The far-reaching impact of technology and the resulting change in the way companies are restructuring and streamlining business processes are transforming the global SCADA market.
Driven by the need to improve the sustainability of water utility infrastructure, the worldwide market for SCADA systems for the water & wastewater industries is expected to see above average growth over the next five years according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.
The latest SCADA systems encompass a new generation of technology components. “The current SCADA market also reflects the impact of new technology on SCADA components and cost effective communications for knowledge transfer.
"SCADA components are easier to integrate and provide vastly improved capabilities and functionalities, and communications are no longer limited.
"End users are utilising SCADA technology for a range of operational improvement applications and linking these to busi-ness processes for a variety of purposes, both internal and external to the enterprise,” according to Analyst Allen Avery, the principal author of ARC’s SCADA Systems for the Water & Wastewater Industry Worldwide Outlook.
ARC has analysed the SCADA market by geographic region, project size, and component type, including hardware, software, and services. The underlying technology that facilitates traditional SCADA functionality has changed dramatically.
For water utilities, emerging technology is enabling SCADA to be tightly integrated to the domain of business processes, creat-ing an improved value proposition for its usage.
SCADA systems bring improved performance to geographically dispersed assets and provide a framework for real-time performance management on a regional, or even global, basis. The water utility infrastructure will utilise the enhanced functionalities of SCADA to improve its core business processes.
The water & wastewater industries in developed regions is using SCADA as a core technology to support new business processes in response to changing industry dynamics and the need for large scale upgrades of existing infrastructure.
Infusion of newer SCADA technology can optimise the required level of capital expenditures for improved sustainability and upgrades of aging infrastructure. Developing regions are looking to either upgrade or install new water and wastewater treatment and distribution systems.
SCADA is used to link these geographically separated facilities. SCADA will be at the core of technology adoptions as the industry moves through uncertain economic climates to improve business processes to meet the growing demand and economic challenges that privatisation and public-private partnering of the industry requires.
Suppliers must develop a SCADA system capable of being fully integrated with corporate business systems. These systems include technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS) and asset management programs.
In order to be competitive, suppliers must show how their SCADA system can provide real-time data to meet both present and future demands of all stakeholders involved with the operation of water utilities.