Digitally Enabled Utility Resilience

Albert Cho, Vice President and General Manager at Xylem, provides an insightful look at how digital technologies enhance the operational and financial resilience of utilities. Al discusses the benefits digitally enabled utilities have realized during the pandemic, provides examples of how utilities have gained financial efficiencies in the pre-pandemic deployment of capital and how those examples demonstrate that digital technologies play a significant role in helping utilities navigate the financial challenges ahead. In this session, you’ll learn about:

• How digital technologies are performing during the COVID-19 pandemic
• How digital enhanced operational resilience in the early stage of response
• How utilities using digital technologies fared versus utilities using analog technologies
• How digital technologies impact utility financial resilience
• Why Al thinks the utility operational response in the first wave of the pandemic was miraculous (no massive failures, etc.)
• Why the biggest risk to utilities lies ahead in the form of financial impacts
• Why digital technologies can play a significant role in mitigating the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
• How Al distinguishes between “old smart water” and “new smart water”
• The tie between digital technologies and improved cash flow
• The significant savings realized by the City of South Bend, Indiana, by using digital technologies to optimize existing system assets

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

• Albert’s LinkedIn page
• Xylem’s website
• Xylem’s LinkedIn Page
• TWV #084: Using Big Data to Improve Water Utility Revenues with Valor Water President Christine Boyle

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