Be Part Of The Digital Transformation Revolution
By Mark V Wiley, Chief Editor, Water Online Advantage
The water and wastewater industry is in the midst of a digital transformation revolution. Utilities and municipalities are experiencing increases in process efficiencies, plant performance and asset management because actionable data is at their fingertips in real time, minimizing the wait for lab results and speculative digging to investigate pipe leaks.
With digital momentum finally picking up, it’s critical for your solution to be adopted as foundational that future solutions will build around. But how do you get a foot in the door and begin educating utilities on why your solution should be the first to evaluate, pilot and adopt?
When Water Online talked with municipalities about their needs and compared that information with a recent survey done by Bluefield Research, we identified 3 primary reasons water and wastewater utilities are adopting digital transformation solutions.
- Water Quality and Management
Improved efficiency in maintaining water quality is the main reason utilities are adopting digital transformation technologies. Making sure water is free of contaminants, such as nitrogen, pesticides, metals, toxins, prescription drugs has never been easier. Historically, municipalities would respond to contamination well after the fact, based on the timing of a pre-scheduled lab tests. Now there is no delay as digital utilities receive their information in real time. If an issue is detected, the problem is solved immediately before it becomes a larger issue for the municipality.
- Improved Resource Distribution and Management
Digital solutions also provide better water resource distribution and management through precise water data analytics, water plant monitoring, the optimization of energy, data-driven treatment cycles, improved metering, and better customer management.
- Greater Savings for Reinvestment
Digital solutions provide time and resource savings, helping utilities to do more with less and reinvest funds to more pressing needs. Sending somebody out to multiple field sites every day is expensive and time consuming. Excavating an entire city block to find the source of a leak is both expensive and disruptive. Digital municipalities now have predictive analytics at their fingertips. They can test how much water is sent out, see how much is received by the end-user, and know immediately the loss percentage and where the problem site is located.
Ride the Revolution
As a digital solutions vendor, now is the time to take advantage of the digital transformation revolution and showcase your competence and solution differentiators with as many utilities as possible. But it should start with the three utility benefits listed above and not your product. At the end of the day, by focusing on the unique set of challenges your solution helps resolve for each utility, you’ll stand a better chance of supporting their budgeting efforts, improving their resource management, and advancing their customer satisfaction.
The digital transformation revolution is still young enough for you to maximize growth and sales. But the field is getting more and more crowded every day. Understanding the above 3 reasons why utilities need digital solutions provides you with a unique insight to bridge the conversation with those who have not yet begun adopting them.
If you are not sure how best to get the attention of utilities or compete with the leaders in the space, don’t worry. Water Online can help.
We Can Help
At Water Online, we help digital solution providers engage the right utility personnel with the right content at the right time to make a meaningful difference. By analyzing reader behavior, we identify patterns of reader activity and connect it to the personas-of-interest you need to influence, helping you create a portfolio of content assets to differentiate your company and brands from the pack.
