Support services at the heart of our business

Our central functions provide key, cost-effective and vital support for all our operations. Without these shared services, our 17,000 employees at more than 70 sites would be unable to carry out their daily work.

Transforming our business support services

During the past year we have transformed our support services through a much more customer focused approach by introducing a 'one process one owner' ethos. We're constantly seeking better ways of improving the way we do things and aiming to reduce the environmental impact of our non-operational businesses.

These support services include:

• Supply chain - delivering expertise in procurement, logistics and insurance. Responsible procurement is fundamental to our approach of strategic sourcing and is embedded throughout our procurement process.
• Finance - providing comprehensive, transaction-based purchasing and accounting services. We've successfully introduced the first stage of SAP, a world-class finance, procurement and human resources (HR) system which will help us work more efficiently.
• People processes - including centres of excellence for skills training and HR support. We also provide a consultancy service on key functions including recruitment and contracting and this team is responsible for making sure our employees are paid accurately and on time.
• Asset management - overseeing the provision, management and disposal of our buildings, office accommodation and vehicle fleets.

The change function provides E.ON UK with 'in-business' and 'cross-business' change management services to enable the success of our strategic partners in the UK.

We also have people specifically trained to provide critical security and technology strategy solutions across the whole of our business. This team analyses the potential link between a security incident or site emergency and the overall risk of business interruption, loss of revenue, risk to our reputation and effect on our employees. They have in place robust systems to manage and minimise any potential risk effectively.

Our Chief Information Office (CIO) provides IT guidance and support, as well as the management and delivery of our IT strategy and the governance.