Ben Peters
Thames Water
Thames Water is the UK’s largest water and wastewater services company
Thames Water
Thames Water is the UK’s largest water and wastewater services company, and supplies 2.6 billion litres (570 million gallons) of drinking water per day, and treats 4.7 billion litres (1,000 million gallons) of wastewater per day. Thames Water’s 15 million customers comprise 27% of the UK population.
Summary
Thames Water | Reading | 2016 – Present
Digital Delivery Lead
Responsible for the management of the Digital Portfolio, and Delivery Leads including TW resources and 3rd parties to ensure optimised digital landscape. Development of capabilities including UX prototyping, agile development and dev-ops delivery. Microsoft Technologies – Azure Dev-Ops, GIT and Azure
Reponsibilities
- Responsible for the creation, development and implementation of solutions in the digital customer space, Sitecore, Microsoft.
- Delivery of the TW digital omnichannel customer portal (£3Mpa)
- Key role in the £1bn investment to transform customer experience.
- Introduction and advocate for the adoption of agile and devops development methodologies and its scaling within the business.
- Digital partners – Capgemini, Bain, Deloitte, PwC, IBM, Accenture Wipro and Equal Experts
Roles
Responsible for the creation, development and implementation of solutions in the digital customer space.
I am accountable for the continuous improvement of an autonomous hybrid team and process to deliver digital projects from conception to delivery maximising our digital capabilities. The process utilises UX prototyping, agile development and dev-ops delivery via Microsoft Technologies including VSTS and Azure cloud environment.
Responsibilities including definition of process, governance, communications and alignment across the wider operational model within Thames Digital. The team is internal supported by resources from Capgemini, Avanade and IBM
Responsible for the strategic implementation of innovative solutions to ensure the business is at the very forefront of the latest technologies and operational methods. I create and oversee the deployment of pioneering and engaging solutions though our established Microsoft based landscape that resonate with our clients, customers and employees. Utilising broad market insights, I lead business transformation conversations with the executive team on the potential commercial benefits of adopting the latest innovative technology. Working with Deloite Digital.
Responsibility for managing the Digital Portfolio, with various Delivery Leads reporting in including TW resources, 3rd parties and system integrators to ensure optimised digital landscape. The commercial management of suppliers including Bain, Deloitte, PwC, IBM, Accenture, Wipro and Bilfinger to create efficient, innovative solutions
Projects and Achievements
Internal Technical Capability Establishment, development and Management
Thames Water Online Customer Portal
Responsibilities to establish and build development capabilities in house with planned migration and business change from our normal partner reliance’s.
- Continued responsibility for the technical implementation of business product goals.
- 3 web instances
- 7 years continuous responsibility for the web presence
- Technical contractor recruitment, evaluation and management .
- Implementation of Agile working practices across Thames
- Team evaluation and growth planning
- Strong influence on Product direction and business development decisions.
- Support and coaching external tribes including Delivery Leads, Product Owners and Scrum Masters.
External Partner Management
Thames Water Online Customer Portal
Delivery lead responsibilities to develop the factory approach to agile delivery in the web and online services.
- Technical contractor recruitment, evaluation and management
- Management of partner development teams from Capgemini, Avanade and Equal Experts.
- Implementation of Agile working practices across Thames
- £4m yearly budget
- Decommissioning of existing services (£2m yearly saving) as part of a continuous program of work to upgrade and enhance the technical capabilities for Thames Water Online.
- Change and support issue management.
- Azure kubernetes platform with Docker and Sitecore CMS.
- Key man for the consultation and implementation of Agile across TW delivery functions.
BlueBytes is a critical platform for TW. Its the secure TW hub for all TW employees and contracted partner communications.
Its the access point for all the corporate news, individual business unit pages, employee HR information, knowledge base and process management including SAP.
Aligned to the technology choice between the core foundational platforms from Microsoft and Google the first Bluebytes replacement was built in conjunction with Appsbroker, Google partners and PWC consulting and was a google G-Suite cloud based solution with a target of moving all internal process applications being recreated in the cloud for access.
Technology Choices
BlueBytes - TW employee Portal
Bluebytes 1 – PwC/Appsbroker / Google (yr1)
- Agile project delivery manager
- TW business wide stakeholder management, coordinating requirements and backlog generation.
- Team coordination and third party management.
- Framework installation
- Development, test and release of specific business applications.
BlueBytes 2 – Tech Mahindra / Sharepoint
Implementation of intranet framework based on Microsoft SharePoint.
- Microsoft SharePoint implementation in alignment with business technology choices.
- Delivery lead
- Contractor management
- Product Owner responsibilities including Backlog management
- Roll out and cut over management. to the full 9000 UK based users.
- Retirement program of work to remove Bluebytes 1 Google based tech.
The Thames Water Digital Family
Changes, Challenges and
Thames has had a turbulent ride in digital recently. From signing the largest alliance recorded – £4bn for capital projects and £380m on IT with four partners; Accenture, Bilfinger, Deloitte and IBM – Thames is move forward and looking to now remove its reliance on partners and create its own capabilities within IT and product rather than project based agenda.
I have adjusted and accommodate all the changes and to continue to deliver benefit during my time at TW and become an established and trusted member of the TW digital team.
Other Projects
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Google and Microsoft
Responsible for the implementation of Google businesses services across the TW business. 10000 Google licences, aligning and integration with the existing ADID system the established infrastructure.
Replacement of the Google business licences with full Microsoft 365 E3, E5 & F3 services across TW.
Hydrate – HR app (yr2)
Standalone HR mobile and online application for 360 feedback and PDR support
Functional concept and definition
Full delivery responsibility
TW Hackathon
Ideas based hackathon for the water industry. Achieved business wide engagement from call centre to CEO.
Responsible for the concepts, materials and events on the day.
The event has been the only one of its type to date and deemed a great success.