You’ll know and recognise the old adage ‘slow and steady wins the race’ – if only this could be true in the water industry. Rather, it’s the opposite – we are already in 2022, meaning that there is no time to waste in streamlining your operations to guarantee success in hitting your 2025 Ofwat ODIs.

Aside from regulatory pressure, you’ll likely be developing and actioning plans to achieve your net zero 2030 goals, as well as ensuring that you address any daily operational issues, such as blockages and leaks. Problems like these are unavoidable, so the key to delivering a reliable, resilient and high-quality service to your customers isn’t to be perfect and fault-free – it’s to act fast when these crises occur.

That’s where technology comes into play. You know that problems are going to happen but investing in digital innovation could be the difference between being prepared and being caught off guard. In this blog, we’re taking a look at how digital transformation can be used to help you mitigate risks, forecast issues and diagnose faults faster, therefore helping you to build a resilient business.

Quick detection means quick reaction
With so many ODIs and environmental targets to address, it can feel like you are being stretched thin with no time to introduce new technologies. But investing in your operations today will lead to a more sustainable and efficient business in the future – why let problems linger on for longer than they need to? It’s not just a case of changing for the better, but also rethinking your speed of change. In today’s digital world, your customers will expect a reliable and modern service, especially as other industries are continually adopting new technologies.

Change can be a daunting prospect for businesses and employees, especially in the water industry – with legacy technology and manual, formulaic processes, failing to adapt quickly enough to the fast-changing industry can stifle innovation and result in failures to improve operational efficiency. Taking advantage of digital innovation and automating your processes can result in ground-breaking changes in risk mitigation, fault detection, asset monitoring and forecasting. After all, quick detection means that you can deliver a quick reaction, which helps you to save costs, save time and save face.

Attract positive press
As well as the knock-on operational and financial effects of slow reaction to faults, there is also the backlash that the water industry faces from the public. At the moment, the public expectation is high – do you have exact figures relating to your water wastage? Do you know where your opportunities lie to minimise your carbon footprint? Without this information to hand, any changes you make to your operations and business could potentially fail before they begin – which is sure to attract negative public attention. Modern technologies such as satellite imaging, AI tracking and automated data collection can be implemented in your business to help you do more than just identify the problem. You’ll also have the visibility to analyse the scope of the fault, forecast knock-on issues, train specialised engineers and remotely deliver a fix – so you can react quickly with real-time alerts and prove to the public that you are a proactive business.

Prevent delays in hitting environmental targets
Public concerns around the quality of river water, dumping raw sewage into the sea and water waste/leakages make easy news and create negative PR, and the public is also putting a spotlight on your sustainability efforts. Although failing to hit sustainability targets is a sure-fire way to attract public scrutiny, it also means that you are missing out on the opportunity to create a better future for your business, the wider industry, your customers – and the planet.

Although the water industry is actively investing in a net zero 2030 future as well as reducing pollution by 30% over 5 years, as per Ofwat’s ODIs, the fact is that 2030 is fast approaching. You’re likely already introducing positive changes and sustainability practises into your business, but can you guarantee that you are changing quickly enough? Leveraging digital innovation can help you speed up your rate of sustainable change, so you can feel confident that your net zero 2030 promise isn’t just in sight – it’s 100% achievable. Acting faster no longer exclusively benefits your business – you’re acting on behalf of the environment, too.

Small changes for a big impact
With so many targets to deliver and all areas of your business feeling the pressure, it’s understandable if you’re unsure where best to invest in order to achieve maximum impact, especially when your budget is limited. Luckily, when it comes to digital transformation, a little can go a long way. At Avanade, we have proven proof of concept (POC) solutions and experience in other industries, meaning that you’ll be investing in technologies that can demonstrate value and ROI. Our data analytics and AI solutions help you mitigate risk, so you’re able to judge which investments will be riskier than others, which will ensure ROI and identify how best to approach your most business-critical goals.

We recognise that you have no time to waste in tackling operational issues, crises, leaks, blockages and more head-on, which is why our solution can go from ideation to implementation in a matter of weeks, not months – allowing you to be a fast-acting, proactive business.

We’d love to hear from you about how your business can rethink the speed of change. Drop us an email or comment below to chat about your forward-thinking future.

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