Point of View – by Mia Javier

[cross posted on blog.cleantech.com]

No doubt, the opportunity in water is gaining visibility. With governments pursuing policy to incentivize water innovation and giants like IBM, SAP and Oracle circling the sector, water is fast becoming the industry of choice for corporations not traditionally in water and those specifically in information technology  – they want a piece of the pie.

The IT opportunity is logically drawn from the investments and innovation poured into the Smart Grid. By some estimates the market opportunity is $20 billion but not only are corporations mindful of market outlooks they are developing a business strategy in Smart Water. In this way, global market sizing and the macroeconomics of water supply and demand are informative but not actionable insights.

So, what questions must be answered in order to develop a strategy in water?

First, what are the unique aspects of a particular customer segment in water? Public-sector buyers are notoriously conservative with a complex business process. Just this week, the Portuguese Construction Firm, ITT Corporation, secured three wastewater treatment plant contracts in the Montemor-o-Velho municipality of Portugal in a complicated business transaction where ITT Corporation partnered with both a construction company as well as a design firm to win the bid.

Second, will my business solution require water-related hardware and service or just one or the other? Those players entering the water space must consider and hopefully learn from those with existing water businesses. GE, ABB and Siemens are highly acquisitive companies that provide both products and services to industrial water users and utilities and they too continue to refine their sales and marketing efforts given the diversity of water’s customer segments.

Finally, what should a company learn from current leaders in water instrumentation and analytics? While IBM is testing the waters in Galway Bay with sensor networks that track water flow and quality, today, Schneider-Electric and ABB provide the instrumentation and analytics used by some of the largest private utilities in the world. Their solutions help utilities not only save on energy costs but provide critical visibility and control on the systems. These products and services should not be overlooked by new players in Smart Water.

All that said, the Smart Grid analogy is strong, and the likes of IBM, SAP and Oracle will naturally draw on their strengths here as they consider similar solutions to water. I offer but a simple suggestion to consider gathering actionable insight on the strategies and innovation of existing leaders in the space.