Morrison Water Services using digital technology to liaise with local communities

The Virtual Community Hub App is a digital platform on which residents can learn about works going on in their local area.

The app is a 360° virtual meeting room, in which digital information boards can be selected to provide a wealth of information about projects or schemes in that particular town, village or city.

Core functions:

• Live chat functionalities: Members of the public can ask questions about a project in their area and receive a detailed response
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• Welcome videos: Featuring a project manager or senior leader, these provide an overview of the project
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• Customer benefits: Providing clear benefits to the customer as to why we are undertaking works
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• FAQs: A number of frequently asked questions that customers can access quickly and easily
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• Investment Stats: Clear financial schematics and information on financial benefits
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• Scheme Plans: Technical breakdown of the scheme and the works being carried out

Utilised on the Dwr Cymru Welsh Water contract, the platform provided a more efficient and sustainable alternative to town hall meetings. These meetings would be time consuming and would sometimes require significant travel, resulting in increased carbon emissions. The app, formulated as a solution to COVID-19 restrictions, allowed local residents to find out all the same information, and more, from their desktop or mobile device. The initial results were hugely impressive, with an increase in attendance through page views and positive customer feedback with calls into the call centres.

Core Benefits:

• Improved customer experience: The straightforward interface makes it easy to learn about the scheme and what we do
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• Cost and time efficient: It is a cheaper and quicker way of communicating with our stakeholders. Rather than organising events and sending out letters of notification, this digital alternative reduces travel times and cost of hosting
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• Improved efficiency: A result of the cost and time benefits, it allows us to be more efficient in the delivery of the scheme, reducing timelines as the means of communications are sped up
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• Environmental: Use of digital technology means this can all be done from home, removing the requirement for travel results in significant carbon savings

Having seen the range of benefits that the Virtual Community Hub App offers, numerous contracts and projects are already looking at how they can make the most of it. With the cross-divisional collaboration that exists throughout M Group Services, our different businesses have the capabilities to share best practices and ideas that drive continuous improvement.

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