Why Businesses Need to Embrace Big Data and the IoT
Having open, and transparent data is important for governments to move into the future. But it’s just as important for businesses.
This was the key message of Vivek Kundra, one of the Big Data Congress keynote speakers, on Tuesday in Saint John. Kundra is the former chief information officer of the U.S. government and is now the executive vice president of industries at Salesforce.
Like Monday’s keynote, the Estonian government’s chief information officer Taavi Kotka, Kundra said big data can transform how government operates and provides services to citizens. But he says that’s equally true for business and the private sector.
“What I mean by that is when you think about the private sector, we’re seeing an amazing explosion of data [and technology],” Kundra said. “But we’re in such an elementary phase when we think about how it’s going to be applied as we were in the government space.”
Kundra describes it as a race to the future, and it’s a race Salesforce has been trying hard to win. He says this past year the company spent $4 billion investing in different companies.
“It actually started in this region. We bought a company called Radian6 in Fredericton … and since then we’ve gone forward and invested in companies from MediMind to companies we’ve acquired over this past year,” Kundra said. “When we think about the future across different industries, we see a very different view than the traditional technology companies may.”
As more companies and industries start embracing big data, Kundra says the ones who’ll lead won’t just be the ones who change their technology, but their business model as well.
“What we’re finding, and one of the reasons why we’re investing a lot in [artificial intelligence] and a lot of these models, is it isn’t just purely the technology, but it’s actually the business model transformation and every company that’s out there was trying to figure out. If they’re in retail, how do they become the next Amazon? They’re not looking at past retailers and best practices there.”
Kundra describes it like Darwinism is the sense that those companies not investing and adapting for the future will be left behind.
“The reason they’re being left behind is because they’re glued to their current revenue streams and are not necessarily thinking about ‘what does this mean?’ Or how can you reconceptualize in a beginner’s mind in terms of how you build your business today. Not just in the past, but today,” he said.
“There’s this battle stage that’s been set for this battle for the future when we talk about data analytics, where everybody’s trying to get to that future faster. But it’s the ones who have reimagined their business models that are doing it successfully.”
Two of those companies who have been doing this successfully are General Electric and Rogers Communications. Though many people may think of their washing machines or cable services, they’re becoming national, even global leaders when it comes to big data and the Internet of Things (IoT).
IoT refers to the growing network of physical objects that are connected to the internet, and the communication that occurs between them and other internet-enabled devices and systems. How the IoT is changing the way businesses work was the subject of a panel featuring Jas Klotia, chief information officer of General Electric Canada and Charlie Wade, senior vice-president of Enterprise Business. It was one of several events at the conference on Tuesday related to the IoT.
IoT technologies are often associated with big industries like aerospace, manufacturing or railways, but Wade says businesses of all sizes are starting to embrace the IoT on different levels.
“I think we’re seeing it everywhere. Customers are really seeing the value of connecting their systems and their processes and gather data to improve those efficiencies,” he said. “Clearly there’s some big industrial opportunities, but the one thing we’re seeing is it’s not just for customers who are in large enterprises. We’re seeing tremendous efficiencies in small businesses.”
Klotia said the IoT had its start in the home, with individuals using things like smartphones, and then expanded into industries.
“The Internet of Things is another language. It’s becoming the DNA of the future from the home out to the industries,” he said. “It’s not going to stop, it’s going to grow. We need to think about how in business we can take advantage of it.”
Yet when you have a bunch of things connected to the internet, you’re going to be collecting a lot of data you don’t need. How do you get the data that is useful? Both Klotia and Wade said businesses need to define their desired outcome going in. What do they hope to improve through this data? You also need the expertise of a skilled data scientist.
“The challenge or pitfall we see many go down, including ourselves … is you have lots of information and we don’t get the insight, we don’t get the ‘so what?’ We don’t get the relevance to the business and that’s the most important thing,” Wade said. “Understanding the business, the ability to join the dots together and really drill out what it means and what we should do is the key skill I think we should be looking for [in a data scientist.]”
When asked by an audience member what both of their companies’ innovation agenda looked like for the next 10 years, both Wade and Klotia said collaboration and partnerships with others will be key not just for their businesses, but every other company working in IoT.
“You’re never going to be doing it alone now. The world is moving way too fast,” said Klotia.
Yet, being open to such things can be difficult, especially when you carry IP addresses for huge jet engines and railways, but Klotia says it can be done.
“There’s a balancing act, but the trick is not that you’re not going to do it all alone. You’ve got to partner. You’ve got to do joint ventures … It’s definitely a collaboration,” he said. “It’s how far you can take it and it’s that fine balance of being able to collaborate and get ahead, or someone else is going to get there before you.”