Across the United States, municipal water utilities are feeling the squeeze. Aging systems need upgrades, customer expectations keep rising and staffing often is tight. For Wilmington, Delaware, such pressure was especially clear in an outdated customer information system (CIS) that made utility billing and customer service operations harder than they needed to be.
Rather than settling for workarounds, the city of more than 70,000 did something decisive: Over several years, Wilmington transformed a struggling billing platform into a modern, cloud-based CIS that supports water, wastewater, stormwater and other city services.
The result is immediate and meaningful: streamlined day-to-day operations, increased automation and a significantly improved, seamless digital customer experience.
Like many local government utilities, Wilmington relied on a CIS platform that had grown increasingly difficult to maintain. Billing processes were cumbersome and staff relied on manual patchwork fixes while vendor support failed to keep pace with operational needs. Day-to-day tasks took longer than they should, and the system limited the city’s ability to adapt.
Recognizing the risk, the city engaged Black & Veatch to evaluate its utility operations technology and define a path forward toward digital transformation. The goal wasn’t simply to replace software but to restore operational confidence and create a foundation for utility modernization.
As expected, the first step was to evaluate and understand the current state. Through stakeholder engagement, workflow analysis and technical evaluation, Black & Veatch did a deep dive into how the existing CIS affected billing accuracy, customer service and staff workload.
That assessment revealed systemic challenges that weren’t just configuration issues but fundamental limitations in the platform itself. Armed with a clearer picture, Wilmington initially explored whether the system could be stabilized. Months of collaborative effort followed, but progress remained limited.
Ultimately, city leaders made a pivotal decision: incremental fixes weren’t enough. A full customer information system replacement was the best long-term solution.
Navigating CIS vendor selection, modernization with confidence
Given that replacing a utility billing system is among the most complex technology decisions a municipal utility can make, Black & Veatch guided Wilmington through a structured CIS vendor selection process, beginning with a detailed market scan of modern solutions used by water utilities and other municipal service providers.
Cloud-based CIS platforms were evaluated for scalability, integration capability and long-term support. Vendor demonstrations helped translate technical features into real-world operational impacts.
All that groundwork informed a comprehensive request for proposals. More than 10 vendors responded, reflecting the growing demand for CIS modernization across the utility sector. Through scoring workshops, evaluations and negotiations, Wilmington selected a solution aligned with its operational and customer experience goals.
For a small municipal utility, implementation risk can be as daunting as technology risk. Wilmington’s staff already were fully engaged in daily operations, with little spare capacity for a major system overhaul.
Black & Veatch remained involved as owner’s engineer throughout CIS implementation, delivering hands-on project management, integration oversight and issue resolution. The team coordinated vendors, managed schedules and maintained momentum when complexity threatened progress, especially as multiple systems and sub-vendors had to work together.
This sustained involvement proved critical to keeping the project on track without disrupting essential utility services.
While the implementation was successful, it wasn’t without challenges. Given the legacy system’s age, most of the city employees hadn’t experienced a full technology changeout of this scale and complexity. The process needed extensive training and testing. But from this experience, employees became more conversant and knowledgeable about digital transformations.
In July 2025, Wilmington successfully went live with its new cloud-based customer information system. Customer interactions began immediately, marking a turning point in how the utility manages billing, service orders and customer inquiries.
One of the most significant changes: the move to daily utility billing. Enabled by modern metering data and CIS integration, the new system eliminated long gaps between meter reads and billing. Rather than overwhelming peaks, work now is distributed evenly across each day.
For customers, this means greater transparency and predictability. For staff, it translates to smoother workloads and faster response times.
The new CIS also automated processes that once relied on emails, phone calls and paper work orders. Service requests now are generated within the system, dispatched electronically to field crews, completed on tablets and closed automatically.
This integrated field work management capability provides end-to-end visibility, reduces errors and improves coordination between utility operations and public works, making for a more efficient, accountable workflow from request to completion.
The evolution of the new system didn’t stop with the initial implementation. Multiple changes were needed as the system was socialized to the public and to meet unexpected external situations. Many of these changes were resolved through collaborative efforts of Black & Veatch and the city.
The lesson: stay flexible to meet unexpected challenges.
Wilmington’s journey reflects a broader industry trend: While investor‑owned utilities largely have modernized their customer information systems, many municipal water utilities continue operating platforms 15 to 25 years old.
In Wilmington’s case, billing lived within a broader enterprise system where it was not a core focus. More than simply solving technical issues, replacing that platform unlocked future flexibility. The new CIS now supports water, wastewater, stormwater, property tax, and licensing and inspection services within a unified customer experience.
From initial assessment through the moment it went live, Wilmington’s CIS replacement demonstrates what successful utility modernization looks like: informed decision-making, structured vendor selection and sustained implementation support.
For municipal utilities navigating similar challenges, the message is clear. Utility CIS modernization no longer is optional. With the right strategy and expertise, even small utilities can modernize critical systems — without overwhelming staff — while building a smarter, more customer-focused foundation for the future.
