Customer-centric and flexible systems vital to Open Water success says leading software company

13th June 2017: Leading utilities software company, Gentrack says water providers operating in the new Open Water market should be equipped with flexible and resilient software to streamline and enhance the customer experience.

Its latest water and sewerage customer in the UK, NWG Business, has reported a positive start in the new Open Water market after adopting Gentrack’s Velocity software to support customer signup, billing and market interaction.

As the business retail arm of the Northumbrian Water Group, NWG Business required a new billing and customer management system after it was identified that legacy systems were unable to support the business’ needs around market compliance and competition.

Lucy Darch, Managing Director at NWG Business said it was essential to not only to have an accurate billing and CRM solution, but also access to the relevant knowledge and expertise of a partner that has operated in a competitive marketplace.

She said: “Gentrack’s Velocity system and specifically, its market messaging solution, has enabled us to streamline our operations, removing the need for third party solutions for Open Water market compliance.  Technically speaking, the solution automates the flow of transactions between Velocity and the English and Scottish central market operating systems, removing the need for manual user intervention.”

Customer on-boarding with ease

With the application of Velocity, NWG Business has adopted a simplified and highly automated on-boarding process which communicates timely updates to customers in the switching process and transaction data to the market. The status of a customer’s individual journey is highlighted to the advisor automatically if they wish for a progress update.

Lucy added: “Customers have grown to rightly expect a high standard of service, so it was crucial that we delivered on that.  Having Gentrack’s knowledge of competitive markets and the requirements for successful market entry has been vital to the overall success of our transition into the Open Water market, as has the dedication of our incredible technical and service teams here at NWG Business.”

David Langford, Account Director at Gentrack said: “It has been a pleasure working with the team at NWG Business. As well as implementing our Velocity software, we were invited to provide ongoing support and to share our knowledge as part of an engaging and powerful partnership with NWG Business. We are delighted with their positive start in the competitive water market.”

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