The trends spawning the next wave of sustainable business models

From the sharing economy to digitization, technological and cultural trends are changing the way we think about sustainability

Yarra Valley Water had a problem: the water and sanitation company in Melbourne, Australia, couldn't easily see what was going on with its operations. It was hard to determine if any of its $2bn US in assets - including almost 12,000 miles of water and sewer pipes, nine treatment plants, two water recycling facilities, and dozens of pump stations - had leaks, needed maintenance or were strained to their limits. And this confusion prevented the company from efficiently serving its customer base of 1.7 million people and 50,000 businesses.

The company's management systems lay at the heart of the problem. To oversee its confusing mass of infrastructure, Yarra Valley relied on a collection of different, aging computer systems that made it difficult to gain a comprehensive view of its operations. It's a common issue around the globe: many water utilities lack insight into their aging, leaking, inefficient infrastructure, and are employing unimaginative stopgaps or privatizing their operations.