SAP is key to Thames Water efficiency drive

New software system to aid utility firm's business process restructure

Utility firm Thames Water is beginning a business transformation project to improve the quality of its information and boost efficiency.

The firm, which handles water supplies and sewage removal for three million households in the London area, is installing SAP software to support the changes.
John Connolly, divisional chief information officer at Thames Water, says the firm wants to be more effective and efficient.

‘We struggled to put our hands on the right information at the right time, at almost any key area in the organisation. For example, guys in the field would have to go out to a call twice because they didn’t have quite the right information and needed to return to base to get it,’ he said.

‘We’re hoping that customers will see a model of operational excellence. We want to become a genuine utility, something that can be totally forgotten about, because it is always there, always reliable, at a reasonable price.’

The SAP system will be used by the company’s 8,100 staff to create new business processes for core functions such as asset management and service delivery.

In the first phase of the transformation programme Thames Water will install an enterprise resource planning system to cover areas such as finance, procurement, planning and control.

The second element of the programme involves the creation of a new business intelligence system, which is based on SAP’s NetWeaver tool.

Connolly says Thames Water wants to take advantage of new technology but will not take risks.

‘When it comes to technology, our position is as a fast follower, not leading edge. We picked mySAP 2004 rather than 2005 because we felt it was too new and not yet well proven,’ he said.