While finding the right utility provider(s) and managing utility costs and usage is undoubtedly an essential component of any successful business's operation, it is crucial that such processes do not unduly burden the minds of business leaders.
In the current economic climate, companies must be free to focus on achieving growth; SMEs, in particular, simply cannot afford to be weighed down by overly complex and ineffective systems of managing their utilities.
As such, commercial utility suppliers from all strands – electric, gas, telecoms, water, and waste – have a common responsibility to develop more cost-effective and efficient offerings for their customers; offerings that will require a consistent investment in forwardlooking, tech-driven innovations that push suppliers to adapt to the evolving desires of UK businesses.
Unfortunately, the B2B utility industry has often failed to effectively deploy cost-saving technology. This shortcoming provided Everflow with the competitive edge in 2015 to become the UK’s fastest-growing water supplier with its mission to use cutting-edge technology to simplify business processes of managing their water supply and usage.
Bringing technology to the forefront
Our innovative automation of administrative tasks such as downloading invoices, receiving account summaries and meter readings, along with providing clients with the tools to manage their water utilities more efficiently across multiple premises, allows us to offer a more cost-efficient, tech-enabled service and a more seamless means of controlling water bills.
Additionally, through the development of our water efficiency certification scheme, we have been able to provide clients with reports showing fully costed and personalised water efficiency recommendations, which includes calculations on how much water each client could save and the impact this will have on water bills and carbon efficiency.
While our passion for providing SMEs with an innovative and sustainability-focused utility offering started with water, our mission certainly does not end there. In February, we officially entered the commercial waste management market, bringing with us the same commitment to making business customers’ lives simpler and more sustainable.
Beyond offering a similar tech-enabled seamless customer experience, we can now also provide businesses with a sustainable waste management offering. We currently only use sustainable suppliers that avoid using landfills, instead offering to re-use and recycle waste for other purposes.
Broader utility offerings are also attractive to our network of utility brokers – who serve as the backbone of the industry tasked with helping businesses to secure the deal that best suits their budget and needs – by offering new ways of delivering better services to customer bases and diversifying their sources of commission.
The muti-utility future
As well as a desire to give businesses access to a waste provider with great services, savings, and a focus on sustainability, our move into this new frontier is also part of a wider commitment to a multi-utility future which will deliver significant efficiencies to the management of commercial utilities.
Our customer research has shown an express desire to consolidate utilities under one supplier if it is proven more convenient and delivers discounted costs. While one might assume SMEs to be entirely cost-driven, both factors were of equal importance; a sign that the desire for convenience, which has pervaded all aspects of our personal lives, is also present in everyday commercial tasks.
Previously the technology has not been there for a multi-utility service provider to enter the B2B space; however, it is clear that businesses currently hit by rising costs are keen to secure savings and reduce inefficiency wherever possible. A one-stop-shop for utilities that offers a smooth, tech-enabled experience presents the most attractive way forward for many of these businesses.
Innovative developments such as this are necessary if the wider utilities industry is going to step up to support businesses and households and offer cost and time-saving measures that will help many to weather the storm ahead.
