Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/917367
www.wwtonline.co.uk | JANUARY 2018 | 15 "The key is to start small, see what works and then roll out the bits that are obviously beneficial. If you can get those small victories, people in the business get more enthused about the whole thing." Steve Kaye, Head of Innovation, Anglian Water THE SPEAKERS "We've always had the view that if we let data out, somebody will misuse it or make money from it. But the reality is that if enough data goes out, from a broad enough base, and it is analysed, then there will be savings and everybody will benefit." Mark O'Callaghan, Sustainability & Innovation Lead, Asset Strategy, Irish Water "Our customers don't compare us to other water companies – they have no concept of what other water companies are doing. They would say that they expect us to work like Amazon, and know if something has gone wrong before the customer has to call." Jeremy Heath, Innovation Manager, SES Water "People have this tendency to look for a project rather than a capability – they say 'how can we group all this into a project? But the market has taught us something here, in that the project is never going to end." Simon Kirkham, CPO, United Utilities PARTICIPANTS Arnaud David, Affinity Water Steve Hanslow, Siemens Jeremy Heath, SES Water Paul Hingley, Siemens Steve Kaye, Anglian Water Simon Kirkham, United Utilities Ivan Miskin, South Staffs Water Stuart Mitchell, Yorkshire Water Mark O'Callaghan, Irish Water Catalina Pedraza, Thames Water Bob Trivett, South West Water IN ASSOCIATION WITH data protection, in their organisations; the coming implementation of GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulation) had focused minds on the latter. Water companies will need to keep a tight watch on who has access to customer usage data given that it can reveal whether a home is occupied and have security implications for that property, it was observed. By contrast, participants were relatively sanguine about other issues surrounding cyber security. It was commented that there was sufficient separation between IT and OT that hackers would not find the water industry an easy target; moreover, cyber security was one element of digitalisation that senior leaders tend to be directly concerned with. Participants said that the supply chain could help utilities in their digital journey by offering platforms which can be updated easily with the latest versions of technology, and which allow different suppliers to feed into the same architecture. A collaborative approach on cyber security, and on retrofitting new technology into old assets, were also high up the wish list. To take away 1. Water companies are taking steps towards digital transformation but progress is typically evolutionary rather than revolutionary, with initiatives that are initially limited in scope 2. Cultural change is required in the industry to recognise that digitalisation is about ongoing operational improvement rather than a one-off change project 3. While it may be difficult to build a business case for individual digital initiatives, in many cases real-time data unlocks as-yet unforeseen benefits