Due to its growth in popularity amongst utilities and our membership, SWAN launched the Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) Community from 2020-2025. Through two in-person workshops and 18 engaging collaborative calls, global SWAN Members co-developed objectives and discuss various facets of this business model, from definitions to applicable use cases across the water sector.
What is DaaS?
Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) is an innovative business model transforming the way organisations gather, share and interpret data by accessing data on demand. In essence, DaaS can be characterised as a framework, which enables users to only pay for the outcome they wish to receive instead of purchasing and maintaining the product themselves.
DaaS Definition with the Water Sector: “A partnership model in which a technology supplier operates and maintains certain hardware equipment (e.g., water quality sensor, flow sensor, level sensor) to collect, transmit, and process data — and the utility only pays for the delivered results.”
Below are some common utility benefits of adopting the DaaS model.
