Technology will play an integral role in the future of Scotland’s water supply and waste management processing after Scottish Water announced a groundbreaking deal with Atos.

In a five-year partnership, Atos will collaborate with Capgemini to provide technology-based solutions to help Scottish Water manage its country-wide activities.

Currently, Scottish Water provides water and waste water services to 2.5 million households and over 150,000 businesses; managing extensive networks of reservoirs, water sources and more than 60,000 miles of underground pipes across the country.

This deal, it is hoped, will provide innovative IT-solutions to streamline operations and improve service efficiency during a period of immense investment.From 2015–2021 over £3.5 billion will be invested in maintenance and improvements to drinking water, protecting the environment and supporting the Scottish economy.

Scottish Water Digital Transformation

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation, operating in 73 countries. With its cutting-edge digital expertise and industry knowledge, Atos supports digital transformation in a number of industries, including:

• Retail
• Telecommunications
• Manufacturing
• Energy
• Financial Services

Collaborating with Capgemini, Atos will deliver wide-ranging services across Scottish Water from delivery of customer-focused IT services to its core infrastructure and applications.

Rob Mustard, Scottish Water’s Director of Digital believes that with an ever-changing digital environment, customer expectations increase. To meet customer expectations and demands Scottish Water must transform its’ digital services and provide a finely-tuned customer experience.

He said: “Our new approach will improve not only how we use technology to produce and deliver water but also enhance our customer insight to ensure what we do is as effective as possible and that communities continue to get the best possible service, of which they can be truly proud.”

Continuing, Rob Mustard highlighted the necessity of maintaining reliable digital services, saying “we want our networks and systems to be as reliable, resilient and as secure in a world where digital technology has become the cornerstone of everyday life for billions of people.”

The development of digital technology in services such as water supply can streamline and simplify a truly monumental task. According to Rob Mustard “we deliver 1.35 billion litres of water a day and treat 945 million litres of waste water” and to deliver world-class services, data analysis and digital technology will take an increasing role in the process.

Collaborative Innovation

Both Atos and Capgemini will utilise their global capabilities in digital transformation during this partnership, which according to Atos Senior Vice President Gavin Thomson, will benefit Scottish Water in the long-term and showcases their commitment to improving customer services, he said:

“Atos is proud to have entered into this agreement with Scottish Water, which will help truly transform one of Scotland’s leading organisations and enable it to reap the benefits of digitisation while meeting the future needs of the public.