Thank you to everyone who joined us at the WSAA Stream, workshops and presentations during Ozwater'16. Read on for our recap of the event.
The WSAA Stream
The WSAA Stream at Ozwater this year was 'customer focused' with sessions on customer focused regulation and an exploration of the customer experience.
Customer focussed regulation may sound like a dry topic but after listening to Kerry Rowlands, General Manager, Customer & Community Relations at SA Water and water regulators, Ron Ben David, Chair Essential Services Commission and Adam Wilson CEO Essential Services Commission of South Australia, it was clear the way forward for utilities is to make customers an integral part of the regulatory process. Customer-centric approaches will be regarded by regulators as core business for utilities.
The afternoon session on understanding and measuring the customer experience was also well received with around 100 people in the room to hear leading edge examples on customer experience from around Australia and US. Kerry Bodine shared the American Water experience on customer journey mapping. Davina McCormick from Queensland Urban Utilities (QUU) talked about the importance of being proactive with customers, and demonstrated how QUU is utilising data from customers to improve processes. From outside the industry, Neil Harrison, formerly of iiNet, shared examples of how engaging with staff leads to improvements in customer experience. Catherine Ferrari from Water Corporation closed the session by sharing the unique Perth story and the balancing act to build trust through transparency with the customers.
Many members of the WSAA Customer and Industry Leadership Committee and Customer and Community Network were in attendance and have taken on some of the outcomes to progress in the WSAA program.
Delivering Outcomes through Collaborative Research
WSAA together with the Smart Water Fund, Water Research Australia, and Alluvium Consulting, ran a workshop to share lessons learnt from collaborative research, and to identify how the process can be improved to better embed knowledge transfer.
Led by Damien Connell from the Smart Water Fund to set the scene of collaborative research and knowledge transfer, our panel had the following key insights:
- The industry faces the significant challenge of a broadening field of research issues and decreasing funds and research organisations - Lisa Ehrenfried, WSAA
- There is a need for a business imperative to initiate research activities - Gareth Roeszler, WaterRA
- Knowledge transfer is probably one of the most important aspects of collaborative research - Euan Hind, WaterRA
- Rob Catchlove, Alluvium Consulting, complemented these points with insights from a review of Government funded research projects.
A lively discussion was held and the outcomes, including insights on collaborative research, impact, funding and research communication, will be summarised in a paper available to members.
Workshops
WSAA was also involved in a number of workshops. Bob Humphries delivered an overview of WSAA’s Climate Change Adaptation Guidelines, a guide to assist utilities through the key steps of adapting to climate change, and a first for the water industry. John Ryan, Yarra Valley Water and project lead, shared insights from WSAA's National guideline for managing food, fats, oils and grease.
Greg Ryan, Manager, Utility Excellence at WSAA joined speakers from Monash University, Sydney Water, City West Water and South East Water to discuss the findings from the Advanced Condition Assessment and Pipe Failure Prediction Project and the use of smart data analytics, including evidence based modelling, to benefit the water industry and customers.
2 Jun 2016
