Anglian Water flushes away manual processes

Anglian Water flushes away manual processes


Company using technology to replace 3,500 manual HR and payroll records

Anglian Water has flushed away some 3,500 manual HR and payroll records after implementing a document storage and archival solution from Easy Software.

The system went live earlier this month and the company is hoping to extend its use to other departments as part of a wider document management programme.

Richard Norton, Anglian’s HR services manager, said: ‘We’ve had a very manual system in place for a number of years. We had to employ people to keep files up to date, and we were generating hundreds of pieces of paper every month. In addition, storing around 3,500 paper files was taking up a considerable amount of room.’

He says the previous system was also extremely vulnerable to disaster.

‘We had no backup so if there was a fire or flood we would have lost all those records,’ Norton said.

With the new system, all the records have been scanned in and indexed. They are stored remotely and can be searched and accessed securely via a web-based interface.

Anglian selected Easy following a comprehensive evaluation of products on the market.

‘We were impressed with their presentation and found the product very easy and intuitive to use. Since selecting Easy, we’ve also been impressed with the company’s customer service,’ said Norton.

Anglian expects the system to generate considerable time and cost savings.

‘We believe it will pay for itself within 12 months,’ said Norton.

The utility is now looking to extend use of the system to other departments.

‘The rest of the business is also looking at ways of improving its document storage. HR has gone through a major restructuring exercise and we have effectively been a guinea pig for the use of this system. We have worked closely with our IS department and now other parts of the business are showing interest. In terms of document storage, there are a lot of benefits to having the same system throughout.’

However, Norton stressed the system would only form part of Anglian’s wider document management strategy, which is still being drawn up.