AMP8 is already revealing an investment in digital technology for the UK water sector. The question now is how fast and how boldly will it go in delivering value beyond compliance, says Lila Thompson, chief executive of British Water.
The UK water sector stands at a decisive moment as the five-year AMP8 asset management plans embed. Environmental pressures are intensifying, public trust remains fragile, and regulators are demanding measurable progress on leakage, pollution, and future resilience, making it clear that business as usual will no longer suffice.
Given the scale of investment and expectation, digital transformation has become central to the sector’s ability to respond to current and future demands. The ambition required means it is no longer about individual technologies or pilot projects, which was arguably a key feature of AMP7, but about fundamentally rethinking how companies plan, operate, and engage customers.
Digital tools, from real-time network monitoring, creating digital twins, to AI-powered customer management platforms, can unlock new efficiencies and deliver operational transparency, leading to positive environmental and customer outcomes.
Historically, investment in digital technology across water companies has been reactive and driven by regulatory deadlines, audits, and enforcement. Data was collected for reporting purposes rather than used for active decision-making, and innovation often stalled at the proof-of-concept stage or was deemed too risky to implement.
Value creation
AMP8 provides the chance to change that dynamic and to stop the culture of companies being afraid to fail. The framework for the next five years encourages companies to deliver outcomes, rather than tick boxes – reframing digital as a strategic enabler of value creation for customers.
Predictive analytics, for example, can prevent costly asset failures before issues arise. Smart sensors can pinpoint leaks at scale, and maintenance schedules can be optimised to ensure investment and resources are allocated efficiently.
Digital twins can simulate system performance to reduce energy use and carbon emissions. Meanwhile, customer-facing digital platforms can help rebuild trust by offering greater company visibility and responsiveness, along with personal control.
With the continuation of digital transformation throughout this AMP and into AMP9, companies can move from reactive compliance to proactive value delivery; improving environmental performance, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction simultaneously.
Digital enablers
Achieving this vision depends on the critical enablers of data, people, and culture. First, data-sharing and interoperability must become standard practice.
Many of the sector’s challenges, whether managing catchments, predicting demand, or responding to extreme weather, span internal organisational boundaries.
Creating shared data ecosystems will allow water companies and the supply chain to collaborate more effectively both internally and with other stakeholders; accelerating innovation for the good of the sector and the communities served.
Second, digital skills are essential. The workforce of the future will need to be as fluent in analytics and automation as in engineering and operations. Upskilling programmes and cross-sector partnerships can ensure that talent keeps pace with technology.
These themes were explored in the last thought leadership on resetting the water sector’s recruitment and retention.
Finally, culture change is vital, as digital transformation requires leadership commitment, a willingness to experiment, and openness to new ways of working.
The most successful companies will be those that embed digital thinking into every level of decision-making – including operations, a point made by Angela MacOscar, Northumbrian Water’s head of innovation at British Water’s recent Innovation Summit.
Across the sector, early adopters are already proving the art of the possible. Examples include Severn Trent’s use of generative design platforms for early-stage project advancement and MOSL’s application of advanced software to improve user systems.
Severn Trent needed to progress the early stage of projects, moving from identification of need to a preferred solution more efficiently, to match the pace and scale of work required in AMP8.
Working collaboratively with Transcend, a specialist in critical infrastructure design software, the water company introduced a more consistent and repeatable approach to developing early-stage solutions. This allows teams to spend more time evaluating and selecting the right solution, and less time producing and collating documentation, increasing efficiency by up to 60 percent.
MOSL, the market operator for wholesale and retail customers, supports over 5,000 users from more than 70 companies through its main operating system, and needed to improve user experience. This required a plan of improvement to prioritise and deliver.
By working closely with business consultancy CGI to carry out detailed research and testing, including carrying out surveys and workshops to identify common challenges and opportunities to make the system and user experience more responsive and intuitive. MOSL now has a new and improved system ensuring users can manage water market services better.
These are just two examples of the many ways digital transformation is realising measurable outcomes for all kinds of organisations, through collaboration with a supply chain that is growing and diversifying rapidly.
Shaping collaboration
To realise these opportunities, the sector must act together. No organisation can deliver digital transformation in isolation. Regulators, water companies, the supplier community, and customers all have a role in shaping a smarter, more sustainable water system.
British Water provides a platform for that collaboration, linking expertise, facilitating dialogue, and accelerating shared progress though member focus groups on asset management, data and analytics, and innovation.
If AMP7 was about experimenting with digital, AMP8 is about embedding it, and turning innovation into impact for customers and the environment. The future of the UK water sector will be defined not by compliance, but by its ability to create lasting value and digital transformation will play a huge role in making that happen.
