Águas e Energia do Porto: A New Approach to the Water Contract
Service Design
With Águas e Energia do Porto
Challenge
Understand the journey of becoming a new client of Águas e Energia do Porto, with a focus on the moment of contract and installation, identifying opportunities for improvement along the process.
Outcome
Recommendations and quick wins, guidelines, and mid-fi prototypes addressing pain points identified during the analysis of the new contract, aiming to enhance benefits for both employees and clients.
context
A customer’s first contact with Águas e Energia do Porto occurs when they begin the process for a new contract. When the customer registers a connection request with Águas e Energia do Porto, they go through 3 main moments — a first administrative moment, a moment of connection and meter activation, and a final moment when they receive the 1st invoice.
During the 2nd moment, it is necessary to involve several internal departments and external intermediaries, and sometimes several pain points arise for the client, as well as an internal loss for Águas e Energia do Porto (financial, resources, image). Also, during the invoicing phase (3rd moment), bureaucratic delays and difficulty in understanding the invoice by the customer may arise.
Furthermore, the service process through different channels is not standardised, and the customer sometimes has a different experience.
our role
To look at the new contract process systemically, mapping not only the different participants and the experience globally but also raising the points of tension and recommendations in detail.
01
Diagnosis of the process of concluding a new contract and the customer’s experience with the identification of critical points in the execution of a new contract
02
Identification and implementation of improvements to the procedures associated with the new contract that make the process simpler and more efficient
03
Give guidelines and recommendations to increase customer satisfaction with improvements made to the new contract process
GOAL
Identify processes and routines with optimising potential
One of the project’s goals was to serve as an external vision to identify which processes could be transformed to create more optimal results in line with the project objectives.
Understand the Hidden System
Following one of the differentiating approaches in this project, we will use systems mapping to identify opportunities to bring interconnections that often become invisible in everyday processes to the surface and offer important clues for innovation processes.
Develop the foundations for a new approach
From all the research, we created a list of changes and improvements, and we will prioritise “quick wins” to make the service much more efficient in the future.
This project has been a significant step towards creating a more equitable and efficient public service, and it has opened up possibilities for future projects that can lead to more profound and long-lasting change.
RESEARCH
We set up a multidisciplinary team to fully diagnose the complexity of the Águas e Energia do Porto system and to find its pain points for both the customer and the workers.
We listened to everyone. We listed clients while they were waiting to be attended to and then, right after, asked questions about their journey and their opinion on Águas e Energia do Porto.
We created a short online questionnaire for face-to-face service. The front office employee would offer the customer, who requested a new contract, a tablet to answer quick questions about their satisfaction with the process.
The in-depth interviews with customers and employees helped us understand the target’s reality, pains, barriers and needs. With these interviews, we understood the main pains and needs.
We saw the employees’ daily lives in the back office, front office, and field, and we also understood the system’s complexity and why they needed our help.
Early on, we realised that Águas e Energia do Porto’s digital platforms had issues — a lot of them. We developed an extensive UX evaluation to map and prioritise them.
RESULTS
- A clear service blueprint of the new contract journey;
- The results of a deep diagnosis of the journey, with over 40 problems identified;
- A new systemic approach based on two axes of positioning and vision that define a path towards a human, unblocked and holistic service;
- A list of recommendations, evaluated by urgency, effort of implementation, and strategic axis (Systemic Vision & Proactive Positioning);
- Two prototypes, designed based on all the work done, tested and iterated according to all the feedback given by operators, technicians, customers, and plumbers.
This project has enabled us to understand that transformation in the public sector can start with projects like this, but can have a much more systemic impact. It has shown us the fundamental importance of access to water and how the blockages to it make visible the structures of injustice in society and the intersectionality of it. Moreover, this project has highlighted how organisational transformation is essential in finding a path forward towards a more human, unblocked, and holistic service. This project has been a significant step towards creating a more equitable and efficient public service, and it has opened up possibilities for future projects that can lead to more profound and long-lasting change.
POST-PROJECT IMPACT
Since the conclusion of the project, the Águas e Energia do Porto team has promptly initiated the implementation of a significant portion of our recommendations. Through the definition of a strategic roadmap, they have already begun executing 15 key recommendations, while simultaneously incorporating aspects of the prototypes developed during the project.
In addition to the implementation of concrete actions, this project has catalyzed a shift in mindset and working methodologies within the organization. We’ve witnessed firsthand the transformative impact of systemic, research-based approaches, inspiring a commitment within the organization to integrate these methodologies into their own practices.
This dedication ensures the creation of sustainable and positive change, fostering a culture of innovation and improvement that permeates from within to outwardly benefit the organisation and ultimately Porto’s city and citizens.
