About the company
EDF Energy is the largest producer of low-carbon electricity in the United Kingdom.
From turbines to electric cars and heating, they are committed to supporting the reduction of carbon emissions in the UK to net-zero.
As such, they have a multitude of projects that require informing and engaging with stakeholders.
The challenge
Two of EDF’s projects have a high media profile: Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C.
Both projects represent long-term construction developments that needed a solution to manage and facilitate regular and effective stakeholder engagement.
EDF approached Tractivity in response to an internal need for a system that would provide the most efficient way to manage stakeholder engagement and public consultation, before their submission for planning permission.
The requirements
It was key that EDF and the agencies that work with them (Newgate Communications for Hinkley Point and Newgate Communications for Sizewell) had one single system that could be used to both share and store stakeholder information.
In addition, they needed a full communication suite that would allow the team to send surveys, newsletters, updates, and manage events for their projects, all the way through planning to execution.
The action taken
Tractivity’s purpose-built system offered a real solution for EDF to meet stringent legislation rules in their response to stakeholder questions and issues.
As part of the onboarding process, EDF had a database of thousands of diverse stakeholders to upload, a task that the Tractivity team undertook on behalf of EDF to avoid any downtime for the team.
Once uploaded onto the Tractivity platform, EDF were able to start coordinating communications across both their projects and collating valuable feedback whilst also mapping stakeholders and tagging known issues for easy reference.
During each stage of the project, regular updates were required for each stakeholder, but not all stakeholders wanted or needed the same information.
Using Tractivity, EDF grouped their stakeholders into smart categories relevant to their needs for information and interest levels, allowing them to action a precision-based communication strategy.
EDF also used Tractivity to create email dialogue by allowing stakeholders to respond directly to emails with their feedback.
This represented a significant time saving, as the use of individual systems would result in fragmented feedback and the need for manual mapping.
Tractivity linked all digital and non-digital communications back to each stakeholder’s record, allowing a precise ‘one-to-one’ communication chain for everyone.
This ensures no valuable information is ever missed, giving EDF the ability to track and log all interactions and responses for clarity across the projects.
They also have peace of mind that they are meeting legislative guidance in response times and with GDPR-related data requests.
With one central data repository, keeping on top of KPIs is very simple, as is charting project progress and keeping accurate reports.
The results
Tractivity’s easy-to-use system has resulted in employees being engaged with the process of stakeholder management and has represented cost benefits for EDF over undertaking manual tasks such as collating reports and logging interactions.
By using Tractivity, EDF significantly reduced administration costs.
As a result, the EDF teams had more time to focus on their place in the community and engagement aims, which have helped bring the community and EDF together.
