South East Water modernises via Google Cloud

South East Water is placing Google Cloud applied sciences on the centre of its five-year modernisation undertaking, enabling improved collaboration, knowledge insights and entry to synthetic intelligence (AI). Google Workspace and Gemini AI are two of the applied sciences being carried out after the corporate determined it wished rather more than only a expertise refresh.

Richard Bannister, head of IT at South East Water, stated Google was chosen after options “felt extra like upgrades, somewhat than true transformation”. The utility, which has 50 in-house IT employees, partnered with Google Cloud service firm Qodea on the undertaking.

“As a part of our five-year digital transformation technique, we recognized expertise modernisation as a cornerstone for fulfillment,” stated Bannister. “Our purpose was to attain a whole shift in how we work and collaborate – empowering workers, streamlining operations and bettering customer support via the suitable expertise.”

South East Water supplies consuming water to greater than 2.3 million individuals all through Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. “We function a lot of core IT programs which can be important for delivering clear and dependable water providers to our prospects. These essential programs underpin each side of our operations,” added Bannister.

Core IT contains HR programs, account and call centre applied sciences, laboratory programs, undertaking administration instruments, discipline apps for groups working on-site and cyber safety platforms.

“These programs are a basic layer of our general IT surroundings. Underpinning all of this are our knowledge platforms to allow us to make data-driven choices,” stated Bannister.

Google Cloud core

The corporate has made Google Workspace a core device going ahead, stated Bannister: “With groups spanning discipline operations, supply companions and buyer care, we shortly realised that seamless collaboration was a high precedence. Google Workspace meant we might share info and emails and have chats in a single house. This has been integral for bettering our effectivity and responsiveness.

“The mixing of Gemini AI is especially thrilling, and whereas we’re nonetheless early within the roll-out, instruments like NotebookLM and Agentspace are already exhibiting robust potential in serving to us unlock insights from our knowledge and make that data extra accessible throughout the organisation.”

Different Google applied sciences might be adopted later this 12 months, stated Bannister, together with Google Chromebooks and AppSheet: “AppSheet will permit us to construct a centralised, safe supply of fact that not solely simplifies each day operations, however will increase confidence in our knowledge’s accuracy and safety.

“That is essential in guaranteeing we preserve our obligation of look after our prospects, notably for these on the Precedence Companies Register [PSR]. Whether or not we have to replace residents a couple of burst pipe or guarantee bottled water deliveries for susceptible people, Google’s instruments imply prospects may be knowledgeable actual time, as occasions unfold.”

Bannister stated the Covid pandemic and the operational challenges it introduced led to the organisation utilizing a wide range of purposes to maintain employees related, however this left it with a “disconnected digital surroundings”.

“Scattered spreadsheets and chat threads had change into our default communication strategies,” he stated. “This meant that not solely might we not get a transparent view of our knowledge, however it was troublesome to coordinate successfully, particularly throughout occasions that required fast mobilisation from groups. We would have liked an answer that wouldn’t simply replicate what we had, however would place us to take full benefit of contemporary expertise.”