Besso: Making water provision simple

Leading independent insurance brokers Besso decided to change water cooler providers when problems began with the deliveries of their bottled stock.

With nearly 300 employees at its two offices in central London, the company had been faced with ongoing administration costs due to poor service, which also included late responses to requests and irregular equipment checks.

This was combined with the fact that staff were growing tired of having to change the bottles and management were dissatisfied with storing and organising the product themselves.

When these problems escalated in 2003, Besso's Facilities Management Director Ted Foster started to research other options. He came to the conclusion that mains fed water was not only a cost-effective option, but could also significantly minimise the time he spent dealing with ordering, deliveries and installation.

Foster says: “Providing good quality water for staff is absolutely a priority for facilities managers but the ideal situation is not to spend too much time organising access.

“When we decided to change supplier, Besso was also reviewing the company’s environmental impact, which included looking at the carbon emissions of the deliveries as well as what was happening to the bottles at the end of their usable life.

“When we discovered mains fed provision it presented an ideal solution, so the next step was finding the right service package to suit our needs.”

Besso, which is based in the City and specialises in national and international insurance brokering, decided on Premier Watercoolers following a wide-spread search of the market.

Through using Premier, Besso also saved nearly 30 per cent on the overall water cooler contract.

Foster says: “When the dispensers were first installed, staff comments were based around the taste, which is different to bottled. There were lots of jokes going round about the fact we were drinking Thames water but shortly everyone was more than happy with the new systems and improved service.

“We have now had the Premier dispensers on site for four years and during that time we’ve had an upgrade of equipment, which we were able to negotiate satisfactorily with no extra cost.

“The contract also means we have reduced our domestic recycling and improved our eco-credentials.”

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