Published in WET News: Focusing on what matters to customers

Many UK water and wastewater companies require a step change in performance to meet their AMP7 commitments and deliver more of what matters to their customers, including affordable bills, great customer service, resilience in the round and innovation.

Over the past several years, the industry has increasingly reached out to new and innovative technologies to address performance gaps and improve efficiency. 

Across water network distribution systems, the use of smart technologies is becoming more prevalent. There is a drive to use data-driven technologies across networks and there is a growing array of operational technologies that can be used to meet the challenges of a 21st century utility company. 

However, experience in other sectors has shown that the adoption of smart technologies needs to be fully considered if the benefits proposed are to be realised. 

Neil Croxton, Technical Director at Stantec, shares his thoughts with WET News on the organisational changes water companies must make in order to successfully embrace smart water network solutions and deliver more of what the customer wants.