SA Water intends to build an enterprise-wide data and AI platform and improve data skills across the organization under a modernization program.
The utility currently operates an “on-premises data technology ecosystem comprised of…predominantly Microsoft technology,” including SQL server instances.
It said a “series of reviews” had uncovered challenges such as data silos, governance and visibility, as well as with “deploying and leveraging modern data and analytics, including AI technologies.”
SA Water said it hopes to “streamline and dismantle overlapping or redundant data solutions” once the new platform is in place.
The bidding documents state that it also wants to “simplify, standardize, and shorten development cycles to deliver business intelligence and machine learning solutions, including ML pipelines, data preparation, machine learning, model drift detection, model registration, and automated deployment practices”.
The utility did not specify what the new platform should look like, but said more broadly that its corporate technology strategy calls for greater use of cloud services.
This could include a possible expansion of an Azure tenancy, which is currently used only for Internet of Things (IoT) data storage.
One of SA Water’s recent projects uses IoT sensors to diagnose faults in its critical pumping facilities; gave SA Water a place in iTnews’ Benchmark Awards 2023 industrial category.
The water company’s investments in automation in recent years also include its renewable energy optimization system, which sells self-generated solar energy that SA Water does not use, and the deployment of acoustic sensors to detect water leaks and breaks in its network. of pipes.
