采用事件驱动架构实现实时响应能力。
内容总结：
【本报讯】在数字化转型浪潮中，事件驱动架构（EDA）正成为企业实现实时决策、迈向智能化运营的关键技术支撑。比利时水务公司Farys通过部署智能水表与EDA平台，成功将漏水响应效率从“按周期排查”升级为“即时预警”，展现了该架构在提升运营效率与推动可持续发展方面的双重价值。
在弗兰德斯地区，60万只智能水表持续监测供水网络。当某块水表检测到持续三天每小时漏水3升的异常情况时，系统会立即触发警报，次日即可向用户寄送漏水通知。这一自动化干预机制使75%的家庭在收到警报后两周内完成检修，既帮助用户减少损失，也有效节约了水资源。
相较于传统定时检测模式，EDA架构通过事件代理与流数据处理技术，实现了跨云、边缘设备等混合环境的海量设备即时联动。Farys公司首席信息官英格·奥普雷尔指出，该平台每日需处理220万条数据事件，通过实时插值计算与数据校验，可精准掌握区域级用水动态。
技术落地背后是企业对实时响应的战略需求。随着客户体验标准提升与供应链复杂性增加，传统批处理模式已难以应对分钟级市场变化。EDA的松散耦合特性不仅支持异步数据处理与自动化响应，更为人工智能应用提供了实时数据基础。Farys公司正探索基于EDA的动态水价机制，计划根据能源成本与蓄水情况，在特定时段向农业用户提供优惠水价。
目前，该平台依托SAP S/4HANA数字核心与高级事件网格技术，实现了30%的运营成本优化潜力，并将内部漏检效率提升365倍。奥普雷尔强调，提前布局EDA架构使企业能更敏捷应对业务需求，“若等到需求迫在眉睫时才建设技术层，将错失战略先机”。
（本文基于MIT科技评论洞察与SAP联合研究内容撰写）
中文翻译：
携手SAP
赋能事件驱动架构
实现实时响应能力
事件驱动架构（EDA）为实时决策提供可扩展、高弹性的技术基础，助力企业从被动响应转向主动运营。
在比利时弗兰德斯地区，60万块智能水表持续监测着家庭与企业的每滴水流量。当某块水表检测到异常情况——例如连续三天每小时持续漏水三升——系统会立即触发警报。次日，一封提醒信便会送达用户信箱，警示隐藏的漏水风险。
这类自动化干预由事件驱动架构（EDA）支撑，这也是智能水平台的技术基石。EDA的核心在于连接混合环境（包括本地系统、云平台和边缘设备）中分散的装置与应用程序，使异构系统在异常事件发生时能够即时通信。与传统定时巡检系统不同，EDA在事件发生瞬间即刻响应，无论是管道渗漏、客户紧急需求，还是重大系统故障征兆。
随着企业面临即时响应客户需求与供应链中断等多重压力，实时响应能力正变得至关重要。这意味着企业能够在问题演变为危机前及时捕捉，并实现自动化应对，同时更顺畅地扩展运营规模。这种实时响应能力正在成为企业存续的关键要素。
实时事件处理的商业必然性
向EDA转型既是技术演进，更是战略必需。
在市场环境瞬息万变的今天，传统的批处理或请求/响应模式常导致代价高昂的延迟。此外，随着数据量激增，传统处理方法可能不堪重负。
与此同时，客户体验期望已超越僵化的点对点连接和过时中间件的支撑能力。混合多云架构进一步增加了集成复杂性，简单的API轮询已无法满足当今商业环境对无缝体验的需求。
EDA通过多重能力应对这些挑战：事件代理与网格实现跨系统可靠消息传递；事件流处理支持海量数据流持续处理；高级事件处理技术可即时识别复杂模式并触发响应。最重要的是，EDA的松耦合架构为动态海量数据生态系统提供了所需的灵活性与韧性。
这些能力正在各行业创造实际价值。零售商借助EDA实现智能库存管理与全渠道无缝体验；制造商能实时监控生产线并保持供应链可视性；金融机构可瞬时识别欺诈行为；医疗机构通过主动监测与快速响应管理关键设备。
以Farys公司为例，法规要求与战略远见共同推动了EDA的落地。“我们预见到智能水表立法即将实施，必须在2030年前完成全面数字化，”Farys首席信息官Inge Opreel解释道。但法规期限只是加速了既定计划：该公司积累了长达25年的水质、管网性能及客户互动数据，加上持续增长的运营数据流，正寻求让海量信息产生实际价值的方法。
在设计多公用事业协作项目的新数据战略时，他们意识到需要新的架构方案。Farys与另外两家水务公司联合运营智能水平台，每家公司都拥有独立平台体系，因此审慎选择共享技术对应对三方协作的复杂性至关重要。“我们需要整合所有数据并确保质量，让业务部门能够信任这些数据，”Opreel表示，“必须实现异步数据处理、行动与后续活动的最大化自动化以及自动重处理。”
企业级EDA实战
Farys智能水系统集成数字水表、数据采集与监视控制系统（SCADA）及其他数据源，处理整个水网数千个设备点的事件。
该平台最先进的应用场景是水平衡系统，可对公司全基础设施进行水流三维监测。系统记录入网水量（包括生产水量及水质），追踪用水模式，监控出水去向——无论是居民用户、其他水务公司还是大型工业用户。
系统需配置快速执行复杂计算能力。“在主数据管理方面，一旦创建大流量计等设备，就需要在SCADA系统中生成事件。这是核心环节，每天约有220万数据事件触发主数据创建或变更，”Opreel解释道，“大量流数据持续涌入...必须通过插值或计算填补数据间隙，借助经过验证和增强的数据，我们才能真正监控管网，计算区域或片区流量。”
为支撑这种程度的集成与自动化，Farys以SAP S/4HANA（新一代ERP系统）为数字核心，在SAP业务技术平台（BTP）上运行SAP高级事件网格。“我们轻松实现与SAP及非SAP环境的混合集成，”Opreel指出，“由于事件网格具备多种标准连接器并支持多协议，可接收MQTT等运营技术领域广泛使用的数据或事件。这些开箱即用的集成能力帮助我们快速交付解决方案，且运行非常稳定。”
EDA的商业价值衡量
Farys事件驱动方法带来的商业成果具体而显著：仅漏水检测功能就为客户创造巨大价值，同时推动公司实现更广泛的可持续发展目标。
以前述“持续用水”场景为例：收到潜在问题警报的家庭（通常是马桶持续冲水或隐蔽漏水）中，平均75%在两周内解决问题。这既节约了宝贵资源，又帮助用户避免了不必要的损失。
除即时效益外，EDA更带来长期战略优势。该架构创建了能轻松集成新数据源、支持新兴技术的集成基础；通过确保单个组件离线或升级时系统持续运行，提升运营韧性；借助自动化报告与监测强化合规能力——例如水平衡应用使公司能精确计算国际漏水指数（ILI）并向监管机构汇报。
可量化的商业成果
比利时公用事业公司Farys的EDA系统带来长期优势
75%
收到警报的家庭在两周内解决问题
30%
潜在成本降幅
365倍
内部漏损检测效率提升
数据来源：MIT Technology Review Insights根据SAP 2025年数据编制
构建未来响应型组织
在人工智能时代，EDA同样扮演关键角色：为AI系统提供所需的实时丰富数据，支撑大规模智能决策。
随着事件驱动系统与AI代理协同演进，这一组合将重塑企业运营模式。
Farys已在探索更多可能性。Opreel设想利用事件驱动洞察实现动态水价——根据供水状况自动调整费率。“例如当水源过剩、制水成本较低时，可向农户发出提示，”她表示，“我们可以告知‘在午夜至凌晨4点取水可享受折扣，因为此时制水能耗成本较低。您可将其作为储备，因为我们预知未来几周降雨量偏少’。”
这种自适应商业模式正是EDA创造的未来图景。提前布局这些能力的企业将在竞争对手仓促跟进时占据决定性优势。
“通过提前数年部署事件驱动架构，我们能更从容地满足内外业务需求，”Opreel强调，“若等到需求迫在眉睫才着手建设技术层，就会陷入被动。而凭借前瞻性布局，特别是选择了可扩展架构，我们能够以远超从前的敏捷方式响应业务需求。”
更多内容请访问MIT Technology Review Insights与SAP联合打造的《关键业务计划的现代集成技术》内容中心。
本内容由MIT Technology Review定制内容部门Insights制作，并非编辑部撰稿。
本内容全程由人类作者、编辑、分析师及插画师完成调研、设计与撰写，包括问卷编写及数据收集。可能使用的AI工具仅限经过严格人工审核的辅助生产流程。
英文来源：
In partnership withSAP
Enabling real-time
responsiveness with
event-driven architecture
Event-driven architecture (EDA) offers a scalable, resilient foundation for real-time decision-making, ultimately helping organizations shift from reactive to proactive business operations.
In Belgium's Flanders region, 600,000 smart meters watch every drop of water flowing through homes and businesses. When a meter spots trouble—say, three liters trickling away every hour for three straight days—it instantly triggers an alert. A letter lands in that customer's mailbox the next day, warning them about the hidden leak.
This kind of automated intervention is powered by event-driven architecture (EDA), the foundation of the Smart Water platform. At its core, EDA connects scattered devices and applications across hybrid environments—including on-premises systems, cloud platforms, and edge devices—allowing disparate systems to communicate instantly when something anomalous happens. Unlike traditional systems that check for problems on a schedule, EDA responds the moment an event occurs, whether that's a leaking pipe, an urgent customer request, or signs of a larger system failure.
As businesses face mounting pressure to respond instantly to everything from customer demands to supply chain disruptions, real-time responsiveness is becoming essential.What this means in practical terms is that companies can catch problems before they become crises and automate responses accordingly—as well as scale their operations more seamlessly. And as businesses face mounting pressure to respond instantly to everything from customer demands to supply chain disruptions, this kind of real-time responsiveness is becoming essential.
The business imperative for real-time
event processing
The push toward EDA is both a technical evolution and a strategic necessity.
Legacy batch processing or request/response models often cause costly delays in a world where market conditions shift by the minute. What's more, as data volumes balloon, conventional processing methods can buckle under the strain.
The push toward EDA is both a technical evolution and a strategic necessity.Meanwhile, customer experience expectations are outstripping what rigid, point-to-point connections and aging middleware can support. Hybrid and multi-cloud architectures further complicate integration; simple API polling isn’t sufficient for delivering the kind of frictionless experiences today's business landscape demands.
EDA addresses these challenges with several capabilities: Event brokers and meshes deliver messages reliably across interconnected systems; event streaming enables continuous processing of high-volume data flows; and advanced event processing identifies complex patterns and triggers responses almost instantly. Perhaps most importantly, EDA’s loosely coupled architecture provides the flexibility and resilience required for dynamic, high-volume data ecosystems.
Across industries, these capabilities are delivering tangible value. For example, retailers are turning to EDA to drive smart inventory management and seamless omnichannel experiences. Manufacturers can monitor production lines and maintain supply chain visibility. In the financial services sector, institutions can detect fraud instantaneously. In healthcare, providers can manage critical equipment with proactive monitoring and rapid response.
In Farys' case, both regulatory mandates and strategic vision have driven EDA adoption. “We knew smart water meter legislation was coming; we have to be fully digitized by 2030,” explains Inge Opreel, CIO of Farys. But the regulatory deadline simply accelerated plans already in motion: The company had amassed 25 years of data spanning water quality, network performance, and customer interactions—along with an ever-growing stream of operational data—and was seeking a way to make this vast amount of information actionable.
So, when the company decided to design a new data strategy for a multi-utility collaboration project, it realized it required a new architectural approach. Farys operates the Smart Water platform in partnership with two other water companies, each of which have their own platforms and landscapes, therefore, a holistic and careful selection of shared technology was critical to meet the additional complexity for these three companies working in collaboration. “We needed to bring all of our data together, make sure it was high-quality, and ensure the business could trust it,” says Opreel. “We needed to be able to do asynchronous data processing, a maximum automation of actions and follow-up activities, and automated reprocessing.”
Enterprise-scale EDA in action
Farys' Smart Water system integrates digital water meters, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, and other data sources to process events across thousands of equipment points throughout its water network.
One of the platform’s most advanced use cases is its water balance application, which enables 3D monitoring of water flow across the company's entire infrastructure. It captures what enters the network (including water produced and its quality), tracks consumption patterns, and monitors what exits—whether to residential consumers, other water companies, or large industrial users.
"There's a lot of streaming data coming in… You must be able to interpolate or do calculations to fill the gaps, so that with validated data and enriched data, we can really monitor the network and calculate the flow on a regional or district level.” Inge Opreel, Chief Information Officer, FarysThe system must be configured to perform complex calculations in short order. “For master data management, once a device like a high flow meter is created, you need events to be created in your SCADA system. This is the core where you have a lot of events that trigger master data creation or changes, something like 2.2 million data events a day," explains Opreel. "There's a lot of streaming data coming in… You must be able to interpolate or do calculations to fill the gaps, so that with validated data and enriched data, we can really monitor the network and calculate the flow on a regional or district level.”
To support this level of integration and automation, Farys relies on SAP S/4HANA (SAP’s next-generation ERP) as its digital core, with SAP Advanced Event Mesh running on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). "We use mixed integration to SAP very easily, and also to non-SAP environments,” notes Opreel. “Because event mesh has a lot of standard connectors and knows a lot of protocols, it can intake data and/or events like MQTT, which is fairly broadly used within operational technology. These integration capabilities, out of the box, help us to deliver it more quickly, and they’re very stable.”
Measuring the business impact of EDA
The business outcomes from Farys' event-driven approach are both measurable and meaningful; the leak-detection capability alone drives substantial value for customers while contributing to Farys’ broader sustainability goals.
Take, for example, the “continuous consumption” scenario described earlier: On average, 75% of households that receive alerts of potential problems (often, a running toilet or unseen leak) resolve their issue within two weeks. This simultaneously conserves precious resources and helps customers avoid unnecessary costs.
Beyond these immediate benefits, EDA provides long-term strategic advantages. The architecture creates an integration foundation that can easily incorporate new data sources and support emerging technologies. It improves operational resilience by enabling systems to continue functioning even when individual components go offline or are being upgraded. It also strengthens regulatory compliance through automated reporting and monitoring; Farys’ water balance application, for instance, allows the utility to precisely calculate its International Leakage Index (ILI) and report those metrics to relevant regulatory authorities.
Measurable business outcomes
Belgium utility company, Farys's EDA system offers long-term advantages
75%
Of households that receive alerts of potential problems resolve their issue within two weeks
30%
Cost reduction potential
365x
Increase in in-house leak detection
Source: Compiled by MIT Technology Review Insights, based on data from SAP, 2025.
Building tomorrow's responsive
organizations
EDA also plays a pivotal role in the AI era: It feeds AI systems the rich, real-time data they need to make informed decisions at scale.
As event-driven systems evolve to work alongside AI agents, this combination stands to transform how businesses operate.
Farys is already exploring what's next. Opreel envisions using event-driven insights for dynamic water pricing—automatically adjusting rates based on supply conditions. "For example, where there's an overflow of water and we can produce water very cheaply, we could give triggers to farmers," she says. "We could say, 'Hey, if you take water between 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m., we can give it to you at a lower price, because our energy costs to produce water are lower. You can keep that as a buffer, because we know in the coming weeks, there will not be much rainfall.'"
This kind of adaptive business model represents the future that EDA makes possible. Companies that build these capabilities now—before they desperately need them—will have a decisive advantage over those scrambling to catch up retroactively.
"By having event-driven architecture already a few years in place, it makes it easier to fulfill the internal and external demands of your business," says Opreel. "If you wait until the demand is there, you still have to start building your technology layer. By anticipating that, and certainly having chosen a scalable architecture on that part, we can fulfill business demands in a more agile way than we used to."
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