Nutshell Apps make waves with Northumbrian Water smartphone app.
The combined innovation of Nutshell Apps, +AddStrategy and Northumbrian Water has seen the three North East firms collaborating with true ‘Northern Powerhouse Gusto’, to work on a smartphone app for Northumbria Water’s sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme.
The partnership saw the development of a smartphone app, designed to improve hygiene in remote communities in Nicaragua, by streamlining field operations and replacing paper-based training tools, by providing an interactive and engaging digital experience.
The smartphone app has been warmly received, with an international award from WaterAid accredited to product.
Steve Rudland, business intelligence developer at Northumbrian Water, said:
The WaterAid Winnovators challenge is an employee development programme, designed to solve real world problems and fundraise for this important NGO. The aim of the hygiene challenge is to improve personal hygiene in rural towns, including safe water storage, handwashing and sanitation practices.
Together, we focused on three goals:
- Using technology to improve project organisation
- Motivating volunteers
- Creating a more engaging and reliable process for residents
Our app was designed with simplicity in mind; compatible with all operating systems. The smartphone app also had an offline failure that safeguarded against signal loss, so that data wasn’t lost.
Paul Sutherland, managing director at +ADD said:
“The initiative was fun, and we enjoyed helping with thinking about the needs of different users, and practical interaction at different stages.”
Carl Jones of Nutshell Apps said:
Nutshell is incredibly proud to be part of this project, knowing how immeasurably vital mobile technology is for solving diverse challenges in the developing world. To see a team building their own solution, in what is becoming an incredibly innovative space is the future of development. We are delighted with this success.
Nutshell are helping the utilities industry achieve more than simply mobilising current processes, we’re emphasising the importance of a well-implemented smartphone app strategy as the impetus for improving collaborative communication, accelerating time-to-decision and increasing the operational efficiency of teams, departments and whole businesses.