industry is going through, there was plenty of interesting ­discussion in the jam-packed day.

The agenda also covered company strategies in both the domestic and non-domestic markets, innovative approaches to customer engagement and rising customer demands.

Talking to customers

To get the day under way, Claire Forbes, ­senior director of corporate communications at Ofwat, discussed the expectation and ­participation of customers.

She warned that customer satisfaction in the water industry will not be achieved by simply “providing a largely invisible public service”. In what she described as a “new endeavour” for the regulator, Forbes outlined how Ofwat too has been talking to customers to ensure it does not become “disconnected”.

“In the five years that I’ve been at Ofwat, we’ve not talked directly to customers in any kind of sustained way, preferring instead to leave companies to do so,” she said.

Over the past few months, Ofwat has reached out to customers across England and Wales. It has worked with water companies and local contacts to meet with people in their communities – in charity and volunteering projects, at schools and universities, or simply on high streets.

Forbes explained that the regulator has not tried to “replicate” water company engagement; instead, it has been asking people to tell it what water means to them.

“As a new endeavour it’s been a learning curve for us; I’m very conscious that many of you here have been through extensive ­periods of customer engagement in PR19 and have spoken to many more people than we have done,” she said.

Highlighting the extreme weather events of last year, Forbes said “ensuring a reliable and consistent service is probably becoming more, not less challenging for companies”.

Speaking in a later session, Alan Lovell, chair of the Consumer Council for Water, said generally water companies did a good job of dealing with the practical problems of the Beast from the East but a “bad job” of communicating with customers.

“Show that you really care to increase trust and legitimacy and communicate when things go wrong,” he said.

Ofwat’s “Water Stories” engagement activity found people care more about water than many people in the sector may believe. Forbes said: “I’ve often heard it said within the water sector that customers aren’t interested in water. That they don’t want to know about where water comes from, how it’s treated or how it’s taken away. That customers’ only real interest in water is in the cost of the bill and that beyond that, people just aren’t bothered.

“And yes, in one sense, I think that’s true – none of us want to have to think about water when we’re getting in the shower in the morning, or when we’re flushing the loo.

“But one of the things we’ve learnt through ‘Water Stories’ is that, when the conversation is started in the right way, ­people have a lot to say about water.”

One phrase that “came up again and again” in the stories Ofwat heard was: “Water is everything.”

She questioned that if water is everything, what does that mean for customer satisfaction, drawing reference to Amazon, which she described as a company that “tries to be everything” and aims to be the most “customer-centric”.

“And yet without even trying, water companies have what Amazon must yearn for; relevance in every aspect of people’s lives, from the minute they wake up to the minute they go to bed. Unlike Amazon, water truly is everything.”

Forbes suggested water companies should move away from a transactional understanding of customer satisfaction to one that is “much broader and more inclusive”, taking account of how people feel as much as the mechanics of the service offering.

Water companies should be a “known force within communities” and be more ­“visible”, but she warned: “With visibility comes challenge.”

Social purpose

Bristol Water’s Ben Newby delved further into how water companies can become more visible and connected to the communities in which they operate.

The chief customer officer explained “the little things matter” to make local communities better as he gave a potted history of the company, which was formed in 1846.

Newby took the opportunity to outline the work Bristol Water has been doing to become the first water firm to publish a “social ­contract”, which it will use to ­measure the social value it is adding.

The contract follows more than a year of discussion and countless conversations with the people of the West Country. It forms an important part of the company’s PR19 ­business plan – Bristol Water For All – ­submitted to Ofwat in September last year.

Bristol Water said the social contract will be a framework to help it continue to deliver societal benefits, but also a way local people can hold it to account. Newby said: “There has been a lot of talk about trust and legitimacy in the water sector. Customers are concerned about service providers doing the right thing.” He suggested it is not always a “clear-cut distinction” of nationalisation or privatisation being the answer.

Learning from other sectors

Water companies are often told to look beyond the sector for inspiration on how to deliver the best customer service. It may have come as a surprise to some in the room that John Lewis – a company often held in high regard by the industry – does not always come out on top.

Sanjeev Kumar, head of business transformation at Enzen, told delegates the likes of Superdrug, Wilko and Greggs often do ­better on customer service.

Meanwhile, Shub Naha, head of ­utilities and business development director at ­Content Guru, reminded the sector that trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. He advised delegates to “raise the bar but don’t just do it for the sake of regulation”.

Attendees were also able to learn a thing or two from the energy sector. Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, marketing and product director at Octopus Energy, discussed serving customers better through innovation in technology that is efficient, responsive and iterative.

She explained that new customers of the energy supplier get an email from the company’s chief executive, Greg Jackson, and if they reply he will respond. Having Jackson at the “front line” also helps the supplier ­identify and resolve customer problems.

Dibb-Simkin said the company’s “efficiency and great customer service” is underpinned by Kraken, its own technology platform.

Simon Kirkham, chief technology officer at United Utilities, suggested companies should not fear technology but they need to be aware of it “to keep up with the Joneses”.

“Blockchain gets stuff from one place to another and is about a trusted transaction but it is not the answer to all the world’s problems and won’t help solve Brexit,” he joked. Kirkham suggested that how the data of regulators is presented to the market could be useful to customers.

Rob Mustard, director of digital at Scottish Water, suggested personalisation is one of the key focuses to providing a great customer experience. He argued there is no answer to what the perfect customer experience is – “you have to try to understand all aspects from community to technology”. He added: “Life has significantly moved on in terms of technology in the past 25-30 years – customer expectations have also moved on. Future customers will continue to expect a fair price.”

The pace of change feels faster than ever before and water professionals need to prove that not only can they address the challenges they face today, but that they are ready to deal with those of tomorrow.

From the floor

Nicola Eaton Sawford, conference chair and managing director, Customer Whisperers

“Keep an eye on what’s going on in other sectors. What you are doing today someone has done yesterday or will be doing tomorrow. There are lots of lessons to learn – you don’t always have to start with a blank page.”

Sanjeev Kumar, head of business transformation, Enzen

“Water companies need to do what they think is right for their customers and not just blindly follow the perceived best practice of well-known retailers.”

Steve Arthur, director of market performance, MOSL

“If you talk about data you miss the point, you have to get under the skin of what data is telling you.”

Andy Hughes, chief executive, Water Plus

“There has been some progress in the water market to speed up getting answers and resolutions for businesses and other organisations, but there’s more all market participants can do to help customers.”

Rob Mustard, director of digital, Scottish Water

“Digital will just get you the same problems quicker.”

The Water conference was sponsored by: