NWC’s Digital Transformation Continues With Westmoreland Archives Launch

Another leg of the National Water Commission’s Digital Transformation journey has been achieved. This with the launch of phase 1 of the Westmoreland Digital archives last Friday at the NWC’s Savanna La Mar office.

The Westmoreland Digital Archive, phase 1, will provide a virtual platform through which NWC customer service representatives and managers can make remote requests to locate customer information records. Phase two will facilitate the viewing of customer records via the specialized web portal.

Speaking at the launch, Vice President of Enterprise Development & Performance Monitoring Glaister Cunningham proudly stated that “the days of tedious data retrieval processes are over. With today’s launch yet another stride has been made by the NWC to be a more customer centric utility provider as with the use of this digital platform, as customer information and working material relevant to the maintenance and servicing of each customer account is more readily accessible.”

“Recent events have proven that the Online Digital Archive system is quite timely. The NWC has no choice but to cut costs in all areas of its operations given the volatility of today’s oil prices. The Digital Archive system is therefore a step in the right direction,” VP Cunningham added.

While encouraging staff to continue to contribute to this effort to maintain the integrity of the Commission’s records, Training and Development Manager Novelyn Beckford outlined the following expected benefits from the digital system:

• Reduce costs, especially from the elimination of paper-based policy documents.
• Best practices in records maintenance, creation and storage.
• Adequate space – after the removal of excessive paper document.
• Improved flow of information across all employee levels.
• Increase productivity & efficiency.
• Operational improvement due to easy access to information.

For his part, gracious host and Regional Manager for Westmoreland & Hanover, Jeffery Smith praised the public service entity for its innovation and commitment to aligning with current industry trends. “Jamaica is on a fast track to becoming a more digitally friendly society and the NWC will not be left behind,” he stated.

The project labelled an all-island ‘Records Clean-Up’ is ongoing and has been completed in St. James, Trelawny, Manchester, St. Elizabeth, Kingston and St. Andrew. There are plans to expand the digital records system in Hanover, Portland and St. Mary for the beginning of the Financial Year 2022/2023.