Digital Transformation Award
The judges noted that there was a clear division in this category between projects that were showing ambition, and those displaying tangible results and end benefits. The point was made that the sector has been on a digital journey for some time and so judges do expect to see results. Despite this, the panel applauded the ambition on show to drive forward digital transformation.
The judges were pleased that among the shortlisted entries there was a clear consideration of how customers would ultimately benefit from these initiatives. One judge commented: “There has been a question on some projects in the past as to whether this is change for change’s sake. It’s really nice to see in these entries a clear reason for change and how digital is just one part of transformation but feeds into others.”
The finalists
Affinity Water and JBA Consulting - JBA Spectral Analysis Tool (for pollution detection)
Browne and Thames Water - Revolutionising digitally-enabled delivery
Eon Next - Digital first approach
Power NI - Digitalising the Energy Bill Support Scheme
SSEN Transmission - Digital transformation programme
Digital Transformation Award
The judges noted that there was a clear division in this category between projects that were showing ambition, and those displaying tangible results and end benefits. The point was made that the sector has been on a digital journey for some time and so judges do expect to see results. Despite this, the panel applauded the ambition on show to drive forward digital transformation.
The judges were pleased that among the shortlisted entries there was a clear consideration of how customers would ultimately benefit from these initiatives. One judge commented: “There has been a question on some projects in the past as to whether this is change for change’s sake. It’s really nice to see in these entries a clear reason for change and how digital is just one part of transformation but feeds into others.”
The finalists
Affinity Water and JBA Consulting - JBA Spectral Analysis Tool (for pollution detection)
Browne and Thames Water - Revolutionising digitally-enabled delivery
Eon Next - Digital first approach
Power NI - Digitalising the Energy Bill Support Scheme
SSEN Transmission - Digital transformation programme
Affinity Water and JBA Consulting - JBA Spectral Analysis Tool (for pollution detection)
Groundwater sources are vulnerable to contamination from multiple land-uses.
Affinity Water and JBA Consulting have collaborated to create an innovative digital tool, JSat, that transforms water companies’ monitoring of ground water assets from reactive to proactive, dramatically reducing the risk of pollution incidents.
The system uses a series of innovations to detect land-use changes through analysing satellite images, allowing users to proactively manage emerging pollution risks.
Proactive monitoring and detection of land-use changes not only helps protecting groundwater from pollution but also reduces costs, resources and carbon emissions. The system is customisable to meet the varying needs of water companies.
Browne and Thames Water - Revolutionising digitally-enabled delivery
Browne has recently developed and implemented Browne-Digital, a transformation initiative that integrates digitised workflows between our company and clients. The initiative removes traditional pain points and promotes digital inclusivity: - Digitised data management processes: Redirecting human efforts toward impactful work, reaping compounded data benefits - Achieving critical mass to implement at scale: We scale digital transformation across our organisation by establishing a critical platform mass - Supporting our people through change: Our transformation principles enhance capacity for digitisation by gaining support from our people. Browne-Digital has significantly enhanced and extended digital-enabled delivery beyond our organisation, underpinned by scalable solutions and a people-first approach.
E.ON Next - Digital first approach
Starting as a traditional energy provider, we rebranded to become digital-first and customer-focused, acknowledging the shift from pricing to brand affinity as a customer decision factor.
Goals included high customer satisfaction, eco-conscious solutions, industry alignment, tech efficiency, demand reduction and enhanced self-service.
Strategic hires and cultural champions ensured implementation, with customers actively involved in product development.
Results included high satisfaction rates, diversified offerings, industry leadership, efficiency gains, and market differentiation. Challenges involved scaling and integrating contracted developers.
This initiative positioned E.ON Next as a leading player in a dynamic energy market.
Power NI - Digitalising the Energy Bill Support Scheme
Power NI successfully delivered the Government-funded £600 Energy Bill Support Scheme (EBSS) to c.460,000 customers; many of whom desperately needed it.
This was made possible via a transformative, bespoke, digital-based solution - designed, built and deployed in just four weeks.
Despite significant uncertainty, a highly charged political environment and unprecedented media and public scrutiny, 40 IT and business professionals delivered a unique, innovative portal, which processed EBSS scheme payments, provided customers with self-serve options, enabled outsourced support, and kept customers informed of payment status.
It meant money in banks, power in homes.
SSEN Transmission - Digital transformation programme
Following the business separation of SSEN into SSEN Transmission and SSEN Distribution in 2021, SSEN Transmission has embarked on an ambitious digital transformation programme.
Digitising its business to deliver significant improvements for its customers and stakeholders.
This programme is expected to deliver “20 years of digital transformation in 5 years”, implementing best in class capability across the entire business to achieve our net zero ambitions.
UK Power Networks - Speeding up low carbon connections
Energy needs in UK homes and businesses are changing fast.
Amid tremendous growth in appetite for new and emerging low carbon technologies, UK Power Networks has abandoned traditional thinking and forged its own path, using innovation to radically improve connections processes for installers and customers.
Its game-changing, new Smart Connect portal slashes approval times from ten days to just minutes, offers unprecedented functionality, increased customer benefits and more green tech, than any other network. Customers rate it 96%.
In addition, UK-first Emerge project removes barriers to net zero by allowing meter operators to upgrade domestic fuses for the first time.
Utilita Energy - Life with Power
Life without heat or power is unacceptable. Faced with industry shortfalls causing unnecessary self-disconnections it was time for Utilita ramp up its rescue effort. With 95% of its Pay As You Go (PAYG) households already smart-enabled, Utilita has the ability to transform its features and services remotely, and with immediate effect. These digital transformations are the difference between staying on supply or not for a large majority of its customer base. Utilita’s latest features have offset industry shortfalls and keep its valued customers on supply on more than three million occasions, avoiding the disruption or devastation of a self-disconnection.