We are excited to share that San Jose Water has won the prestigious 2024 North American Institute of Asset Management (IAM) Excellence Award for Digital Innovation at the annual conference, which was held in Denver!
This award recognized the incredible work of our Asset Management team, which includes Andy Yang, Hannah Lin, Erina Szeto, Brad Shacter, Quang ‘Q’ Tran, Darien Young, and Tam Huynh. Also, a special thanks to other key project players including Travis Hinkle, Jane Leinberger, Madeline Ramirez, and Totran Mai. To put this into perspective, SJW competed against and beat major asset management players such as IBM and Canada Post, the national postal service of Canada. Our team’s efforts have earned SJW a spot at the Institute’s Global Excellence Awards next year in London.
This award-winning Enterprise Asset Management system rollout has brought important new tools and systems to our field and office teams, making everyone’s work easier, faster, and more connected. Key features include mapping work orders, replacing multiple paper-based processes such as hydrant status updates with automatic notifications, and a mobile application for our field crews to map leaks, attach documents and photos, and track parts and labor. Thanks to these changes, crews have more control over their data and tasks, improving both their workflow and our record-keeping, and a wealth of valuable data is being collected to optimize decision-making.
A big part of this success can be credited to our Asset Management team’s thoughtful approach to change. They followed the ADKAR method of Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement, which helped to ensure everyone was prepared and supported. This included customized training, testing sessions, and 24-hour support for the first two weeks after launch. With continued enhancements underway, we’re prepared to showcase our excellence on a global stage next year as we compete for the award in London. Congratulations to our Asset Management team!