As Australia’s largest water and wastewater service provider, Sydney Water have been providing safe, refreshing drinking water to more than 5 million people across Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra for over 130 years. Their network alone spans 12,700 square kilometres and services for more than 1.9 million properties. This is testament to their ability and passion to deliver a world-class service and continue to put customers at the forefront of everything they do.
In 2011, Sydney Water recognised that their 30-year-old billing system was at major risk of catastrophic failure, which could result in severe impacts to their customers. Despite a potential crisis brewing, Sydney Water were determined to turn the catastrophe into a catalyst for change by embarking on once-in-a-generation program to replace the system.
Against the many challenges that can arise by replacing a core billing and customer system, such as cost and schedule overruns, the three-year $200m Customer Experience Program was successfully executed and completed in 2019, on time and on budget.
As part of our mission to help NSW government make better ICT investment decisions and achieve the best program delivery outcomes, NSW ICT Assurance partnered with the world-class providers to write a case study on their successful Customer Experience Program, shedding light on the key lessons that can be taken from the program.
These key lessons include:
- Prioritising quality over schedule
- Limiting the customisation of the core SAP modules
- Creating a ‘one team’ culture
- Promoting transparent, open, frequent communication
- Providing engaged and active governance at all levels in the organisation
Having exceeded internal and external stakeholder expectations, the case study has already been cited by the Queensland Auditor-General in a recent report presented to Queensland Parliament.
We hope these insights can help Senior Executives, Sponsors, and programs across government successfully achieve their goals as they embark on future ICT and business transformation projects.
If you would like to learn more about how this case study can benefit your team, contact Michelle Dal Pozzo, Director, ICT Assurance at Michelle.DalPozzo@customerservice.nsw.gov.au