Dear Customer,

I'm delighted to have been asked to be the Guest Editor of this edition of our newsletter.

So far this year, as part of our commitments to you under the new Framework, we've rolled out a range of new improvements to enhance your bills and your self-serve experience on My Business Stream. These include the 

launch of our new reporting functionality, Power BI - designed to help you identify and manage water and cost-saving opportunities. The new functionality offers you a wide range of comprehensive site reporting at your fingertips including meter optimisation reporting, consumption alerts, benchmarking insights, and financial data that's site specific.  Furthermore, in order to provide you with the best possible service, we've also launched live webchat on My Business Stream which has seen some positive early adoption from Framework customers looking to get quick answers to simple questions. Our team is live and online so please make sure you try this new service. 

In May, we also launched our annual Public Sector Scotland (PSS) Water Efficiency Fund, which we're delighted to have increased to £100,000 this year. The sheer volume and diversity of applications for water efficiency projects has been greater than ever before, making this our most successful round of applications to date. We're looking forward to working with each awarded organisation to support the delivery of their individual water efficiency objectives.

And finally, as Business Stream continues to drive positive change in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) space, I recently had the pleasure of sharing my own insights of how water management can significantly enhance corporate sustainability initiatives with Energy News Live. You can read the full article here. Additionally, I was invited to Sustainability Live 2024 earlier in September to join a panel discussion on The Future of Net Zero, exploring the opportunities and challenges of transitioning to a sustainable, carbon neutral future. You can watch the conversation here. 

Tom Abel

Director of Sales

Water Efficiency Fund | This year's awarded projects

Thank you to those of you who applied for this year’s 2024/25 Water Efficiency Fund, which we are delighted to have doubled to £100,000. We were thrilled to receive an abundance of exceptional applications showcasing diverse and impactful water efficiency initiatives within your organisations. This year, funding has been awarded to 14 projects for organisations including National Museums Scotland, NHS 

Forth Valley and West Lothian Council, for projects like water conservation audits and the installation of new water efficient taps.

Jo Dow, Chief Executive of Business Stream said: “We’re delighted to have invested an additional £50,000 into our annual Water Efficiency Fund. By funding water efficiency projects, we can help public sector bodies across the country to save money and water, while also reducing their environmental impact."

Business in the Community (BiTC) | Job Coaching Programme

We're delighted to have joined BiTC's Job Coaching Programme helping to support jobseekers and those who face barriers to employment in the UK through a series of coaching sessions.

Eight of our colleagues have signed up to support the programme, with four having completed the training and they've already received coaching requests. 

"I signed up to this as I believe we all have a responsibility to give back to the community. We have all been in a position where a helping hand would have been a great asset. I believe if we can help someone, even a little bit, towards some financial security or a better way of life, then that's a great achievement. Offering a little guidance can have such a positive impact for some people, and help them achieve their goals. I think this should remind us that people matter." - John Dryburgh | Senior Metering and Billing Adviser

My Business Stream just got better

As part of a programme of enhancements we're delivering, we recently got in touch to let you know about further enhancements we’ve made to our online portal, My Business Stream (MyBS).

New enhancements

• The ability to upload meter readings in bulk
• The ability to track the progress of your open queries
• Integrating our Power BI reporting tool into the platform so you’ll be able to access and download a range of useful reports for your sites
• Providing notifications for planned and unplanned water works in your area, and
• Access to live web chat.

Upcoming enhancements

• the ability to view and download a range of useful documents and videos, specific to you and your site(s), and
• access to view your site-specific Emergency Plans on MyBS too, as agreed with our Emergency & Contingency Manager. 

If you have any questions or require support in the meantime, please view the Useful Resources Library on our Public Sector Scotland web pages at business-stream.co.uk/publicsectorscotland or reach out to your Account Manager directly.

Live webchat success

We asked one of our PSS case owners, Stephen Macdonald, who's been managing our live webchat service on My Business Stream, what he thinks of the new service.

"Since the launch, I've managed a handful of queries from our public sector customers over webchat and it's working really well. It's an ideal way for customers to get a quick answer to a quick query. I spend no longer than five to 10 minutes helping to answer a query and in general, I'd say it's quicker than an email or phone call, allowing our customers to save time and effort. It's a quick win". - Stephen Macdonald, Key Account Case Owner

Navigating My Business Stream

To help customers with multiple sites understand how to better navigate My Business Stream (MyBS), we’ve created a useful 'How-to...' video which you can view by clicking the image below. You'll also find this video in the Useful Resources Library of our Public Sector Scotland web pages or in the video gallery on MyBS. We’ll soon be launching another video encompassing all the recent enhancements to MyBS too and we’ll be in touch to let you know when it’s available.

Our recent webinars

• Emergency planning - exploring the importance of emergency planning, creating an emergency plan for your site(s) and the solutions we can offer to support you.
• MyBS enhancements overview with a focus on Power BI reporting and live webchat.

We'll be in touch again soon to invite you to our next webinar and we hope to see you there.

Supporting young careers

During August, our current Modern Apprentices (MAs) graduated and we were delighted to welcome our next group of MAs to Business Stream. Over the next year, they’ll undertake their Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) while learning all about the world of work and we’re looking forward to watching them develop their skills and experience.

We also hosted this year’s group of Career Ready students for their four-week work placement during June and July. We loved having the students in our offices and being able to provide opportunities to build their confidence, skills and knowledge base with expert-led skills sessions, project work, CV and personal statement support and 121 networking. Career Ready’s Regional Manager, Rose King, attended their final presentations.

Customer Satisfaction Survey

In our June newsletter, we let you know that we’re working with an independent company, James Law Research Associates, to carry out a digital Customer Satisfaction Survey for all of our PSS customers. You should have received an invitation to complete the survey from James Law Research Associates on Tuesday, 20 August and thank you to everyone who responded with their feedback. We're working through the responses and will report back soon. 

Ecologi carbon project 

We're delighted to have renewed our partnership with climate action specialists, Ecologi for the second year running to offset out carbon footprint by investing in green projects around the world.

This year, we're supporting the Macaúbas Landfill Gas Project in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, which has recently become one of the first-ever Core Carbon Principles (CCP) Approved projects - designed to set

and maintain a global threshold standard for quality in the voluntary carbon market.

The Macaúbas Landfill Gas Project involves installing new active landfill gas (LFG) extraction, flaring, and electricity generation systems to prevent methane gas emissions entering the atmosphere and to export electricity to the grid from the landfill site. In its current monitoring phase, the facility has so far achieved total emission reductions of 102,580 tCO2e.

Jo Dow, Chief Executive of Business Stream, said: “We are dedicated to reducing our carbon footprint and promoting sustainable practices within the water industry. Our latest partnership with Ecologi provides us with an opportunity to support environmental projects as we continue to drive down our own emissions.”

2024 Water Forums

We're delighted to be hosting another round of Water Forum events across Scotland for our PSS customers in November to discuss the priorities, challenges and opportunities relevant to your organisations and how Business Stream can support on these. The events also provide an opportunity to network with other Public Sector Scotland colleagues and the wider Business Stream team. This year, we'll host four forums in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, and Dundee. We'll be in touch this week to invite you to register.

Getting in touch

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, call us, or send an email using the buttons below.