George Demosthenous, CEO at VODA.ai talks to World Water-Tech North America about asset management and how the company’s technology solution is optimizing water systems and reducing water loss. 

When it comes to asset management how can technology maximize the value of data and what are the applications?
There are new use cases every day across every facet of asset management. This is enabled by the latest innovations of computing power which empower companies like Amazon and Google to crunch continually evolving vast datasets. They became so effective that at times they seem like they know what we are about to do before we do it. VODA.ai uses AI – including Machine Learning and Deep Learning – to see patterns within massive arrays of seemingly unrelated data points, yet that collectively offer direct causation behind previous pipe failures. The AI engine used by VODA.ai – daVinci ML™- is then able to predict and target pipes with existing or future failure accordingly. VODA.ai Lead Finder™ also uses daVinci ML to assign probabilities of lead to service lines. In the future we see a world where utility decision makers work closely with AI-powered systems to solve most of their challenges faster and more accurately than ever before. This will include decisions for all types of utility assets individually and decisions that will combine assets for much improved higher level planning, and planning across departments like utilities and DOT.

As pressures on water supply increase, how does a solution like VODA AI assist utilities in optimizing their systems, and reducing water loss?
We all understand there is ample opportunity for water loss to occur between production and the customer. Actually, many miles of opportunity. VODA.ai replaces human intuition with science to identify the most vulnerable, at-risk pipes throughout a utility’s pipe network. From here utilities can prioritize pipes to replace or rehabilitate before failures occur and waste massive amounts of water, and equally importantly, determine with AI which pipes to apply sensor-based leak detection systems, given their limited resources. VODA.ai creates better decision outcomes for utilities and optimizes their planning by eliminating guesswork, especially when combining plans that include pipes with a high likelihood of lead and high likelihood of failure.

Can you tell us about your journey as an early-stage start-up up to your recent success? What have been the key milestones?
The first few years of a company are hard. Start-ups have to find a real problem, a solution that works, and execute well so that they can acquire and maintain customers through trust and value. It requires passion and hard work by the entire team. At VODA.ai, we were fortunate to have a Co-Founder who has done something similar before in the medical industry. We were also fortunate to hire a great team. I personally believe that the team is more important than the product because people build products and support customers. At VODA.ai we are lucky to have had a great journey so far, with many incredible milestones. I’ll share three that come to mind – our first big milestone was creating a model that clearly worked. It wasn’t perfect but it had enough signal to generate a lot of value for our customers. The second milestone was building a team that shared the same values, passion, and had the technical expertise to create a great solution. The third milestone was acquiring paying customers who love the solution and tell their friends about it. From here, the incredible results experienced in improved risk modeling for failures and lead management with our platform vs. traditional methods continue to drive our growth and industry recognition.

What connections are important for you to make at World Water-Tech North America and how do connections and partnerships benefit your own organization and the industry at large?
World Water Tech is a great forum to connect with utility leadership responsible for confronting the big challenges facing our industry. Our purpose-built algorithmic science and the software platform for presenting the data are designed and driven around the deep insights gained from utility partnerships. As a result of relationships gained from events like this, we are able to form new partnerships and continually evolve our product, while magnifying the value we bring to the industry to confront and solve risks associated with asset management.

Hear more from George at the World Water-Tech North America Summit. He will speak on the Asset Management: Maximising The Value of Big Data panel on Thursday September 29 at 11:30am PST. For more information about VODA.ai, visit their website here.