Monday 4 April 2022: Smartphone application

1. What are the main activities you do on the Affinity Water site?​
   • Is there anything you find difficult/frustrating about the Affinity Water website?​
2. Which device (mobile, tablet, laptop or desktop computer) do you typically use to access the Affinity Water website and why?​
3. Have you ever tried to contact Affinity Water by WhatsApp? If so, how was this experience?​
• If Affinity Water added a live chat function to its website, would you prefer to use that, or WhatsApp? Please explain why.

I have very rarely looked at the Affinity Water website. When I have done so, it is more with a view to seeing what is there, and reading some of the information provided. I am very aware of the recent Water Community activity about the website, so it now feels as though I am looking at the website better-informed. My cognitive impression is that there is a lot of information available, and that it is fairly well organised. I did not realise that there are several YouTube-hosted short videos to watch. Neither did I know anything about SureStop. Why does Affinity Water not fit this device as standard?

My aesthetic impression (which is not what you are asking for) is that many of the webpages are too busy, have too many different print fonts, have different styles of heading, present information in more than one column, have hollow and filled boxes, along with images and videos: all of which I find somewhat distracting. My impression is that websites are increasingly being designed to look good on smartphones and tablet computers, regardless of their appearance on the screen of a desktop or laptop computer.

I access the internet using a desktop computer. The area where I live has almost non-existent cellphone coverage, never mind smartphone coverage. Consequently, I get exasperated when websites constantly exhort me to use smartphone applications (including WhatsApp). I am not able to do so.

Using my desktop computer, I often use Live Chat functions on websites, and I believed that I had done so with Affinity Water about eighteen months ago, but your question makes be think that my memory must be faulty. Provided that there is a warm-blooded person (as distinct from an AI robot) at the remote computer terminal, I have almost always found Live Chat to be useful.

1. What do you think about the idea of Affinity Water creating an app?​

• Are there any features/options that you think the Affinity app should include?​
• Beyond what is offered on the mobile website, is there anything else you’d like the app to be able to do?​
• If the app only offered the same features as the mobile website, are you likely to use the app?​

2. Do you currently use an app for a utility provider?​

• What can the Affinity Water app learn from this?​
• What features do you like/dislike? Please explain your answer.​

3. Affinity Water might be able to integrate the app with other smart technology providers and suppliers, such as Hive, or an energy partner to deliver additional benefits. How do you feel about this integration and the potential features outlined below? Would you be confident in the accuracy of these features?​

 For example, the app could be used to…​

• Monitor your own water usage ​
• Work alongside a water leak device to identify any potential leaks in your home​
• Help you keep track of any appointments​
• Allow you to track the progress of repairs/works

I did not know that this is where you were going. The information that you give depresses me no end. I live in a semi-remote village in the North Downs of Kent. There is no circumstance in which a cellphone company would be willing to spend £100,000 installing a cellphone mast for a couple of dozen houses. (I know because they have been asked.) Maybe my neighbours and my family live in the only place in the UK without smartphone coverage - from the way that utility companies go on about smartphone applications, it certainly seems like it. In 2020, 87% of adults in the UK had a smartphone. Even our 2G and 3G signal is very weak and extremely intermittent. I have retired from paid work, and spend my time at home all day. Were I to own a smartphone, it would be totally redundant. Good Energy are perpetually bombarding me with exhortations to record and report electricity meter readings using their smartphone application. It does not endear them to me. Is there a difference between Affinity Water's website and Affinity Water's mobile website (which you mention)? Money aside, is there any technical reason why the functions you mention should be exclusively for those people with smartphones? Of the additional functions you mention ... 1. Monitor your own water usage ​ 2. Work alongside a water leak device to identify any potential leaks in your home​ 3. Help you keep track of any appointments​ 4. Allow you to track the progress of repairs/works ... in the real world how frequently would the average Affinity Water customer actually use functions 2 through 4? On the other hand, if Affinity Water is committed to encouraging people to use less water, then function 1 would be valuable. For the record, as I have written before, I read the water meter on a daily basis and record the readings on a spreadsheet.