Case Study: South East Water achieves better communications and staff engagement with Interact Software's 'Gurgle' intranet

South East Water joins forces with Interact to build and launch their collaborative intranet Gurgle

South East Water, the UK supplier of drinking water to 2.2 million customers, faced a failing legacy intranet that left staff overly reliant on email, created siloed working across six sites, and struggled to reach non-desk field workers. To address these challenges they engaged Interact to design and launch a fresh, collaborative intranet called “Gurgle” that would improve communication, enable social content contribution, and provide easy access to up-to-date information.

Interact delivered Gurgle with a refreshed brand, a redesigned homepage, mobile access, and features like the Pipe Up ideas network and the High Five rewards program, alongside a democratic content model and improved search. In its first year Gurgle drove 717,691 unique visits, 1,267 profiles, 944 pages, 573 blogs, 74 teams and 5,344 High Fives, helping South East Water reduce all‑user emails, boost cross‑site engagement and contribute to strong staff survey results (90% proud to work there, 92% enjoy their job). Interact’s solution therefore produced measurable usage and clear cultural improvements.

South East Water

Amelia Wilson

Communications Officer