From a Ripple to a Wave: Global Best Practices for Digital Water Transformation

The water sector is at a critical juncture, a moment of extraordinary opportunity for utilities and the communities they serve. Digital solutions hold the key to water systems delivering bold water, energy, and cost savings while achieving greater operational and financial resilience in the face of unpredictable economic, demographic, and environmental shifts. Regulators and policymakers, whose decisions set the pace for technology adoption in the water industry, are playing an important role in this transition, but the benefits of digital solutions go well beyond regulatory compliance. A data-driven digital strategy allows water managers to 'turn on the lights' within their systems, empowering them to make better, more informed decisions across a range of operational and financial parameters. And as digital water technologies themselves continue to advance, the game-changing outcomes they can deliver are becoming ever more accessible and affordable for utilities across the map. But if the benefits of digital transformation are well understood by the world's water utilities, the path to realizing those benefits is often less clear. Every community, every utility, and every water system is different, with different starting points and ending points based on their own unique configuration of resources, capabilities, challenges, and strategic priorities. And utility leaders and staff often feel that they lack the time, knowledge, or confidence to chart a successful path forward for their organizations in a rapidly changing digital marketplace. In this presentation, Xylem and Bluefield Research will present a practical how-to guide for 'going digital' in the water industry, based on our in-depth research into the digital transformation stories of more than a dozen pioneering utilities from nine countries across North America, Europe, and Asia. We will highlight the ways that these utility leaders have tackled four of the thorniest problems of digital transformation-how to set a realistic and appropriate pace and direction of change, how to bring staff onboard for the journey, how to turn small wins into lasting benefits, and how to articulate the value of data and digital technology for customers and stakeholders. We will focus on practical, tangible, and accessible advice and lessons learned, to help utilities of all sizes chart the next steps on their digital transformation journeys.