Business area digitalisation analysis

Water and utilities companies: digitalisation opportunities

Connecting drinking water, wastewater, heating, territory and other municipality or infrastructure-based utility asset, operations, field works, customer and compliance data into a single managed digital chain.

Digital maturity

Typical digital maturity

Shows the level of digitalisation companies in this line of business typically operate at.

The assessment considers use of core systems, how far processes are digitalised, integrations, data readiness and advanced use of data.

A 3 means ordinary, middling maturity. A 5 is given only where real-time data, automated decisions and advanced optimisation are already a routine part of core operations.

medium
Digitalisation potential

Digitalisation potential

Shows the scale of business impact digitalisation could have in this line of business.

It weighs economic leverage, the scope for digital impact, the scale and repetition of processes, value lost today, and the leverage of better data and decisions.

A business area’s score is calculated from five weighted dimensions. A sector’s score is derived from the scores of its business areas.

88/100
Biggest challenge
Network, quality and customer signals insufficiently converted into incident actions
Biggest opportunity
Unified network, quality and customer impact management

The greatest value is created by the ability to quickly understand from a single signal which network asset is affected, which customers are at risk and what action will restore service.

Operating model for water and utility companies

Operations include water intake and treatment, wastewater collection and treatment, heat or other utility transmission, network maintenance, meter accounting, billing and customer service. The primary digital task is to link network topology, real-time status, field operations, quality and customer impact.

Network topology is the foundation of operational decision-making

Relationships between assets, valves, zones and customers must be sufficiently accurate for real incidents.

Quality data requires location and time context

A laboratory result must be linked to the measurement location, network regime and required action.

A customer bill begins with reliable measurement

The meter reading version, calculated quantity, correction and tariff must form a traceable chain.

Market and technology context

The EU water resilience direction encourages leakage reduction, infrastructure modernisation, smart meters and data-driven management. For utilities, this means moving from periodic measurement to an integrated network, quality, customer and field work chain.

  • Water resilience and climate riskLoss reduction, resource planning and infrastructure resilience are becoming strategic priorities.
  • Ageing networks and capital constraintsInvestment must be allocated according to actual asset risk, losses and customer impact.
  • Smart meters and real-time customer expectationHigher data frequency enables better control, but requires a reliable exception and communication chain.

Typical operating process

01

Resource production and treatment

Water abstraction, treatment, heat generation, equipment regimes, energy and quality are managed.

02

Transmission and distribution

Flows, pressure, temperature, network condition, losses and critical assets are monitored.

03

Metering and billing

Meter readings are collected, exceptions are checked, tariffs are applied and invoices are generated.

04

Incident and quality control

Signals, laboratory results and customer reports are linked to the network zone and impact.

05

Maintenance and field work

Crews receive the network diagram, shutdown points, materials, safety information and work priority.

06

Customer information and investment plan

Outage statuses, recovery time, complaints and asset reconstruction priorities are managed.

Digital maturity path

0

Separate network, meter and customer processes

GIS, SCADA, laboratory data, works and billing are managed separately, and incident impact is reconstructed manually.

1

Digital monitoring and basic accounting

Network status and meter readings are collected in systems, but exceptions, leakage, works and customer communication are not linked.

2

Integrated network asset and work process

Signal, GIS asset, fault, field task, completion and updated network status form a single chain.

3

Zonal network, loss and customer impact management Typical current situation

In selected network zones, GIS topology, real-time signals, meter and quality data, incidents, field works and customer impact are linked in one chain, but coverage is not yet uniform across the entire network.

4

Predictive maintenance and resource optimisation Target

Leak, equipment condition, energy consumption and demand patterns are used to prioritise work and investments.

5

Resilient and adaptive utility system

Grid regimes, crews, customer notifications and recovery scenarios are coordinated in real time with clear boundaries of human control.

Key finding

Water and utilities digitalisation must connect physical network topology, real-time state, quality data, customer impact and field crew actions.

The first priority is one clear network zone and a complete scenario of leakage, failure or quality incident, not a whole-city digital twin.

Related digitalisation topics

Water and heating network loss managementUtility incident managementSmart meter and billing data

Connect water supply, wastewater, heating, territorial and other municipal or infrastructure-based utilities signals, assets and actual works

An assessment of which network, quality, incident or meter data gap currently increases losses and customer risk the most.