Winning Internal Buy-In: The Hidden Key to Smart Utility Success

Understanding the Real Challenge

How can someone trying to improve their utility make use of this? Start by understanding that while financial cost is an issue. It’s typically not the driving factor. How can you win the hearts and minds of others around the utility to take a more digital approach to solving water utility problems?

It can take months to get your team aligned, what has worked well for me is to take a phased approach.

PHASE 1: Crystal-Clear Goal Definition

Sharpen your pencil and write down what is the big goal you want to solve. This can range from a long ignored strategic issue such as assessing every waterline in your system or it can look like meeting a new regulation such as PFAS destruction at your water treatment plants. Regardless of the goal you can use the following format.

The Goal Framework

Formula:

We want to achieve [GOAL] using [APPROACH] because it will [IMPACT OF GOAL]. Otherwise [CONSEQUENCE] will happen.

Real-World Example: Asset Management

We want to assess 95% of waterlines in our system using external sensors for small-diameter pipes and internal robotics for large-diameter mains. This will optimize our $10M annual capital replacement budget and reduce non-revenue water from 26% to 22% over five years. Without this approach, we’ll continue spending $10M annually while non-revenue water remains flat at 26%, essentially leaving $2M in value on the table.

Real-World Example: Treatment Optimization

We want to eliminate decision lag at our primary treatment plants by implementing integrated data management for field reports and lab samples. This will help us identify concerning trends earlier, reducing violations from 6 to 1 annually. Each violation costs $10,000 in fines plus 400 staff hours for remediation and reporting, that’s $60,000 and nearly 2,500 hours wasted annually if we don’t act.

PHASE 2: Calculate the True Cost (Beyond Dollars)

Budget matters, but your colleagues care more about the time and operational impact. Be transparent about all three dimensions of cost.

The Implementation Framework

Formula:

To address this we estimate [TECH] will take [TIME], take [JOB ADJUSTMENTS], and take [COSTS].

Example: Asset Management Implementation

Using external sensors and robotic inspection will require 6 months for vendor selection, 400 hours for implementation, and 100 annual hours for ongoing data management. John in Operations will lead this with his team. Annual costs range from $400K-$600K.

Example: Treatment Data Integration

Implementing our treatment data platform will take 3 months for selection, 80 hours for implementation, with Sarah in Operations owning the process and Travis from IT supporting database configuration. Annual costs range from $60K-$80K.

BONUS – Be proactive and identify which other technology is already in place to work with or other new proposed technology to integrate all at the same time. If you can find technology already in place that can be used it creates a great story of building upon previous investments.

PHASE 3: Just do it

With clear goals and honest cost assessments in hand, the real work begins. Don’t wait until you’ve solved every potential problem, that’s analysis paralysis. Instead, create a visual map of:

• Data flows and integrations (which systems need to talk to each other?)
• People and process changes (who needs training? whose workflow changes?)
• Technology touchpoints (hardware installations, software deployments, API connections)
• Critical blockers (which issues will completely stop progress?)

Assign an owner to each element. This transparency accomplishes two things: it helps potential supporters understand your plan and see where they can contribute, and it gives thoughtful skeptics a framework to raise legitimate concerns constructively.

Moving Forward

Digital transformation at utilities isn’t primarily a technology challenge, it’s a people challenge. The utilities that successfully modernize are those that master internal advocacy first and technology deployment second.

What smart utility project are you championing? Start by writing down your Phase 1 goal framework today. Once you can articulate the problem, approach, impact, and consequence in two clear sentences, you’re 80% of the way to gaining the internal support you need.

Ready to streamline your utility’s digital transformation? Infrasync connects your existing systems into a unified platform, reducing implementation time and demonstrating ROI faster. Learn how we’ve helped utilities overcome internal barriers and accelerate smart infrastructure adoption.