A physicist by training and headed for a career in the oil industry, Matthijs Zwart joined KPN in the late 1990s to help expand mobile telephony. After holding various management positions in telecom and networking, he joined Vitens in 2017, where he completely revamped the IT landscape and achieved a high level of automation. “When things get really tough, I drop a soccer quote to break the tension.”
What is the biggest challenge your organization is currently facing?
“The biggest challenges are cybersecurity and physical security. Our purpose is to continuously deliver a vital service: safe drinking water from the tap. That may sound simple, but with such high standards, we have a lot to lose. Our risk tolerance is as low as reasonably possible. Especially now, with geopolitical tensions rising in Europe, cybersecurity and physical security are major challenges.”
“Together with our teams, I manage these challenges as CIO and chair of the Vitens Security Board, which oversees all aspects of security. This is a continuous effort. New attack surfaces are constantly emerging, and many of our measures only work if everyone is disciplined. For example, if you see an unauthorized person, you ask for their ID. Having the courage to speak up and to accept being corrected is a key part of our security culture. We need this awareness at all levels.”
“The more access rights you have, the more rigorously you are screened. But we can’t rely on that logic alone. We’ve defined minimum authorizations per role and monitor them. This is quite extensive. Even the Dutch Ministry of Defense has come to see how we do it. Your role determines your access to both physical and digital systems. The upside: if your email is hacked, the attacker can’t access more than you can. The downside: when roles shift, we need very clear definitions to avoid problems. We’ve intentionally made the process a bit cumbersome to eliminate certain risks better.”
“If you want a secure IT design, the most important principle is simplicity. In a tech-driven organization, that’s tough, because new ideas are easy to generate. We’ve replaced every system, including our ERP, over the past eight years. Each time, we focused on harmonization and simplification. Now we’re replacing our most complex system: automation at our water treatment plants. We run 93 plants and many smaller stations. Automation is critical to uninterrupted service.”
“There is tension between what you know and what you don’t. Embracing that tension is the job of a modern CIO. In the past, leadership meant delivering certainty. But in 2025, that’s an illusion.”
“Some of our water production and purification facilities are outdated, and we’re harmonizing them by applying modern software. It’s a massive undertaking; not just technically, but also culturally. People have worked with “their system” for years, pouring their energy into it. You have to lead them into a new world while keeping their engagement.”
“We also face staffing shortages and the challenge of ensuring enough tap water during droughts. This ties directly into the innovation side of our digital agenda. We’ve digitized extensively, and now we focus on doing even more with the same team. Think project management tooling, digital engineering, data exchange, and automating project workflows to ease workloads and scale our capacity.”
The acceleration of technological and social developments does not make it any easier to plan a transformation. How do you stay on top of things?
“There’s a constant tension between what you know and what’s still unknown. Embracing that is increasingly what CIOs must do. In the past, leadership meant delivering certainty. But in 2025, that’s an illusion. And that uncertainty affects people. I see employees freeze up just thinking about what AI might do to their jobs. My leadership today is about helping people navigate those uncertainties.”
“Sometimes what looks like a tech issue is actually [a human issue]. When employees ask about AI capabilities, the real question is often: Is our data secure? Do they feel encouraged to manage data well? We need a culture where physical tasks aren’t “done” until the data is too.”
“These conversations build the foundation for effective solutions. If people trust the approach, they’re more likely to report what isn’t working, because they know we won’t punish them for it. That makes the organization more adaptive. I try to model that myself: stay calm and solve things together.”
Would more intensive collaboration with peers help you cope with technological and social developments?
“In the water sector, we’re not competitors. I regularly speak to peers, most recently at a two-day retreat, to avoid duplicating efforts. We even co-authored an AI policy. Why do it all alone? We’re also tackling digital engineering together. On cybersecurity, we’ve split responsibilities and share all information. We train jointly and have shared comms between operations centers.”
“I sit on the cybersecurity committee at the CIO Platform. There are many other knowledge-sharing groups there. You can post a question in the app group and get spot-on answers. It’s fantastic.”
“Sometimes I attend different meetings, outside my field. It’s valuable to learn from others with completely different roles. Issues are converging across industries, and different perspectives help you grow.”
What type of leader are you? How would you characterize your leadership style?
“I try to stay modest. I’m firm when needed. But everything we build under my leadership must be embraced by all Vitens teams. There’s no other way than through human connections. I use humor. When things get tense, I’ll drop a soccer quote. That breaks the ice and gets issues on the table. I want to be a force for good. My foundation is trust in every conversation. More than any infrastructure, that’s what you build on.”
“I regularly speak to peers, most recently at a two-day retreat, to avoid duplicating efforts. We even co-authored an AI policy. Why do it all alone?”
“If people trust the plan or the messenger, they’ll follow through. That’s the base of everything.”
What are you proud of?
“Our customer service results are excellent. I’m proud of that, and of our automation as well. I learned about automation in telecoms years ago. Together with my invoicing colleagues, I fully implemented it here.”
“Back in media and telecom, you had an operations center with a big map showing the current state. At Vitens, we had some screens, but no real-time visibility. Only a few experts really knew what was happening, and they eventually retired.”
“We needed a single view. Today, we call that a digital twin. For water utilities, there was nothing like it. So we built one ourselves, using as many standard components as we could. I’m proud of that. My background is in aerodynamics and hydrodynamics, and I finally got to apply it. Our digital twin even checks sensor accuracy and forecasts future conditions.”
“And one last thing: Dutch drinking water is the best in the world. That’s because of our hygiene system. Everyone who works with pipes washes their hands first. But we also guarantee bacteria-free water via a robust monitoring system. Thousands of samples are taken daily across our network, couriered to a lab in Leeuwarden, then scanned for contaminants. We helped digitize that process, and I’m proud of it. Every time I take a sip, I think of it.”