Guide to IIoT Analytics
Download NowSuccess in analytics requires a solid foundation. However, that foundation does not come fully-formed, ex nihilo. The foundation and the capabilities that sit atop it must be built up piece by piece. Analytics success is a process. This post gives some high-level thoughts about that process. We’ll follow up with more details about how this process might differ depending on where you start.
Analytic capabilities are defined by the combination of organizational culture and technology which a company brings to bear in using the data it generates. Ultimately, the goal is to have enough strength in both culture and technology that productive business outcomes can be achieved. However, building up these capabilities does not happen on its own – changes have to be motivated and activated.
Motivation to change comes from the experiences that operations teams, management and supporting functions have relative to the analytic capabilities of the organization. Good (or bad) technical experiences, such as finding (or missing) a costly problem, can motivate building more technical capability in that area. Good (or bad) cultural experiences, such as the maintenance team being able (or unable) to use a warning to successfully schedule minimum-impact equipment downtime through effective cross-functional collaboration, can motivate building better organizational capabilities.
Activating a change comes from discussion of those experiences between stakeholders. Do management and engineering discuss how operations might change if a report was written showing how the problem was missed and what would be required of analytics and sensors to find it? Do operations teams talk directly to each other about what data and approaches are best for identifying and understanding the problems they face each and every day? Are digital successes and failures communicated throughout the organization as being core to the learning and culture that drive the business? These are all critical elements in determining what kind of change is possible and in making that change actually happen.
OK, so all of this is kind of obvious. However, our experience shows that most of the discussion around achieving analytics success is focused on the technical aspect. That narrow focus, while easier to define and time box, limits the chances of success. Developing the right combination of technical and cultural capabilities by cultivating the right experiences among the right people and facilitating the right discussions in the right circles is at least equally important to the strict technical criteria.
We think that’s worth talking about.
