South West Water has signed an IT outsourcing deal this week to help improve its customer-care and billing services.

Under the terms of the ten-year-agreement Accenture will manage the water firm's back-office operations.

Accenture will help South West Water enhance its technology, business processes and workforce performance levels in order to improve service levels for the firm's Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset-based customers.

Keith Mueller, managing director of Accenture Utilities BPO Services, said: "Utilities…are taking the initiative to modernise, innovate and seek the most efficient ways to deliver outstanding services.

"We will be creating a UK showcase of the processes, technology and performance models we have developed and refined over the years with utility companies around the."

A transition phase will begin to take effect over the next ten years to prepare South West Water's front and back-office customer contact activities for the contract, which will start on April 1st.

South West Water issues over two million bills and receives around 1.3 million operational and billing telephone calls per year as well as around 200,000 written billing contacts.

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