Love Data Week (13th-17th February) is an international celebration of data that takes place every year during the week of Valentine’s Day. Smarter Technologies is highlighting the importance of inspiring people to use data to bring about changes that matter.
Why fall in love with (real-time) data
You use data daily to inform your decisions, probably without even realising it. For example, I bet one of the first things you did this morning was to check the weather forecast on your phone to decide what to wear. Having this data at your fingertips helps you prepare for the day ahead. In the old days, before internet accessibility, we had to rely on the news broadcast the previous evening to dictate our daily attire. We still got the data, but it was harder to access and less reliable than the latest update on your phone. What this simple example shows us is that data removes the guesswork and helps us make better decisions; real-time data is even more so.
In today’s connected world, we can use smart internet of things (IoT) technology to connect the physical world to the virtual realm, effectively creating a digital twin. And digital = data. These days, you can collect data points on virtually anything you can imagine. In the smart building space, this can mean monitoring energy consumption in real-time, automating HVAC settings, or gathering occupancy data on who is where at what time. And these are just some of the common applications; the possibilities are endless. Choosing a secure, end-to-end network compatible with any hardware or software is crucial when collecting data.
Democratising data using cloud-based technology
It’s true that what you can’t measure, you can’t manage (effectively, at least). So, it’s one thing to have all this great data from everything around you, but it doesn’t mean anything until you understand and analyse it. Organisations and individuals may have access to enormous (and growing) data sets, but more data is not always better if they lack the tools to manage and understand big data.
Fortunately, technology today is making it easier for different people within the organisation to do so; this is known as data democratisation. Data democratisation is being driven by the move to cloud computing, AI, and data visualisation, with the goal of helping organisations make better, data-driven decisions. And organisations that harness this technology and take control of their data are set to maintain a competitive advantage in all spheres, including environmental, social, and governance (ESG).
Cloud-based platforms like SmarterView use smart analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to make it easier for anyone to quickly see a summarised or detailed overview of the data collected by your smart sensors and tags, including device summaries, history of alerts and commands triggered over time, and real-time consumption and status data.
Your data is a story waiting to be told
The robust evolution of cloud-based data platforms is rapidly driving data democratisation of data. When choosing the right tool for your needs, I suggest looking for a flexible, agnostic product that is compatible with different systems and platforms, can combine legacy data with modern infrastructures, and can evolve with your organisation. Once you have this platform in place, your organisation has the potential to realise significant operational improvements and agility, solve bottleneck issues, become more future-fit, and be empowered to make data-driven decisions that serve you now and in the future.
