Annual Report and Accounts 2010

From AMP4 to AMP5

By the end of AMP4 nearly 60% of our employees had been introduced to tools and techniques that help them continuously improve their performance through the SBF way of working. Our employees have shown tremendous commitment in improving our company by supporting the programme, which we will roll out to the rest of the business over the next two years.

During the latter part of AMP4 we invested in technology and workplace improvements that will help us meet the efficiency savings of AMP5 and aid our business into the future:

• we aligned our technology strategy to our KSIs, allowing us to measure how our IT investments are helping us improve our business and services;
• the first release of our £70 million SAP implementation program went ahead without any significant disruption to our operations, improving our back office operations and reducing costs. Release 2 is now in development and is planned to go live in summer 2010, improving operating systems for our operational workforce and asset management teams;
• following consultations with employees over the move to the Severn Trent Centre in Coventry we have developed support systems, such as assisted travel costs, to ease the transition and aid green travel plans;
• we have embarked on a £20 million transformation of the technology our people use to do their day to day work. This includes a new, virtual desktop and a secure system that allows our employees to adopt mobile working practices, such as desk sharing and access to data and systems from wherever they need to; and
• through our Emerging Talent programme we are identifying and developing future leaders. We also plan succession for our executive team and management population.

One of the consequences of introducing new systems and improving our performance is that we are able to operate more efficiently at a higher standard with fewer people. Unfortunately, that has led to the loss of around 275 posts in our central functions. All of these will be through voluntary redundancy and we will ensure everyone affected is treated with care and respect.