How Operators and Users handle Infrastructure

Everyone uses it, everyone needs it. Infrastructure is a part of daily life, yet remains largely unknown to many. This problem goes both ways: users don’t fully understand their infrastructure, and infrastructure companies don’t fully understand their users. This lack of transparency leads to misunderstandings, high costs, and a poor public image for infrastructure projects. How can we change this?

What Is Infrastructure?

Given the widespread lack of enthusiasm for infrastructure, a quick definition may help. Infrastructure is the foundation of our economy. It includes all long-lasting facilities, whether physical or institutional, that are essential to a functioning economy. Infrastructure includes physical structures like energy and water networks, roads, and communication networks. Everyone uses infrastructure and takes it for granted, either directly (taking the train or driving to work) or indirectly (buying bananas in the supermarket, which have traveled long distances over rail, water, and road).

The Problem of Non-Transparency

Despite its critical importance to the economy and society, infrastructure often suffers from a lack of interest among users. A functioning infrastructure is taken for granted, but as soon as it stops working smoothly, people react with frustration. What’s missing is an awareness of the processes behind it. This also affects the pricing of infrastructure, especially for indirect usage, which often lacks transparency. Users have no choice but to accept the quality offered as fixed and unchangeable.

These factors lead to a negative perception, a sense of helplessness, and widespread disinterest from users regarding infrastructure. As an industry expert, I see that this lack of transparency is a problem for both users and infrastructure operators. Operators struggle to meet the diverse needs of their stakeholders because they don’t know those needs well enough.

Different Stakeholders, Different Interests

Operators lack clarity on what their various stakeholders require—users are just one of the groups involved. Therefore, operators must first ask: Who is my customer? Is it really the end user, or are my customers the investors, or perhaps the municipalities?

The “customers” vary, which means their needs are also quite different. What’s needed is a targeted, transparent way to assess these values through systematic needs analysis on both sides. With such analysis, operators can understand what their stakeholders value and what they’re willing to pay for it. This, in turn, allows costs to be reduced where spending aligns with high-quality engineering standards but doesn’t bring value to the specific stakeholders:

Think about it from a user’s perspective: Why do you pay the same amount for a seat on a train as you do for standing—especially since no standing fare even exists? You might be willing to stand if you only had to pay half price. And must you sit on fabric seats in the subway? Would plastic seats be enough if it meant cutting ticket prices in half?

You’d probably have more interest in infrastructure if you were involved in these decisions.

How Asset Management Can Align with Stakeholder Needs

To achieve infrastructure that meets actual demand, we have suitable tools at our disposal. Value-Based Asset Management allows infrastructure operators to align their work—strategy, investments, decisions—with stakeholder needs. This results in focused, transparent action, empowered decision-makers, and engaged employees. Achieving this requires an intensive dialogue between stakeholders, operators, and customers.

A successful example of this is Southern Water. The large water network operator in southern England launched an extensive 18-month customer dialogue program, marking the start of a sustainable stakeholder approach. The outcome is a published five-year asset management business plan that is designed to meet the stakeholders’ clearly defined priorities. Southern Water now understands what quality means to its customers and, through continuous communication, can tailor its technical measures to meet the specific benefits customers seek and the price they’re willing to pay.

Conclusion – A Satisfied Customer Is Possible

As a consultant for infrastructure operators, coach, and entrepreneur, I aim to improve the image of infrastructure and enhance operational processes and structures. Examples like Southern Water show that it’s indeed possible to define stakeholders’ diverse needs and meet them effectively and efficiently through Value-Based Asset Management. What we need is time, education, and the courage for an open, intensive dialogue. This will gradually lead to greater attention, interest, and satisfaction among customers regarding infrastructure.? What value do I want to deliver as a rail network operator? And what measures are needed to achieve this? With my company, Meliorate, I have been supporting infrastructure owners and operators with these and other questions related to professional asset management since 2011.

Author: Lars Overdiek