Qodea, Europe’s largest dedicated Google Cloud digital transformation partner, has announced that it has been selected by South East Water (SEW) to support its digital change programme.
By modernising with Google’s latest AI-powered technologies – such as Gemini – the aim is to revolutionise SEW’s customer and employee experience, enhancing collaboration and driving a culture of innovation.
SEW provides drinking water to over 2.3 million customers throughout Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. As part of its ambitious five-year digital transformation strategy, the organisation identified technology modernisation as a cornerstone for success. SEW reviewed several providers in the market, concluding that Google Workspace provided the best roadmap to support true change and modernisation. Having worked with Qodea previously on its data strategy and customer care application, SEW said it trusted the team and knew Qodea was the right partner to see through the process.
“Water is a 24/7 service, and risk management is crucial. While our industry has traditionally been slower to adopt new technology, we want to change that – and Workspace is the catalyst for that change,” comments Richard Bannister, Head of IT for South East Water. “Other technologies felt more like upgrades, rather than true transformation. When Qodea introduced us to Google Workspace, I was genuinely excited. The core product stack is sleek and efficient, and the stream of planned innovation is impressive. The AI capabilities enabled by Gemini integration are a real game changer, we’re only just starting to roll these out but tools like NotebookLM and Agentspace will help unlock our data and provide much more insight to our people”
SEW works with a diverse range of stakeholders – including field operatives, consultants, and customer care teams – making real-time collaboration essential. However, a mix of disconnected tools adopted during the pandemic limited its efficiency. With evolving post-pandemic working patterns driving an increase in demand for the service, SEW needed a centralised, modern solution.
During a no-code hackathon event with Qodea, SEW rapidly identified several opportunities to enhance communication through new applications. One key area was digitising manual processes around mobilising our teams around exceptional events, which had previously relied on scattered spreadsheets, texts, and chats. Using Google Chromebooks and AppSheet, SEW is creating a centralised source of truth that all stakeholders can access securely. This not only simplifies operations for staff, but also strengthens confidence in data security and reliability.
“Building apps in AppSheet has been a revelation. In just one day, we developed three apps that were nearly ready to launch,” Bannister continues. “Having the capacity to streamline communication will have a huge impact. For example, our duty of care to customers – especially those on the Priority Services Register (PSR) – depends on real-time information. Whether we need to update residents about a burst pipe, ensure bottled water deliveries for vulnerable individuals, up-to-date data is essential.”
“Partnering with SEW to redefine industry standards for digital efficiency and customer service is very exciting,” comments Steve Franks, Head of Digital Workplace at Qodea. “The Google suite of workplace technologies is already powering SEW’s robust roadmap for modernisation, with Gemini and Agentspace providing new opportunities for the future of water management.
“The great thing about Google and Qodea is that they are good at being ‘business forward’ – they understand our unique problems, and are invested in helping us succeed,” Bannister concludes. “Qodea partnered with our team to build the business case and showed us where there might be compromises, as well as showing us the potential benefits. They’re very supportive, know their stuff, and came in with a full change programme – with everything from training and internal communications, as well as the Workspace implementation itself.”
