Why Data Drives More Sustainable and Profitable Industrial Operations
Most consumers have access to all the data they need. But for those working in the industrial world, that’s not the case.
The lack of access to data in industry leads to lower profitability, a larger environmental footprint, and greater risk. This is because industrial data is stuck in independent and unconnected silos, and is unavailable for better decision-making.
We need to move asset-heavy industry data and applications closer to where consumer applications are today. Consider the navigation systems we use in our everyday lives; these applications combine data from multiple sources, enabling the consumer to easily check, for example, store hours, restaurant ratings and estimated travel time, on a single interface that gives them a unified view of what’s happening in real time.
We need to do the same for industry, so that necessary and meaningful data can be accessed in one place, rather than through multiple systems.
Data opens the door to greener and more profitable operations
In a time when the climate emergency is topping the global agenda, digital transformation and sustainability must be at the core of any industrial strategy. Industrial players aim to optimize production while minimizing their environmental footprint. This requires data from IT and maintenance systems along with operations information. Only once this data is combined can companies begin optimizing processes, reducing their carbon footprint and maximizing production.
Go beyond proof of concept
Too often, companies approach digitalization too narrowly to make an impact. They may have a proof of concept to show potential value, but they struggle to scale it. To capture value at scale, robust data architecture is essential. This makes it possible to contextualize data from all systems, giving it meaning and empowering users with a unified model of industrial reality that both humans and algorithms can use to optimize and automate industrial operations.
Industrial transformation success requires three key things:
Making digital transformation and sustainability core parts of company strategy, owned by the CEO and board.
Making data available across the value chain and merging information from OT and IT systems, so algorithms and AI can be applied to optimize operations.
Making capturing value at scale a top priority, and ensuring that applications are deployed across the enterprise for greater profitability and sustainability.
It’s time to liberate the data and put it to work
At Cognite, we help solve industrial data challenges with our Industrial DataOps platform, Cognite Data Fusion, that liberates data from different systems and connects it together. This enables anyone, whether they’re on an oil rig or at a factory, to fuse together data and extract meaning from it, and convert raw data into real business value. It’s a giant step toward more profitable and sustainable operations, helping industry move closer to the consumer world in how it uses data to make a difference.
Learn how Cognite can turn your industrial data into business value.
— John Markus Lervik, CEO and Co-Founder, Cognite
This article originally appeared in Business Reporter. Image credit: iStock id1286815175
