Designing the Future Water System. Why Process Matters More Than Ever

The water sector is under pressure from every direction. Climate change, population growth, regulation, customer expectation and digital transformation. All arriving at the same time.

We talk a lot about assets, funding, and technology. Yet a quieter issue keeps deciding whether we deliver or derail. Over the last few years, I’ve worked closely with operational, digital, and transformation teams across the water value chain. One consistent lesson stands out. When outcomes fail, it is rarely due to lack of effort or intent. It is far more often due to unclear ownership, fragmented processes, and decisions being made without a true end-to-end view.

I think of weak process like a satnav trying to guide five people at the same time, each using a different postcode. Everyone wants the same destination. Everyone means well. Yet the convoy splits at the first roundabout.

In operational environments, this shows up fast. Unclear ownerships, handovers that rely on memory and decisions made in isolation. When pressure hits, people fall back on workarounds. Not because they want to but because the system makes it easier to improvise than to follow the flow.

Process architecture is not about drawing boxes for the sake of it. It is about answering simple questions clearly.

Who owns this?

What triggers action?

What happens next?

Where does risk sit?

What does good look like when things go wrong?

When those answers are clear, workflows. When they are not, even the best people struggle.

Large transformation programmes make this painfully visible. Enterprise Resource Planning and Digital Systems are like turning the lights on in a messy room. The mess was already there. The system just makes it harder to ignore. If processes are unclear, technology amplifies confusion. If processes are well designed, technology accelerates value.

One of the biggest mistakes organisations make is designing processes far away from the people who actually use them. It’s like writing a recipe without ever stepping into the kitchen. On paper it looks fine. In practice, it falls apart.

The water sector needs stronger process design capability. Clear design authority. Practical governance. Real involvement from operational teams. Processes that reflect how work truly happens, not how we wish it did.

Think of good process as the plumbing behind the scenes. You rarely notice it when it works. When it fails, everything backs up very quickly.

The future of water will be shaped by investment, innovation, and data. But it will be delivered through people following processes every single day. If we want resilient services, compliant outcomes, and better customer trust, process can no longer be an afterthought. It needs a seat at the table.

By Haarovyn Sidi, Senior Process Architect, Anglian Water

‍