TECHNOLOGY of scale to improve our efficiency . We have gone beyond using services like Amazon and Google for compute power and storage and use cloud-platforms for one of our most critical applications – supporting the voice channel for our customer contact centre .”
Collaborative working Wilkins also made the decision to put Google Apps inside First Utility , firstly because as CIO , he didn ’ t want to manage the email infrastructure . He explains : “ In the same way I don ’ t want to manage the data centre or air conditioning or power supplies , as those things don ’ t differentiate us and there are experts out there already . Amazon is a great example : it knows more about how to do efficient data centre management than I ever will . And Google knows more about email and delivering a web-scale infrastructure for collaboration .”
And Wilkins has witnessed a real transformation thanks to Google Apps , with staff working together , real-time on shared documents , making use of Google Hangouts and even creating live broadcasts – Hangouts on Air – to run “ townhalls ” that update the business community on new innovations in data . It has also freed the company from what Wilkins calls ‘ attachment hell ’, which is an added bonus .
The issue of scale comes up once again when the subject turns to the future of First Utility which , Wilkins says , includes the continual optimisation of its business model . “ We have quite a large percentage of our resources analysing the data that comes out of our contact centre and our business process to see where the squeaky wheels are and see how we can automate better . To make us a more efficient machine .” The Business Technology Group will continue to focus on product development , particularly around mobile and My Energy , looking at what it can offer to First Utility ’ s growing number of customers .
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