Until recently, most if not all water companies described their aspirations in terms of adopting innovation as wanting to be “leaders of the following pack”.
It is difficult to determine exactly when that attitude started to change, or what drove it, but change it has, with many water companies now saying that they wish to lead and win the race – and realise the advantages and benefits of innovation as soon as possible.
When British Water started to engage its members on innovation, a common theme soon became apparent: that suppliers were often largely unaware of what their customers needed or wanted. Innovative products and processes tended to be developed in order to maintain or gain competitive advantage over other suppliers rather than to satisfy customer needs.
When this was put to the water companies, there was a widespread admission that they often did not know exactly what suppliers had, or could have, to offer. There was a clear misalignment in the understanding of customer needs and supplier capabilities that seriously threatened to undermine the sector’s ability to satisfy its new-found appetite for innovation.
British Water set out to address this situation, and quickly identified the lack of communication between clients and suppliers as a major barrier to appropriate innovation.
To counter this, and from various discussions with British Water members and their customers, the idea of an Innovation Exchange was born: a one-day event to focus on innovation and exchange clients’ needs with suppliers’ capabilities. There were several false starts in negotiations with a number of water companies but in December 2011 the first event took place with Yorkshire Water in Leeds.
The first Innovation Exchange set the benchmark for future events, with 38 supply chain companies taking part in four workshops. The latest Innovation Exchange, run alongside Utility Week Live at the NEC, was the 19th in a hugely successful series that has seen 660 presentations in 68 workshops given by 196 different supply chain companies to 20 different client organisations.
The latest Innovation Exchange also continued the trend of breaking new ground, with a client audience drawn from three Thames Water Alliances (see page 24 for a full report on the event). Dates for the next four events are already in the diary and there are plans to extend the programme to other sectors facing water-related challenges.
The Innovation Exchanges so far have achieved their goal of facilitating communication of needs and capabilities between clients and suppliers. They have also succeeded in inspiring new, more productive, collaboration between suppliers and between suppliers and clients.
There is also a new kid on the block, although perhaps more of an infant. BWinnovate is British Water’s innovation search engine, designed to allow members to showcase their innovative products, processes and methodologies, and to allow a worldwide audience to find them. For more details, visit: www.bwinnovate.co.uk
Paul Mullord, UK director, British Water