Technology platform Kraken and Portsmouth Water have announced the launch of The Water Lab to improve customer experience across the utilities industry.
The Water Lab will bring together customers, water industry experts, regulators, and technology innovators to work together to develop and test new technology and bring the utility industry to a new standard.
The founding companies have already worked together to bring the Kraken platform’s best in-class customer service and efficiency to the water industry for the first time. The Kraken platform already manages almost half of all UK energy accounts on behalf of its licensees. It will soon manage Portsmouth Water’s 324,000 customers and will use The Water Lab to share similar benefits with even more utilities.
Consumer Council for Water (CCW), who represent the voice of water service consumers, has already expressed its support for the initiative.
Catherine Jones, Head of Customer Engagement at CCW, said:
“We’re excited to see what new ideas emerge from the Water Lab that can help people make the link between their water and energy use and also support the one in four households who report that they struggle to pay their water bill. Collaboration is key to improving the water sector for customers, so we’re delighted to see such a broad spectrum of people and organisations involved in the lab.”
The goal of The Water Lab is to find viable initiatives that can be implemented to deliver new benefits for utility customers and promote new ways of working. It will initially focus on four key areas:
- Providing customers with a clearer view of their combined utility costs in the home to make utilities more affordable for all.
- Delivering a first-class customer experience by finding innovative and technical solutions to current industry challenges.
- Developing new ways to use technology that will improve efficiencies in the utility industry and bring down bills for all.
- Finding new ways to reduce water and energy consumption to protect the environment.
Deepak Ravindran, CEO of Kraken Utilities, said:
“Kraken prides itself on rapid experimentation in how our platform can help utilities give customers better service and bring down their bills. We are excited to launch The Water Lab along with Portsmouth Water, to systematically test ideas and bring innovative propositions for more customers, communities and climate no matter what services they use and who their providers are.”
Bob Taylor, Chief Executive Officer for Portsmouth Water, said:
“We are excited to launch The Water Lab alongside our trusted partner Kraken Technologies. This is a unique opportunity to bring together the best minds in the industry to find new ways to improve the way we deliver water and energy services. The Water Lab is a critical step in our journey to continuing to deliver our commitment to be a customer-centric company and industry leading organisation”.
