I'm thrilled to have been asked to be the Guest Editor of this edition of our newsletter.
We’re committed to making a positive difference to every customer. And to ensure we can meet your needs while delivering an excellent customer experience, we’re continually reviewing our services and investing in our people, processes and technology to deliver enhancements.
As part of this, we need to understand more about your priorities and challenges in relation to your water services including areas we could improve or enhance our service delivery. So, to get your views, we undertook our first digital Public Sector Scotland Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Survey during August. Thank to you everyone who took the time to respond to the survey; you can read the high-level results in this newsletter.
We were also really happy to host some of you at four Water Forum events in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Dundee during November. Thank you to everyone who came along. Both the CSAT Survey and Water Forums allowed us to gather invaluable feedback that we’ll use to refine and enhance our services, and support you to achieve your sustainability goals. We’ll provide an update on progress on all the actions we’re taking in the new year.
We're really excited to be launching our new customer vulnerability framework soon too. Aligned to our vision to make a positive difference, we’ve made a number of commitments to ensure we are well placed to provide better support to customers in need.
This includes rolling out expert-led training to our frontline colleagues to increase their knowledge around vulnerability including being able to identify signs of vulnerability, and to better support those customers who may need it. Vulnerability advocates will also be appointed to support colleagues in delivering the framework and to drive continuous improvement in this space.
In addition, Business Stream has become the first water retailer to partner with the National Support Network (NSN). Through the partnership and NSN's signposting, we can support customers, who may find themselves in vulnerable circumstances, to be able to access specialised assistance on a range of vulnerability issues that extend beyond our remit.
NSN’s signposting service will also be available to all of our colleagues and as part of the partnership’s ‘pay it forward’ scheme, we have selected the suicide prevention charity, Andy’s Man Club, to benefit from the service free of charge.
Vulnerability strategies and programmes have historically been focused on household customers, but we strongly believe that there is a need to put in place similar support for businesses and public sector organisations – which are, after all, made up of people. That’s why we’re delighted to be investing in training and partnerships that will help us to support our customers who may be in a vulnerable situation.
Jo Mayes
Customer Services Director
November Water Forums
Thank you to all Public Sector Scotland (PSS) customers who attended our recent Water Forum events which took place throughout November. The forums provided a chance to discuss the priorities, challenges and opportunities relevant to your organisations as well as the support Business Stream can provide. They also offered networking opportunities with other PSS colleagues and the wider Business Stream team.
Thank you to those of you who also provided your feedback after each event – your input will be used to help us improve our future forums.
Our recent webinars
Since April 2024, we’ve hosted nine webinars - which you’ve been invited to - providing information about a range of topics like the enhancements to your bills and to our online portal My Business Stream (MyBS), and useful information on our current services like emergency planning. The most recent webinars covered:
Winter planning - exploring how to protect your premises during colder weather and ways we can help during a water emergency.
Automated meter reading (AMR) - focusing on AMR and how it works, extracting data from your AMR portal and an AMR success story from a Business Stream customer, Stewart Finlay at East Ayrshire Council.
To view recordings of any of the webinars which have taken place so far, please use the button below.
We've also got a series of webinars planned for 2025, including:
Payment in Advance (PIA) - about PIA, discounts and reconciliation
Systems link and Business Stream - update and demo of the M&T's system developments
Automated meter reading (AMR) refresher - how to make the most of your AMR data
Climate Action Workshop - net zero and developing a carbon reduction plan
Water Efficiency Fund - a run through the application process for the next Fund coming in April 2025
You'll have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have on specific topics at each webinar. Look out for details of each webinars and how to register in the new year, and read on to register your interest for our Climate Action Workshop.
Climate Action Workshop (virtual webinar)
Are you or any of your suppliers looking to develop your carbon action plan but don’t know where to start?
We’re hosting a virtual Climate Action Workshop on Tuesday, 25 February 2025 to provide more information about net zero, including the difference between scope 1, 2, and 3, and how to develop a carbon reduction plan.
We’re delighted that we’ll be joined by Joe Rawlinson, Environment Adviser from Business in the Community (BiTC),to deliver the workshop. The session will incorporate water efficiency advice from our Solutions team too.
To register your interest, please complete the form using the button below. Please note, spaces are limited so if you’re interested in attending, register as soon as possible.
We'd like to say a huge thank you to all customers who completed our first digital Customer Satisfaction Survey which was issued by James Law Research Associates during August.
We're delighted to have received an 83% satisfaction rate based on responses from 62 PSS customers. Since gathering the feedback, we've carried out an internal workshop to review your responses which we're using to improve and enhance the services we provide to you. We'll give you an update on the progress of these changes in the new year.
Please note, you'll be invited to take part in our next digital Customer Satisfaction Survey in May 2025.
Local Authorities | Water butt applications
Reminder to apply
We recently got in touch with all Local Authorities on the framework with an invitation to apply for free water butts for primary schools in their local authority area, as part of our commitments under the new framework.
These innovative containers collect and store rainwater, which can later
be used to water plants and flowerbeds or as an additional source of water when required, resulting in reduced water bills while supporting sustainability goals too. Additionally, the water butt can be used to teach children about sustainability and the water cycle.
For any local authorities who have not already applied, please note that the deadline for applications is Friday, 20 December 2024. We're looking forward to hearing from you and helping you to reach your sustainability goals.
PSS PowerBI Hit Squad Workshop
As part of our PSS framework commitments, we're delivering Hit Squad sessions to provide PowerBI support to customers to help them drive better insight from their water services data to support the delivery of both water efficiency and financial savings.
We recently rolled out our very first Hit Squad session to the NHS. The session was held at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. During the session, we covered a wide range of topics which included a full review of the My Business Stream Power BI reports. The session allowed us to gather valuable feedback and was a great opportunity to hear from NHS customers about additional tools that would be useful for them in managing their data.
"We understand that the closer we align with customer requirements, the better we can tailor our reporting services to address their specific challenges. Taking our service external for the first time is a significant step forward in helping us achieve this goal." -Peter Saunders, Head of Business Intelligence & Data at Business Stream
We’ll continue to roll out our Hit Squad sessions across other sectors and as we gather feedback from the sessions, we’ll identify and then progress any new requirements as quickly as possible. Look out for our next newsletter for another update and thank you to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for hosting our latest session.
Monitoring and Targeting (M&T) companies
A status update about your M&T
Systemslink customers - Systemslink have now completed development and testing on their system which will allow them to provide details on monthly calendar billing, instead of presenting information covering more than one monthly period. This change is expected to go live during December and Systemslink will be in touch with you to request that you install an update of their Energy Management System. We'll also be hosting a joint webinar with Systemslink to explore this change in 2025.
TEAM Energy customers - Processing is running smoothly and we're working closely with TEAM Energy to ensure this continues.
Optima customers - We've provided technical support to Optima to ensure they can process credits when carrying out their validations. This means that processing time is now much quicker.
Ninewells Volunteering
Back in October, some of our colleagues volunteered at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, helping out in the community garden by painting the fences. Nestled in the beautiful arboretum of Ninewells Hospital, the garden promotes physical activity and healthy living through community gardening, creating an environment where horticulture supports wellbeing, therapy and rehabilitation.
We’re proud to support initiatives that give back to our local communities and promote wellness. If you have a volunteering opportunity you'd like us to get involved in, please get in touch with your Account Manager.
"Volunteering at the Ninewells community garden was such a rewarding experience. The opportunity to help in some small way to help maintain the garden was an absolute pleasure. Its such a lovely area for patients and staff to visit and enables them to take time out - often a change of scenery or environment can make such a difference to them." - Debbie Malcolm, PSS Framework Manager at Business Stream.
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Please note, our opening hours will remain the same, 9.00am to 5.00pm, for all other days over the Christmas period. Normal working patterns will resume on Friday, 3 January 2025.
If you have a water emergency, we have a 24/7 standby team available to help and support you. The contact number to request Emergency Support is 0330 123 2100 or click the button below for more details.
We’re keen to find out what you’d like to see featured in our upcoming newsletters so please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.
If you have any questions about your account, please speak to your Account Manager or Case Owner, or you're welcome to call us or send an email using the buttons below.
