Climate Change Trial Reservoir proof-of-value helps Samoa Water Authority commit to digital transformation
Bynry Inc’s Smart360 platform will fully upgrade Samoa Water Authority’s existing system and boost return on investment.
Samoa is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, facing sea level rise, extreme weather and increasing pressure on food/water systems. Sea level in the capital city of Apia has risen by 31 centimeters since 1990 — three times the global average.
Against the backdrop of climate change, Samoa Water Authority (SWA) has been under pressure to upgrade its digital infrastructure. The utility’s ageing system has struggled to keep up with rising demand, customer expectations and environmental stress. In 2019 a measles outbreak exposed serious operational gaps. When the COVID-19 pandemic followed, it became clear that SWA needed a more agile and digital-first infrastructure.
SWA sought to embrace a cloud-oriented, mobile-based approach to their data, future-proofing their system and improving accessibility, flexibility, and resilience.
In July 2024, SWA launched a Trial Reservoir-supported digital transformation trial, deploying Bynry Inc’s Smart360. Smart360 is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform providing simplified operations for small and mid-sized water utilities. The trial involved a close working relationship with the Asian Development Bank to align it to the ADB’s digital transformation roadmap.
Trial goals included streamlining meter data management and billing and workforce operations. Alongside this, SWA wanted to reduce total cost of ownership and improve customer experience for Samoans. SWA also wanted to “future proof” its system to account for network growth and new technologies like smart metering.
The trial wrapped up in April 2025 with fantastic results. Smart360 has firmly progressed SWA’s water environmental transition while increasing its digital resilience. From a climate perspective, the long, diesel-fuelled journeys required to capture data are now largely automated. Non-revenue water losses, previously abundant, can now be tracked and rectified within the system. And customers who previously struggled with the manual approach to bill paying and complaints can easily manage bills through the digital portal.
Following the digital transformation trial’s successful completion, Samoa Water Authority has committed to rolling out Smart360 across their entire network.
Benefits of Approach
- Waste reduction: SWA has reduced water, energy and paper usage as a result of new digitised processes and documentation.
- Reduced manual input: New photometer readings, saving time and reducing user error.
- Better tracking: Water consumption can be tracked in near-real time, allowing SWA to identify hotspots for non-revenue water.
- Streamlined reporting: Management modules allow for operational challenges and customer complaints to be logged and reported seamlessly.
- Smoother customer experience: Unified customer service and billing module offers greater transparency for SWA network users. This is a key priority for SWA as it dedicates more energy to being more customer-focused in the coming years.
- Long term savings: Better identification and tracking of maintenance issues through condition assessment and risk analysis, saving SWA time and money.
Specialist Services Involved:
- Communication facilitation: Isle facilitated vendor-client communications, from pre-trial contract negotiations through to trial conclusion. Because of the geographic separation between the client and the vendor, Isle played a crucial role in managing expectations.
- Trial and purchase agreement support: Our team assisted with the development of the trial and purchase agreement. These negotiations included the drafting terms of procurement and KPIs to objectively measure trial success.
- Communications strategy: We developed a communications strategy around trial milestones.
- Loan support and documentation: Trial Reservoir co-created terms that Bynry can successfully pay back after trial completion given their procurement agreement with SWA.
- Trial management support: Our team ensured the trial remained on-target and within the budget and scope of parameters set forward in the agreement.
Outcomes:
- Data migration: 35,400 customer and meter records digitised with 100% accuracy.
- Accurate readings: 24,659 field photometer readings taken and validated for accurate billing.
- Digital billing: 7015 digital bills issued by email.
- Digital operations: 75 service orders processed and tracked through a new dashboard system.
Key Contacts:
For enquiries and further information, please contact Dr Jo Burgess, Director of Trial Reservoirs Initiative at Isle Utilities.