Thames Water’s digital team is celebrating after winning two awards: ‘data science project of the year’ and the ‘digital transformation project of the year’ at the UK IT Industry Awards in London.
Image: using a correlator to locate a leak
The awards, organised by BCS - the British Computer Society – set a performance benchmark in IT, recognising exceptional people, projects and technology innovation.
Thames Water provides water and wastewater services from London in the east to Swindon in the west, and continues to develop, adopt and embrace new technology in a £249 million digital programme to help its customers and the environment.
Data Science Project of the Year
A suite of data science products was developed as part of Thames Water’s ‘smart water’ programme which provides intelligent, data-driven analytics to make better real-time decisions about the operation of the water network. The goal of the project is to reduce the number and duration of supply interruptions experienced by customers.
Digital Transformation Project of the Year
The ‘workforce management’(WFM) programme is replacing 18 different systems with a single end-to-end contact, planning, scheduling and field mobility solution to 7,000 staff across Thames Water operations. Benefits include being able to prioritise work more effectively, and a reduction in the number of phone calls and repeat contacts.
Two other Thames Water finalists were highly commended: Armna Iqbal (‘Rising star of the year’) and Andrea Norris (‘IT service and support professional of the year’)
Mike Potter, Thames Water’s digital transformation director, said:
“With 15 million customers, we’re on a mission to transform the way we work through technology.
“Our £249 million digital programme from 2020 to 2025 is galvanising the business and revolutionising the way we engage with customers and users of technology.
“We're committed to working with our customers and front-line staff to co-create the apps and digital tools we need to ensure that our network is working efficiently.
“Being nominated as finalists in no less than seven categories in the UK IT Industry Awards – and coming away with two awards and two highly commended – is a huge acknowledgement of the hard work of the team, the leap the organisation has made to new agile ways of working and the high quality of the apps we’ve been developing, and the tools at our disposal."
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