Why utilities companies should be innovating

Power and utility companies, just like any other organisation, have to quickly innovate in the current business environment.

A constant need to adapt to technological innovations as well as responding to customer’s needs means that everyone in an organisation needs to pitch in, when it comes to coming up with ideas that will make a real difference.

To achieve this, a real cultural shift needs to happen. Innovation has to be thought of as something that’s part of everyone’s job description, not just of the innovation department.

Our client Anglian Water has identified this need and is already taking steps in this direction. By adopting an idea management platform, accessible by anyone in the company, the message is clear: Anglian Water wants to hear from their employees and include them in the innovation discussion.

Recently Steve Kaye, Head of Innovation at Anglian Water spoke at one of our Innovation Breakfast Briefings and told us the story so far:

While there is still work to be done, it has been already proven that crowdsourcing has been a very useful approach for Anglian Water. Because of this, Anglian Water not only has a more engaged workforce but has also obtained a few game changing ideas, that will help them overcome challenges and save money in the long run.

It would be great to see more utility companies taking this approach, employees will be more engaged and that will make the end customer happier, as their service improves.