Customer Service Excellence programme gets started and receives national seal of approval from best practice leaders

October 2021

Customer service teams at Water Plus will gain a national qualification accredited by best practice leaders, The Institute of Customer Service. 

The Institute of Customer Service has awarded the company customer service excellence training accreditation to deliver the programme - and visited the water retailer’s main office for National Customer Service Week.

It means Water Plus now has The Institute of Customer Service’s TrainingMark accreditation and their teams will receive a National Qualification in Customer Service*.

It follows Water Plus building, developing and launching a stream of robots to automate repeat data tasks to support their customers and teams, along with it redesigning and developing its MyAccount platform, with additional functions to help customers, in the last 12 months. The enhancements are increasing the speed account information is updated and – along with the service excellence training for teams – will improve customer journeys with the company in the coming months. It’s all part of the company’s commitment to their customers and to reduce the chance of complaints.                                                              Andy Hughes, Chief Executive of Water Plus and
                                                                                                                                                                      Simone Thompson, Institute of Customer Service Client Director.

Jo Causon, Chief Executive of the Institute of Customer Service, said: “I’m delighted that Water Plus has started this training programme, which we have accredited, to coincide with National Customer Service Week. It’s a clear indication that their trainers and teams – along with the business - are passionate about the customers they work with and are committed to developing people and delivering high service standards.
 
“Our professional qualifications recognise excellent customer service skills, knowledge and behaviours. Institute of Customer Service qualifications help organisations improve individual and organisational performance standards and show a commitment to continuous development.”

Andy Hughes, Chief Executive of Water Plus, said: “The best practice training is just one of the planned steps we’re taking to enhance what we do for organisations of all sizes as we know we’ve more to do and we want to improve our customer satisfaction levels across our business and processes. Our customers should start to see the impact of this in the months ahead as it’s rolled out across our customer service teams and shows our commitment to continually improve what we do.

“This year we’ve not only been raising awareness around water risks and cutting any waste to help organisations reach Net Zero, we’ve also significantly increased the number of meter reads we get from customers** to help update their accounts and bills along with continuing our work to improve our processes and develop our people. The national qualifications for our teams is part of our commitment to industry-leading standards for customers, will increase innovation and it’s all part of our continuous business improvement.

“We’re continuing to make enhancements to our processes and systems this year and this will continue in 2022 too.”

The additional training programme is the latest for Water Plus under its investing in people priority, providing the skills and tools to deliver for its customers and the business. The Institute of Customer Service is the independent professional membership body for customer service which helps improve business performance through insight, benchmarking, accreditation and training.

Helpful tips and information for organisations of all sizes

• There’s a number of benefits of organisations of all sizes checking their meter reading regularly throughout a year, if it’s safe to access, and site checks each month. You may already be noting them each month for budgeting. Read more on how this can help you – and reduce water risks that could cause interruptions for how you work.
   

• As part of our ongoing work to support organisations, we’ve got important tips on reducing water risks and limiting additional costs on this page - along with information on payment plan options and extra help.
   

Some recent customer comments on working with Water Plus

• Our great partnership with Water Plus and close work together in recent years, meant we were happy to move all our sites to them in England and Scotland. We’ve renewed with them again in 2021.”

Kirsten Denton, Group Procurement Catgeory Manager, Biffa.


 

• “We’ve had exceptional service and great communication
  with Fran at Water Plus about our account. She got in touch and looked at our meter readings to help us update our account information. Brilliant work and great assistance!
  Fran’s strong knowledge around processes and experience of the water industry was a great help to us. Five out of Five customer service stars for Fran!”
  
  Mr & Mrs Locker, September 2021.

Additional notes

* Customer teams at Water Plus will receive a Nationally Recognised Qualification in Customer Service - Endorsed by the National Institute of Customer Service. 

* The number of meter reads submitted by customers online increased in 2021.