Edinburgh water firm wins international award for digital transformation

26 November 2018 Reading time: 3 mins

Edinburgh based water retailer, Business Stream, has won a top international award recognising its innovative approach to customer service.

The firm won Best Digital Transformation at the International Customer Experience Awards hosted in Amsterdam on 20 November 2018.

Judges recognised the transformation Business Stream made after it acquired Southern Water’s non-household customer base ahead of the opening of the English water market in 2017, which doubled the size of its business. The firm worked with Capgemini, a global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation, to help enhance its onboarding process for large, multi-site customers.

Over 100 companies from across Europe were shortlisted for the annual awards held in Amsterdam’s city centre.

Speaking after the awards, Jo Mayes, Business Stream’s Customer Operations Director, said: “We’re delighted to have won this award which reflects our commitment to aligning our customer service tools with the latest technology and practices. Not only is this having a direct positive impact on the experience and service we provide our customers but it is also delivering efficiencies to the business. Our focus remains on developing and delivering further improvements to ensure our customers’ needs and expectations are always met.”

Business Stream works with private businesses and public sector organisations across the UK. Earlier this year it announced plans to help its customers reduce their water consumption by 20 per cent. The pledge, announced by the firm’s CEO, Jo Dow, forms part of Business Stream’s on-going commitment to promote the importance of water efficiency and to pro-actively work with its customers across the UK to reduce their water use.

The new £2.5bn English water market, which opened in April 2017, enables 1.2 million businesses and public bodies in England to choose their water supplier for the first time. In the first year of the English market Business Stream secured over £155m in new contracts.

To date, Business Stream has helped its customers save over 38 billion litres of water, resulting in almost £75 million in financial savings and over 66,000 tonnes in CO2 savings.