14 WET NEWS MAY 2018 | wwtonline.co.uk
Managing infrastructure
presents a growing
digital challenge
D
igitalisation and the in-
creasing amount of data
that water companies
have at their disposal is trans-
forming how they operate. This
information is being used to
shape and streamline usage and
maintenance procedures, moni-
tor flood or pollution risks and
identify operational perfor-
mance issues, to comply with
increasingly stringent regula-
tions and higher customer ex-
pectations. Robotics and AI
driven automation are also start-
ing to play a part with several
water companies creating inno-
vation hubs, technology shop
windows and digital sandboxes
to demonstrate how these new
technologies can be incorporat-
ed. These are o•en driven by
data and require large quanti-
•
INSIGHT
ASSET MANAGEMENT
AND DATA
Mark Kaney, director of asset management at Sweco UK, calls for the water industry to
support a deeper commitment to data consistency and take advantage of the efficiencies
that digital asset management can deliver.
ties of this to derive trends and
inform artificial learning.
The sheer volume of informa-
tion this creates brings manage-
ment challenges and concerns
over data security. In addition,
the speed in which technology
evolves means that systems
agreed at the conception of a
new infrastructure asset are
o•en outdated by the time they
are completed and put into use.
A new approach to
managing data
Implementing a comprehensive
digital asset management (DAM)
programme can help address
these issues. But this is still a
relatively new concept for utility
providers and the skills needed
to deliver such an approach are
in short supply.
