Sawaco aims to become a digital enterprise, modernizing the water supply system

With modern infrastructure, synchronous solutions and clear strategy, Sawaco is taking steady steps on the path to becoming a digital enterprise, while playing a core role in building a smart water supply system for Ho Chi Minh City - a megacity of more than 14 million people.

In order to meet the demand for water use and management of more than 11,000km of water supply pipes and 2.4 million customer households, Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco) has chosen the path of digital transformation to modernize operations and serve customers more effectively.

Entering the 2025-2030 period, Sawaco has clearly identified strategic directions to elevate the digital transformation process to new heights.

Specifically, building a comprehensive digital enterprise, synchronizing internal management to production and services, forming a flexible and transparent digital ecosystem, in which customers play a central role.

Along with that, Sawaco focuses on developing a smart water supply system, taking data infrastructure as the foundation. The main data center (DC Site) will be upgraded, and a backup data center (DR Site) will be built to ensure backup capacity and handle huge volumes of data from thousands of IoT devices.

Technologies such as AI, Big Data and Data Warehouse will be widely deployed to forecast water demand, control supply quality and minimize loss.

To realize the set goals, Sawaco focuses on developing high-quality human resources, including strengthening cooperation with universities and research institutes to build a team of data experts and technology engineers, while creating a working environment that encourages innovation and creativity.

Sawaco staff instruct people on how to use the online water bill payment application on their phones. (Photo: Anh Tuan/VNA)

This is the core force, ensuring that the digital transformation process is not only successful in the short term but also sustainable in the long term.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dang, Deputy General Director of Sawaco, said that besides investing in technology, building human resources is the driving force for good digital transformation for Sawaco in the coming time.

With the adaptive development of science and technology, human resources must constantly accumulate, learn, equip digital skills and skillfully use new technologies to meet the development requirements of the water supply industry as well as of Ho Chi Minh City.

To ensure sustainable operations, Sawaco considers human resources as a decisive factor. Many training courses on digital technology , especially in the fields of AI and big data, have been regularly organized for engineers and staff.

The results are clear: costs are saved, water loss is reduced, incident response times are shortened, while customer satisfaction is increased.

Digital transformation is no longer a distant concept, but is directly improving the quality of the city's water supply services.

Mr. Pham Bach Trieu, Director of Information Technology of Sawaco, said that investing in modern information technology infrastructure not only helps Sawaco optimize management activities and improve operational efficiency, but also ensures a solid foundation for comprehensive digital transformation.

Advanced solutions are being invested in to help Sawaco ensure information security, improve customer experience and move towards a sustainable digital enterprise in the future.

Previously, in the 2021-2025 period, Sawaco also achieved significant achievements in the digital transformation process.

Since 2021, Sawaco has issued the Information Technology Development Project for the period 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030, which identifies the key goal of modernizing infrastructure and increasing automation in the entire water supply system.

To materialize this project, in 2023, Sawaco put into operation an international standard Data Center, with 99.9% availability, a dedicated server system and 10Gbps high-speed connection.

Along with that, the information technology infrastructure is deployed with multi-layer security, multi-factor authentication, and data encryption to help data and systems operate absolutely safely.

Not only stopping at infrastructure, Sawaco also promotes the application of technology in production and operation. Water plants in Sawaco's management system have been equipped with industrial-standard Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, WaterGEMs hydraulic software and GIS systems, allowing real-time network monitoring, accurate flow modeling and timely detection of incidents.

Another important milestone is the establishment of the Water Supply System Operation Center (SWOC) phase 1, where network-wide data is integrated and centrally coordinated, helping to improve management efficiency.

Sawaco representative said that the Data Center is invested according to international standards to help integrate computing, storage and virtualization into a single system, improving performance and optimizing operating costs.

Along with that, SWOC is considered the "blood vessel" of Sawaco, helping to comprehensively monitor the water supply network from the factory to the distribution system, quickly detecting water leakage or loss incidents.

In particular, Sawaco has tested smart water meters integrated with IoT, capable of transmitting data remotely and warning of immediate problems.

According to Sawaco, this technology not only helps improve the reading process but also contributes significantly to reducing water loss rates - a challenge that has existed for many years.

Thanks to a comprehensive digital management system, the city's water supply sector has reduced water loss to an unprecedented low, now down to 14.09%.

The digital transformation process at Sawaco is not just about technology projects, but has become a comprehensive chain of solutions. From production to consumption, data has been completely digitized, allowing Sawaco to flexibly coordinate water resources according to time and residential areas.

On that platform, artificial intelligence (AI) is applied in customer service, helping to process requests quickly, accurately and bring a more convenient experience. In parallel, a modern sensor system is widely installed, connected to the operation center, allowing continuous monitoring of water quality.

Automation not only helps optimize production, but also minimizes operating costs.

Currently, member water supply units and Sawaco are promoting the integration of Sawaco's online services into the "Ho Chi Minh City Digital Citizen App" so that people can look up bills, water cut-off schedules, register for new water supply, and report equipment failures./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/sawaco-huong-toi-tro-thanh-doanh-nghiep-so-hien-dai-hoa-he-thong-cap-nuoc-post1073582.vnp