Working with leaders from Water and Sanitation Utilities has been one of the greatest honors of my life. I have never ceased to be impressed by the dedication and courage of the teams fighting – seemingly against all odds – for the fiscal space, technical solutions, managerial challenges, and the political and community support that is needed to improve how clean water and sound sanitation services get to the ever-growing populations of urban areas around the world. These utilities are often very large organizations and typically, they are quite unique in their country or city – thus having few others to compare themselves to and learn from. But that matters! In a world in which everything is a priority, it’s hard to know what to prioritize – and one solid way to do so is to take inspiration from others who are ahead of you. So last year I began working with colleagues on a global initiative designed to connect utilities with each other. To make it practical enough for water engineers and non-engineers we work with, we decided to connect utilities through data. We started by taking on the redesign of the IBNET, a great data tool with over 20 years of proven results, however, it was originally conceived as a large survey-based database for benchmarking utilities. Today, the NewIBNET (the redesigned IBNET), includes a new online platform that utilities can use swiftly by themselves. Simply by entering their own data, along with only 15 key performance dimensions and seven groups of critical management practices, utilities joining NewIBNET can easily figure out where their own organization “stands” in comparison to others, allowing them to make informed decisions to improve service delivery. Does it actually work? Know more Image