Qatium’s 2023 was about openness, collaboration, and expert content

As 2023 draws to a close, the team at Qatium invites you to join us in a retrospective journey, celebrating our year’s achievements and milestones. This year was marked by significant strides in openness, collaboration, and user-friendliness, reflecting our commitment to enhancing the digital water management experience. In this “Year in Review,” we’re excited to share ten key highlights that you might have missed, each showcasing our dedication to innovation and community engagement in the water sector. 

1 — We announced our SDK, coming in 2024

Get ready, because Qatium will soon be unveiling our Software Development Kit (SDK). Our SDK will give you the tools you need to customize and extend Qatium’s platform in ways that are highly relevant to you and your own use cases. It’s for software developers, utilities, consultants, researchers, students, and anybody who’s interested in developing their own solutions or their own tools or functionalities. If you want to be the first to know when the SDK is ready for you, subscribe here.

2 — The Qatium team grew by 43%

In 2023, the Qatium team grew significantly, bringing our total headcount to over 50. All of our departments grew this year, particularly product and customer success. Our growing team reflects Qatium’s mission to make digital water management available to all utilities, big and small with an easy-to-use water management platform and excellent customer support.

3 — We continued to work with #QatiumExperts on great content

This year, we continued to collaborate with Qatium Experts to create insightful content on critical water-sector topics you care about. Environmental journalist and Qatium Expert Tom Freyberg hosts QTalks, an on-demand webinar for water professionals. Be sure to check out these popular QTalks episodes if you haven’t already:

• Episode 12: PFAS & water quality: the great challenge, 
• Episode 13: Utility staffing challenges: preparing for the “silver tsunami”, and 
• Episode 14: Chatting on ChatGPT, AI and water.
• Episode 15: Open data: Driving collaboration in water

Meanwhile, QShorts — water expert thoughts into small, digestible bites — are always a click away so you can get water industry insights in seconds. If you’re wondering what’s in store for the water industry next year, Qatium Expert Dragan Savic, CEO at KWR Water Research Institute, recently shared his top 2024 prediction for the water sector.

Qatium Experts continue to contribute fascinating thought leadership to Qatium’s blog. Paul Fleming, Water Tech Advisor & President at WaterValue, recently shared his thoughts on how utilities can prepare for a whipsawing climate.  

4 — Qatium’s platform got even easier to use

Despite adding functionality, we’re careful to make sure our platform stays easy-to-use. Work modes keep Qatium’s interface simple, while giving operators a comprehensive set of tools for their daily work. Jump straight to the job-to-be-done by quickly adjusting the interface: check network performance with Analysis mode; identify any issues in your network with Warnings mode; or start operational scenarios like Shutdowns mode or Flushing mode. 

You can also get a quick, high-level view of how your individual zones or district metered areas (DMAs) are operating with DMA insights. Simply hover over any zone or DMA and get quick insights, like net flow and minimum pressure values. 

Interested in what’s up next? Check our open roadmap to see what features are on deck. 

5 — We found opportunities to stay together, despite being fully remote

Qatium may be fully remote, but we still make time to get together, connect, and have fun! This year, we hosted a meet-and-greets in Valencia for the team to foster deeper connections and amplify our collective Qatium spirit — a highlight was the Qatium Olympics! Qatium’s Luke Butler, Director of Innovation, also hosted an in-person training in Valencia this year for our team. Our team has also presented at conferences this year, including the International Water Association’s Digital Water Summit and the US Environmental Agency’s Digital Water Symposium.  

6 — We released three whitepapers on AI, communications & “Open Water”

In 2023, Qatium’s thought leadership in water management took center stage with three pivotal whitepapers:

AI & Water Management: What utilities need to know now — Water experts Gigi Karmous-Edwards, Saša Tomić, Ph.D., PE, Dragan Savic FREng, and Paul Fleming delve into AI’s impact, future applications, and strategic implementation for water utilities facing climate and population challenges. Read more here.

Communications & Water Management: How utilities can communicate better — This whitepaper addresses the crucial role of effective communication in building customer trust. Learn from industry leaders Stephanie Corso, Tom Freyberg, John Gonzalez, and Paul Davison about transitioning from transactional to relational communication, the power of storytelling, and leveraging social media for stronger public perception. Explore more here.

Open Water: why we need open data, open software, & open collaboration in water — Uncover the transformative potential of open data, software, and collaboration in the water sector. Experts Gigi Karmous-Edwards, Luke Butler, Nigel Watson, and Lewis Richards discuss non-competitive collaboration benefits, open-source software standards, and successful open data projects, aiming to solve global water challenges through shared knowledge. Dive into the details here.

7 — Qatium’s platform got even more collaborative

This year, we enhanced Qatium’s team workspaces so you can collaborate more closely with your colleagues, partners, and stakeholders on single or multiple networks. Create a workspace, upload a model, and quickly invite team members to collaborate. You can also share individual networks with your partners and stakeholders. Your shared networks are clearly labeled with a badge, so network owners and recipients can easily identify which networks are shared and which aren’t. Meanwhile, it’s easier than ever to manage your networks and team projects in Qatium. Admin users profiles help you stay in control and co-manage workspaces more efficiently. Optimized workspace management allows you to create, rename, and delete workspaces more easily, so everything’s organized and clear. 

8 — We launched a new series, Distilled, with Will Sarni

Did you watch this year’s Distilled conversations? Hosted by Water Foundry CEO Will Sarni, Distilled is a video podcast series that features water leaders from around the world. Each one-on-one conversation explores the guest’s unique career path, discusses the challenges and opportunities facing the water industry, and considers what’s next for water. 

Here’s what you may have missed:

• Orianna Bretschger, CEO and Founder of Aquacycl, spoke about embracing microbial tech for reliable wastewater treatment with significantly reduced emissions.

• Susan Joy Hassol, Author, TEDx Talker, and Director at ClimateCommunication.org, shared her thoughts on changing the media narrative on climate change and acknowledging climate change is a water issue. Check out Susan’s Distilled conversation here.
• Koldo Urkullu, Director of Operations and Asset Management at the Bilbao Water Consortium (Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia), talked about the evolving demands on the water system amid Bilbao’s transformation from industrial powerhouse to vibrant city. Learn more from Koldo’s Distilled episode here.
• Dave Johnson, Deputy General Manager of Operations at the Southern Nevada Water Authority and Las Vegas Valley Water District, shared how he ended up working in water, the challenges facing the industry, and what he predicts for the future of water. Watch Dave’s Distilled conversation here.
• Sergio Campos, Chief Water & Sanitation Division at the Inter-American Development Bank, spoke about how his first-hand experience with water scarcity growing up in La Paz influenced his passion for water and his career path in the water sector. Watch Sergio’s Distilled conversation here.

9 — We kept learning

Qatium values continuous learning and provides employees with an annual learning budget of 2,500 EUROs. In 2023, Qatium employees continued to improve communication skills in both English and Spanish. Our corporate language is English, so we provide English language learning for non-native speakers. We also provide Spanish language learning opportunities for non-native speakers. Additionally, we use the budget to hone our role-specific skills. For example, our clean water modeler, Jorge Muñoz, completed a course on humanitarian water management.

10 — We’re getting ready for a big 2024

From the imminent launch of our Software Development Kit (SDK) to maintaining simplicity in user experience amidst added functionalities, this list is a testament to Qatium’s ongoing mission to make digital water management available to all. 2023’s exciting developments set the stage for an even more impactful 2024. Follow us for more whitepapers, engaging video series, and expert collaborations, all contributing to a richer, more connected water management community.

Thank you to all our experts, staff, users, readers, and watchers for a truly memorable 2023. Stay tuned and have your say on Qatium platform updates that are important to you. If you haven’t signed up for Qatium yet, try it for free today.