
South Staffs Water and its partner, Echo Managed Services, have claimed the coveted ‘Community Initiative of the Year’ award at the 2019 Utility Week Awards.
The accolade was awarded for The South Staffs Water Community Hub - an accessible space, opened on Wednesbury high street in Staffordshire, designed to create a trusted, friendly and accessible location for South Staffs Water’s customers to interact with the company and other local organisations and charities.
South Staffs Water had noted a growing shortage of easily accessible community services, and decided to open the space to support one of its most socially deprived areas.
“We're so pleased to win this award. We originally set up our community hub as an easy and informal way for local people to talk to us and to find out more about their water. It’s developed into so much more, with community groups using the hub almost every day. This award recognises all the work our hub team puts in to ensure that local people get the support they need and access to so much more. Thank you to our partners and customers who make it a success."
Rachael Merrell, Head of Retail Customer Services at South Staffs Water
The hub is the first of its kind in the water sector, and provides a space that creates genuine social value for the local community. It not only offers water bill support but creates a much-needed community space to bring local organisations together to offer rounded support to local people.
The ‘Community Initiative of the Year’ award recognises a scheme, which makes a significant contribution to communities, and benefits the recipients far more than the company. The Utility Week Awards are the gold standard of achievement for water and energy companies, rewarding and celebrating outstanding performance and innovation.
“We are proud to have supported South Staffs Water with this important initiative, which is making a real difference to the lives of local people. Being involved in this project has been really rewarding for our contact centre teams, helping them better understand the difficulties some South Staffs Water customers face in their daily lives and using this to further improve the service we deliver. It’s also been a fantastic opportunity for us to get behind fundraising and donation activities and give something back to our local community.”
Monica Mackintosh, Managing Director at Echo Managed Services
The Utility Week awards ceremony took place on 9 December 2019, in London.
Suggested Further Reading
Knowledge Centre: News
Echo holds fundraising day to raise money for Acorns Children’s Hospice
More in the Knowledge centre
More News
Water companies’ apps way off expectations of Gen Z digital natives
Echo's latest research highlights that whilst 36% of Generation Z consumers prefer to use an app to manage their essential…
Aptumo expands into Australia following second contract win
Echo announces new Australian business, Aptumo Pty Ltd, following growing interest in the company's innovative Salesforce-native water billing software...
Echo Announces Aptumo on Salesforce AppExchange, the World's Leading Enterprise Cloud Marketplace
Echo’s customers can now benefit from a new era of water billing software...
Aptumo awarded development excellence accolade
- award given in recognition of a 34% higher rate of best practice compliance in development than other ISVs, meaning…
More Customer Contact & Engagement
Water companies’ apps way off expectations of Gen Z digital natives
Echo's latest research highlights that whilst 36% of Generation Z consumers prefer to use an app to manage their essential…
Water companies must build a stronger, more memorable and relevant brand to appeal to their latest generation of customers
New research reveals that Generation Z has low brand awareness when it comes to who supplies the water in their…
Introducing Echo's 2020 CCMA UK National Contact Centre Award Finalists
Two Echo Managed Services employees have been named as finalists in the 2020 CCMA UK National Contact Centre Awards...
West Midlands community hub scoops Customer Satisfaction Innovation award
Echo & South Staffs Water win customer satisfaction award from the Institute of Customer Service.