The future of factories in an IoT-driven world: Budget and data challenges and opportunities
The Internet of Things (IoT), as an acronym, can potentially have a double meaning. Naturally, while the term came to pass and be accepted to describe the process of connecting sensors in physical objects to wireless networks, the industry continues to get to grips with the coming together of information technology and operational technology. So not so much IoT – perhaps more IT/OT.
Nowhere is this IT and OT fusion more pronounced than in a factory setting. An engaging panel debate at IoT Tech Expo today explored the future of factories in an IoT-enabled world, the data challenges, and examples of innovation.
One of the key discussion topics at the event, across all the conference tracks, has been around the use of data. Enterprises who have spent the past few years building out data lakes now realise, to continue the nautical analogy, that they have missed the boat. As Jonathan Bowl, vice president of big data analytics and IoT at Hitachi Vantara put it yesterday, the vast majority of businesses are using data to inform their strategies, rather than power them.
Dr. Mayank Gupta is co-founder of Jugaad BV and a representative at MESA International. Large companies are sitting on top of tons of data, he said, but they do not have the internal logistics to make the most of it. This echoes Bowl, who argued the one thing tech startups craved, far more than money, was data. Heritage brands have decades’ worth of gold that they may not even realise.
Yet data analysis in itself is not the goal. “You can have all the fancy algorithms from machine learning, but for an industry like Tata Steel, KLM, Heineken, they’re not interested in processing data. They’re interested in finding solutions,” said Gupta.
Going further on this, Gupta stressed the importance of hard work in this process – and the need for enterprises to realise they may still need answers. “Most companies have bought into the concept that AI will solve their problems. They put their data into a magical cloud or blockchain… and it will solve everything for you,” he said. “The reality is very different. Data needs to go through layers and layers of processing; all those mini layers have to be done before it can bring value to you; and also it could be of no business value at the end of it.
“Companies are beginning to accept that there may not be value in the data,” Gupta added.
