SWANs take Paris by Storm

We’re serious, of course. SWANS are taking Paris by storm for an entire two days – and in surprisingly good weather too. Over 100 SWANs flocked together for the first annual SWAN – Smart Water Networks – conference. Quite an awesome turnout for this first-ever international event. SWAN is a global industry forum that promotes the use of data technologies in water networks. In other words, we’ve got the best of the best getting together to make water networks smarter, more efficient and more sustainable.

During the morning’s sessions I’d like to mention Jokin Larrauri, VP Sales at Telvent. He captured our attention with his presentation called “Enhancing the Utility with Key Performance Indicators”. The gist of the presentation is that water and wastewater utilities, no matter if they’re public or private, have to operate their assets to ensure quality water and sewerage services. In other words, they have to plan for their daily activities and network expansion, maintain their assets to maximize investments; manage their business and employees’ needs – and after all that’s said and done, they have to charge their end customers for their products and services. All of these activities are supported by various technologies that have one thing in common: they gather a huge amount of data that then has to be transformed into knowledge to enable water and wastewater utility managers to make business decisions.

These technologies all manage tons of data. But surprisingly enough, these technologies are rarely integrated among them to provide utility managers with an overall view of their business, so decisions are made based on global utility needs rather than scattered needs of the various departments that comprise the utility. Where’s the saving grace? Well, Jokin’s presentation really hit home – showing us all how advanced data driven technologies can be integrated to provide the utility with key performance indicators.

Want to learn more about SWAN? Check out www.swan-forum.com