The winner of the Customer Experience Team of the Year at the Ashton Media Customer Experience Awards has been announced.
Yarra Valley Water took the win, recognised for its ‘outside in’ approach to identifying opportunities across the customer journey and delivering innovative solutions to address customers’ needs.
Yarra Valley Water said this was all made possible through the creation of the Customer Experience Practice back in 2018.
The Customer Experience Practice works to understand customer needs, pain-points and expectations first and then how the broader business can address these, ensuring that ongoing improvement is maintained.
Yarra Valley Water Managing Director, Pat McCafferty, said that the organisation was honoured to be recognised at the awards.
“We’re incredibly thrilled to receive this award and even prouder that we have an ongoing system of continuous improvement that is customer-centric,” Mr McCafferty said.
“Our approach to improving customer experience is based on rigorous research, analysis and design to deliver a seamless experience for our customers.”
The Ashton Media Customer Experience Awards are one of Australia and New Zealand’s ultimate accolades in customer experience, and benchmark excellence and innovation within the region.
Yarra Valley Water Divisional Manager of Customer Experience, Dr Anna Lorenzetto, said she is very proud that the Customer Experience Practice’s hard work is paying off.
“The team is passionate about creating the best experiences possible for our customers, and we are so proud that Yarra Valley Water has been recognised for this by its CX peers,” Dr Lorenzetto said.
Snap, Send Solve initiative
One of Yarra Valley Water’s customer experience initiatives includes the partnership with Snap, Send, Solve, which allows more customers to use their smartphone to report any leaks, bursts or spills.
The app enables Yarra Valley Water’s Service Response team and other service providers like Melbourne Water, or councils, to see the problem first-hand and respond accordingly.
Yarra Valley Water General Manager of Distribution Services, Dona Tantirimudalige, said the new partnership helps customers to get in touch at any time during business hours to report their fault.
“Officially partnering with Snap, Send, Solve makes it easier for people to let us know quickly what’s happening in their local area. Receiving reliable, visual information allows us to respond and solve the problem,” Ms Tantirimudalige said.
The service is expected to prove particularly useful as the weather in Melbourne becomes warmer, when issues across the water network often increase.
Ms Tantirimudalige said that Snap, Send, Solve is also advantageous in helping save water due to leaks being reported earlier.
“If our customers find it easy to report even the smallest of issues and make good habits of doing so, over time we will collectively save more water which is so important,” Ms Tantirimudalige said.
Yarra Valley Water takes thousands of calls each year reporting emergencies and infrastructure issues across its vast network that serves over two million Victorians.
In addition to using Snap, Send, Solve, customers can ring the faults line on 13 27 62 or report faults via the website at www.yvw.com.au/reportfault.
Yarra Valley Water customers can use Snap, Send, Solve by following these instructions:
- Download the app and sign up
- Snap: Take a photo of the incident: Remember to make sure you are in a safe spot and don’t “snap” if doing so puts you in harm’s way (safety first)
- Send: The location and additional details are sent directly to Yarra Valley Water or other service providers or councils if the fault is theirs to fix. Make sure to confirm your location and select the right incident type
- Solve: The report will be reviewed and prioritised for action! Authorities have different ways of responding to reports and may contact you for further details to help fix the fault
