Once upon a time the recipe for entrepreneurial success was straightforward. Have a bright idea, raise some funding, build a team then identify and attack a target market and deliver quality at an appropriate price. The next stage was to scale up to meet demand fueled by customers who had little visibility of alternative choices.
The world had fewer competitors; there was less regulation and customers were loyal and interested in relationships and obtaining premium products at sensible margins.
Today, the world has changed a bit. Consumers have become more demanding, less loyal, more informed, price sensitive and focused on having what they want, tailored to their exact needs. Their visibility of choices is massively higher, most markets are over-supplied and flooded by multiple, more or less identical, alternatives. On top of which we see logistics and delivery processes now operating at the speed of light.
Nowadays it simply isn’t enough for the entrepreneur to invent a gadget and apply the old methods that succeeded in the past. The previous business models will not ensure that the business will eventually deliver a financial payout commensurate with the risk taken, the hard work put in and the complexity of running a substantial enterprise.
All businesses must now deploy 21st Century ‘agile’ methodologies, practices and infrastructures. Crucially, they must deploy technologies to compete and grow, deliver profits and ensure longevity. Review processes must be more rigorous and real-time information feeds are required for fast decision-making.
Above all else, Data, (‘Big’ or otherwise), must be captured, processed and analyzed before being focused and channeled into decision-making and planning procedures.
Only when an enterprise transforms into a data-driven entity can it hope to fully exploit its differentiation and unique attributes. This alongside, and in support of, its human resources, infrastructure and ‘go-to-market’ strategies enables companies to embrace the challenges of the 21st Century business environment.
The creation of a more precise understanding and utilization of resources and infrastructure, leads to a better and more focused customer offering. This in turn leads to the enhancement of enterprise value. The key to this is data; the analysis, exploitation and deployment of data. It is the new key performance facilitator, underpinning, validating and informing the success and profitable management of the organisation.
Now that data has become so critical to companies, it seems incredible that an estimated 90% of all Big Data is what we increasingly term ‘Dark Data.’ This is data which is unstructured and unprocessed, and therefore virtually unavailable and worthless as it is never been captured, analyzed and effectively utilized to create business value.
From the Greenbird perspective, the answer to utilizing this otherwise wasted data starts with a very simple observation.
At the heart of the mission to transform data from ‘dark’ data to accessible and usable information lies the ability to identify it, capture it, but then, crucially, integrate the feeds from which the data flows. This will transform the formerly ‘worthless data’ into a form which can be delivered as reports, trends, heatmaps and other tools.
The barrier to this process is an age-old enemy. There is a lack of compatibility between the devices which deliver data. These delivery feeds are unable to interoperate and become an integrated structure. They are unable to illuminate the mass of dark data held by every organization.
Integration, or rather the lack of it, inhibits the delivery of data, and in turn inhibits the opportunities this hidden data could deliver: better decision making, better application of funding, reduced risk and more rapid innovation. These are the crucial elements of creating, building and sustaining enterprise value in a modern business. In effect, utilizing the hidden data will support and enhance underlying enterprise value.
But there is good news!
The days of lengthy, costly, uncertain systems integration projects are numbered – Greenbird is transforming and disrupting traditional integration practices. The company is opening channels which translate Dark Data into illuminated information, creating a world in which there are no barriers to the flow of data around the enterprise.
Thanks to innovation enabling the energy revolution, the future is looking bright.
