Why Doing More with Less Starts with Better Operations
Part 2 of our Driving Digital in Water and Wastewater Operations series
For years, “doing more with less” has been a familiar phrase in the utility industry. Today, it feels less like a goal and more like reality.
The recent cyberattacks targeting municipal water systems across multiple U.S. states have once again put utilities and critical infrastructure in the spotlight. While those events have sparked important conversations around cybersecurity, they’ve also highlighted a much bigger challenge. Utilities are expected to strengthen security, modernize aging infrastructure, improve reliability, meet growing regulatory demands, and continue delivering essential services, all while managing limited budgets and workforce shortages.
That pressure isn’t going away. Recent industry reports from the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and Black & Veatch reinforce what many utility leaders already know. Aging infrastructure, workforce shortages, and funding constraints continue to rank among the industry’s biggest challenges, making it harder than ever to keep up with growing operational demands.
The question isn’t whether utilities need to do more. They already are.
The real question is: How do you build better operations that help your teams succeed without simply asking them to work harder?
That became one of the biggest conversations during our webinar, Driving Digital in Water and Wastewater Operations. While technology was certainly part of the discussion, the focus wasn’t on buying more software or adding more systems. It was about building stronger operations that give people the visibility, consistency, and tools they need to work more effectively.
Today’s Challenges Can’t Be Solved the Same Way They Were Yesterday
Utilities have always balanced competing priorities, but today’s environment is different.
Experienced operators and technicians are retiring, taking decades of operational knowledge with them. New employees are stepping into increasingly complex environments while organizations continue managing more infrastructure, more operational data, and higher expectations around reliability and reporting. At the same time, staffing levels and budgets aren’t growing at the same pace.
According to the latest Black & Veatch Water Report, workforce shortages and aging infrastructure remain two of the biggest obstacles utilities face today. Those challenges aren’t unique to one organization. They’re being felt across the industry, making operational efficiency more important than ever.
It’s no longer just one problem to solve. It’s all of them happening at once.
Better Operations Create Time
One of the themes that stood out most during the webinar was that operational improvement isn’t about squeezing more work out of fewer people. It’s about giving people more time to do the work that matters.
When operators spend their day chasing alarms, manually gathering information, or responding to the same recurring issues, there’s very little time left to improve processes or plan. Before long, every day becomes reactive.
Scott and Kurt discuss why breaking that cycle starts with building better operations, not simply asking people to work harder.
That’s where many utilities are beginning to shift their focus. Instead of asking how they can add more resources, they’re asking how they can remove unnecessary work.
Digital Transformation Is About People
Digital transformation is often associated with new technology, but one of the biggest takeaways from the webinar is that technology is only part of the equation. The real goal is helping people make better decisions.
Whether it’s making information easier to access, reducing repetitive manual tasks, or giving teams better visibility into what’s happening across their operations, technology should simplify work, not create more of it.
The utilities making the biggest progress aren’t necessarily the ones investing in the most technology. They’re the ones finding practical ways to support the people responsible for keeping operations running every day.
Building the Right Foundation
Every utility has goals for the future. Some are focused on improving efficiency. Others are investing in cybersecurity, operational data, AI, or infrastructure modernization.
None of those initiatives happen in isolation. They all depend on having strong operational processes and a solid foundation. That’s another point Scott and Kurt explore throughout the webinar. Before organizations chase the next technology trend, they need to make sure the fundamentals are in place. Better operations make every future investment more valuable.
That’s also why many utilities are taking a step back before launching their next initiative. Rather than asking, “What technology should we buy?” they’re asking, “Where will we see the greatest operational impact?”
At InSource, we work with utilities to answer that question. Whether the goal is improving operational efficiency, strengthening cybersecurity, modernizing infrastructure, or building a long-term digital transformation strategy, we help organizations identify practical opportunities that support measurable operational improvements, not just new technology.
It’s not always the most exciting part of digital transformation, but it’s often the part that creates the greatest long-term value.
Watch the Full On-Demand Webinar
In Driving Digital in Water and Wastewater Operations, Kurt Peterson and Scott Lamothe dive deeper into these challenges, sharing practical insights, real-world examples, and lessons learned from helping utilities improve efficiency, strengthen resilience, and prepare for what’s next.
Watch the on-demand webinar to explore the full discussion and learn how utilities are building stronger operations for the future.