Old Systems, New Demands: A Water Utilities Story

The critical water management software that utilities rely on wasn't built for what they're facing in 2026, and the shortcomings are beginning to make themselves known.

In this episode of RPI Tech Connect, two guests calling in from Northern California join to talk about the current state of water utilities: Bob Benstead of Infor Strategy Group and Mark Oliver, who leads the Infor Practice at VIP.

Bob covers the landscape—who gets the water and who doesn't, the country's aging infrastructure and how to prioritize repairs when there's never enough money, and the multi-tier compliance maze running from the EPA down to your county.

Mark picks up on the software side: why on-prem systems can't keep pace with integration and security demands anymore, what a connected cloud platform changes for billing, asset management, and financials, and why AI is only as useful as the data you feed it. Plus, the two dig into what growing data center demand means for water availability and cooling.

Three big challenges, one common thread: you can't fix what you can't see. If your systems are showing their age, this conversation is worth your time.

You can't fix what you can't see—and you can't see it on a system built 20 years ago. Learn how RPI implements Infor CloudSuite for water utilities 👉https://www.rpic.com/cloud-implementation/

*Chapters:*

00:00 Welcome to RPI Tech Connect

1:51 State of Water Utilities in 2026

6:06 Challenge 1: Water Availability

9: 57 How a Cloud-Based ERP Mitigates Leakage

13:18 Challenge 2: Infrastructure Investment Requirements