| |DECEMBER 20209metering systems and so on. This integrated service delivery plat-form should not only help with the status and data collection through IoT enablement but also integrate different service elements into one single unified system. We should consider the following four dimensions while designing such an integrated system:Concept: Create the blueprint considering human centric design, user experience, strategic objectives, and technology architecture inclusive of all key elements in the water distribution system. As utilities need complete, accurate, centrally located data to perform compliance and enforcement activities, all the ecosystem participants need to be integrated to create a unified data platform.Build: The system needs to be built around a people, process and technology-based architecture that enables integrated data, API based solutions, and plug and play mechanisms to deliver tailor made solutions for specific user needs. For example, in order to deliver highly efficient customer support services, the system/platform needs to leverage real time information enabling effective routing of customer queries, increase first call resolution, reduce management effort, and enable future digitization by building data-rich relationships.Run: This dimension ensures that the service management systems and processes are geared towards delivering the ideal service experience. It ranges from providing efficient and responsive operations that leverage digital technologies to ultimately deliver a predictive, intelligent, self-healing and zero touch operations system.Change ­ This dimension in-stitutionalized a reverse feedback loop into design/concept that cov-ers systemic data feedback and the changes that are required to enforce new user experience in the marketplace. Case StudySydney Water, Australia: Sydney Water's Customer Hub has won the Global Water Award for 2019 Smart Water Project of the Year. The Cus-tomer hub has changed the way Sydney Water serves its end cus-tomers ­ being more proactive & predictive. The technology com-prises a geo-spatial situational awareness tool (Spatial Hub), on-line customer portals, automated customer notification and feed-back channels, and an Internet of Things (IoT) sensor pilot. This has simplified Sydney Water's complex water and wastewater networks and makes identifying and scheduling maintenance sim-pler. IoT sensors are used to better understand complex network per-formance and identify problems before they can become customer issues ­ for example identifying sewer blockages and taking ac-tions before it becomes a poten-tial issue. Spatial Hub reduced water outages by around 100,000 properties in 2018, shrinking the number of customers affected by service interruptions by 25-30 per-cent annually. By reducing neg-ative customer experiences and service impact, Spatial Hub has already saved Sydney Water over $800,000 in customer rebates in 2019. ConclusionsThe challenges in water utilities segments are many. CIOs have a limited budget. At the same time, the industry is struggling with many problems such as Water Scarcity & Quality, Aging Infra-structure, Stricter regulatory re-quirements, Climate change and environmental footprint pres-sures, Rising operational and cap-ital investments costs, and Cus-tomer expectations with respect to better services at a lesser cost.Frugal innovations, digitiza-tion, data driven operational sys-tems and centralized service de-livery platforms are some of the new ways of working for the Water Utilities in current times. IoT adoption and related innovative digital solutions are central to ad-dressing the majority of these is-sues. Hence, key focus should be to reskill the utilities' workforce on Digital Technologies and automa-tion and move away from manual and procedural modes of work. These Digital Utilities shall then in turn help in delivering better experiential outcomes to their customers at a lower cost. FRUGAL INNOVATIONS, DIGITIZATION, DATA DRIVEN OPERATIONAL SYSTEMS AND CENTRALIZED SERVICE DELIVERY PLATFORMS ARE SOME OF THE NEW WAYS OF WORKING FOR THE WATER UTILITIES IN CURRENT TIMES
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