Yarra Valley Water: Enabling CX Transformation in a Public Service

 
 

  • Challenge: Build a CX function within a complex government organisation. Hire five specialist roles in the lead-up to Christmas in a talent-short market with tight budgets and even tighter timeframes. 

  • Action: We engaged in and led a deep discovery process with the hiring team. This allowed us to clearly define the working environment, project context, and role specifics.

  • Result: All five roles were successfully hired ahead of time. Continued our relationship to grow further and evolve the CX team. Had lots of fun. 

 
 
 

Challenge

Yarra Valley Water is Victoria's largest water utility provider, servicing 30% of the state's population. It was embarking on an ambitious CX transformation to reimagine how it serves customers through digitisation. As a government organisation with limited public understanding of its operations, YVW needed help to attract specialist talent. The CX roles had been open for several months and were now time-critical.Soon after, Bang the Table (BTT) was purchased by Granicus, a global GovTech vendor in the US. Granicus also acquired OpenCities, another AU GovTech, and immediately merged the local operations of BTT and OpenCities.

Action

We quickly identified the need to clearly articulate the essential nature of YVW service. We used this as a foundation for our narrative about the CX function and the impactful work they would deliver. We created briefing documents, redesigned the position descriptions and ran a targeted recruitment campaign to develop and nurture interest in our target talent communities. 

Results

Five roles were hired in six weeks: Service Designers, UX Designers, and a Content Manager. 

  • This first round of recruitment ran from early December to mid-January and included the Christmas shutdown. 

  • 90%+ CV to interview ratio

The success of this project led to an ongoing relationship with YVW. We have since recruited several other positions, including Copywriters, Product Owners, and additional Service and UX Designers. 


Carolina Gaitan - Head of Customer Experience

 
Partner, Search, CurateMatt Chambers