The next wave of innovation will come from open platforms of diverse ideas that break down silos, accelerate solution development, and enhance transparency when acted upon.
– Robert Bornhofen, Director of Innovation, DC Water
What do we mean by “open platforms”?
An open platform refers to software that is designed to be extended, integrated, adapted, and interoperable — not just by the vendor who built it, but by the broader ecosystem of users, developers, and domain experts who rely on it. Unlike closed systems that restrict customization or third-party development, open platforms tend to promote flexibility, collaboration, and innovation.
An open platform can be proprietary, open source, or a hybrid of both. What makes it “open” is not the licensing alone, but its technical architecture and philosophy: a foundation of shared principles, modular design, and interoperability that empowers users to build on top of it.
7 signs a platform is designed for openness
1. Developers can add new features or extend functionality
A traditional, closed platform often limits or restricts external development. This can look like, for example, a hydraulic modeling tool that lacks plugin architecture or APIs, ultimately preventing utilities from extending or building on top of the platform themselves.
Open platforms, on the other hand, provide capabilities for developers to add new features and extend functionality beyond what the core platform provides. This supports more responsive and dynamic development processes, where utilities, collaborators, or third-party contributors can create features and plugins that tailor a platform to their emerging needs, local requirements, or unique challenges. It
allows different contributors to build solutions that can be shared, reused, or iterated on collectively, increasing the speed and reach of innovation and allowing users to take ownership of improvements or features that matter most to them.
2. Freely available documentation or guidance source code
Closed platforms usually keep APIs behind closed doors, undocumented and unsupported for customers. Developers may attempt to reverse engineer APIs, but they risk unstable plugins or violating terms of service. Without formal access, innovation stalls and integrations remain fragile.
Conversely, open platforms typically provide freely available documentation or guidance source code to allow external contributors to learn, experiment, and contribute. In genuinely open platforms, the vendor makes APIs and other developer resources directly available, supporting their customers’ transparent and intentional extension of the platform. The presence of official, accessible developer resources is a key marker of true openness.
3. Portability is part of its makeup
Closed software is typically limited in its portability, meaning it’s tightly coupled to a specific environment, and that can make it harder for organizations to transition, scale, or adapt when they face changes in infrastructure, business requirements, or deployment environments.
This can lead to increased infrastructure costs, limited agility, and greater risk of lock-in to a single vendor or technology stack.
Open platforms usually have portability in their makeup. Portability ensures that a platform can run in a variety of environments — including on-premise systems, cloud infrastructures, or hybrid combinations of the two. This can allow software to be moved, deployed, or scaled across different technical environments with minimal friction or reengineering. Software developers often achieve portability by using platform-independent technologies or standardized configurations that minimize reliance on any single infrastructure.
There’s also often a connected aspect of data portability in open platforms, which is the ability to transfer data from one platform to another. This is crucial for users who want to switch platforms or use their data across multiple services. Portability provides an environment where users and developers have more freedom and control over their data and applications.
4. System architecture supports modular components
An open platform likely has forms of modularity in its construction, which allows for internal flexibility of the platform’s components. The idea is that the platform is built from distinct parts (modules), each of which performs a specific function and can be updated, removed, or replaced independently. This can make it easier for developers to maintain, customize, and scale within the core system without breaking the whole, support easier and safer adaptation, and reduce development complexity.
In contrast, a tightly bound platform lacks this flexibility — changes to one part of the system can require updates to many others, increasing the risk of disruption and making it harder to scale or adapt efficiently.
5. Enables stable, decoupled extension development
Even if a traditional software platform allows some customization, tightly hardwired extensions often require developers to directly edit the platform’s core code to introduce new functionality. This can increase the risk of errors, complicate upgrades, and make long-term maintenance more difficult and resource-intensive.
Open platforms take a software development approach that supports and promotes decoupled extensions. Decoupled extensions are external add-ons or integrations that can enhance or extend the platform’s functionality without touching or modifying the core application. The focus is on keeping the core system stable and maintainable while still allowing new capabilities to be layered on, usually through defined interfaces like APIs. These extensions are “decoupled” because they don’t depend on — or risk breaking — the internal workings of the platform. Decoupled extensions also reduce system downtime during updates and allow organizations to adopt or retire specific features without impacting the stability of the entire platform.
6. Interoperability is built into platform design
Interoperability is a critical characteristic of open platforms. It means a platform plays well with other systems, often enabling seamless data exchange and integration across diverse tools. Open platforms, by enabling portability and interoperability, reduce the switching costs for users, encouraging competition among platform providers. This is essential for bridging legacy systems, third-party software, and new technologies. It reduces duplicated efforts, improves coordination across departments or partners, and allows for more comprehensive and accurate data analysis. Interoperability also supports smoother workflows and end-to-end visibility across the systems an organization depends on, making operations more efficient and decision-making more informed.
Without interoperability, systems remain fragmented, data remains siloed, and organizations are forced to rely on manual workarounds or duplicative systems to bridge gaps. This can result in inefficiencies, errors, and limited insight. Interoperability is therefore a foundational characteristic of open platforms, enabling seamless integration, collaboration, and innovation across tools and teams.
7. Exists within a broader ecosystem of technologies and standards
Ideally, an open platform exists within a broader ecosystem of technologies and standards that prioritize openness, shared knowledge, and collaboration. This allows for easier interoperability between tools and encourages a culture of collective progress. It also gives platform users access to a wide range of value-added extensions developed by others in the ecosystem — eliminating the need for each organization to build everything themselves and allowing them to benefit from proven innovations and shared expertise. This is key to increasing the speed of digital transformation while decreasing costs and duplicated work across organizations tackling similar problems.
Ultimately, open platforms help resolve out-of-the-box scalability and integration challenges, allowing organizations to start simple and grow over time — without being boxed in by vendor limitations.
Why open platforms matter for water utilities
Open platforms are not a risk — they are a strategy to innovation.
– Robert Bornhofen, Director of Innovation, DC Water
Water utilities today are under pressure from aging infrastructure, tightening regulations, climate uncertainties, and rising customer expectations, all demanding faster, smarter responses — but too often, digital tools can become barriers instead of bridges. Open platforms can help change that. By focusing on interoperability, breaking down silos, and enabling future-ready, scalable growth, open platforms can give utilities the flexibility they need to keep pace without getting boxed in.
Interoperability that builds real connections
At the heart of every open platform is interoperability — the ability for different systems to connect, share information, and work together without expensive workarounds. Today’s water utilities are supported by dozens of specialized tools: SCADA systems, hydraulic models, asset databases, customer service dashboards, and more. When these systems can talk to each other more easily, operations become more efficient, data becomes more useful, and decisions happen faster.
Without interoperability, it’s difficult for utilities to adopt the technology they need for a successful digital transformation because integration projects are often costly, labour intensive, and time-consuming. Instead of being locked into outdated systems or facing expensive integration projects, open platforms can help ensure utilities can introduce new tools that immediately plug into their existing environment — speeding up innovation and reducing risk.
Breaking down silos inside and out
Open platforms don’t just connect systems — they connect people. Internally, a utility’s planning, engineering, operations, and customer service teams often rely on separate software that doesn’t always speak the same language. Open platforms can help bridge those gaps by offering tools and plugins that can help utilities share information securely internally and build cross-department workflows.
Beyond the utility’s walls, open platforms can also enable smoother collaboration with outside partners. Technology vendors, regulators, and other utilities can build on shared standards and interfaces, developing solutions that are easier — and cheaper — to adopt. Instead of every organization reinventing the wheel, open platforms can help create shared ground where innovation can spread faster and more affordably
across the water sector.
Preparing for the future without breaking the bank
Every utility knows that infrastructure decisions made today have to stand the test of tomorrow. Open platforms can help utilities stay future-ready without locking them into rigid systems or endless upgrade cycles.
Thanks to modular design and open integration points, utilities can start small — focusing on the core capabilities they need today — and scale up as their needs evolve. They can modernize at their own pace, without being forced into costly fullsystem replacements. They can tap into proven tools, extensions, and expertise developed by others — reducing both the cost and the risk of innovation.
In a sector where budgets are tight and expectations are high, the ability to adapt, collaborate, and grow without starting over is not just smart — it’s essential for longterm resilience.
Read the whitepaper
Check out the whitepaper Open Water 2.0: open platforms, marketplaces, & community and have a look at the full list of sources here.
