In July we launched phase one of AquAlerter, our brand-new SMS (text message) incident communications platform, which represents a step-change in the way we communicate with customers during an incident, enabling us to update them faster and more frequently. This system replaced an existing system which failed during the Freeze Thaw event in December 2022.
Designed and run in-house, AquAlerter is linked to our customer database and, during an incident, will send frequent and regular text message updates to all affected customers we hold mobile phone numbers for. Customers do not need to sign up to the service which has been designed to give confidence in the actions we are taking to fix problems as they arise.
This new system is linked to all our customer accounts, which update automatically when an SMS is sent. It also allows us to see how many customers are receiving the messages and how many have opened them.
Since launching phase one of AquAlerter in July, customer feedback has been universally positive.
“I wanted to thank you for the great communication during the Hurst Green / Robertsbridge / Flimwell burst water main. The text alerts, links and photos of the repair were really helpful and the estimated repair times were also good and accurate.”
In addition, in the Q3 C-Mex survey, five customers that had been contacted through AquAlerter rated their satisfaction with SEW as 10/10.
On average, text message updates are now being received by approximately 75 per cent of customers affected by an incident, and we are actively working to increase this figure by getting customers who have yet to provide us with their mobile phone number to do so. This is considerably higher than the reach achieved through our previous system.
Following on from the success of phase one, in March 2024 we launched phase two of AquAlerter, which replaces our previous ‘In Your Area’ system, enabling customers to register for information about incidents and repairs in specific postcodes, as well as being able to follow and share individual map items.
In addition to these new features, customers can now report any leaks found directly through the AquAlerter website, using geo-tagging which uses location services on a mobile device to pinpoint the location of the reported leak. Future phases, updates and enhancements are being planned for AquAlerter for 2024/25.
You can take a look at AquAlerter here.
