Our previous blog gave practical advice on how to maximize the return of your analytics implementation. These are great actionable tips for those with a building analytics platform already in place, with many more to be shared in future blogs. However, many are still navigating the plethora of analytic solutions – all evolving at a rapid pace – while trying to decide on a particular one that fits their needs, or even still considering whether or not analytics is right for their organization. Whatever stage you are in the “pre-analytics” world, this short blog should give useful insights.
First of all, we would benefit from lessons learned in the business and financial world, where terms such as Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Analytics have flourished, to help enterprises improve their decision-making process to achieve operational and strategic goals. In this realm, most agree that an analytic-driven organization is very effective at resource utilization and has a noticeable competitive advantage. Moreover, in order to become analytic-driven, at least three key ingredients are required – technology, resources and culture.
Technology
Back to our world of facilities and Building Automation Systems, focusing on the technology needed to implement the most suitable analytics solution is of utmost importance. First, consider the reality of the existing infrastructure. Before defining the technology needed to move forward, assess what is there first. To have a proper roadmap to becoming analytic-driven, you need to know your ‘current location’. Second, look under the hood. Buildings have a multitude of inter-related entities often called systems. Is the solution you are considering able to look at these systems, measure their performance, detect faults in them, understand their behavior, and help optimize their operation? Or is the solution just able to render beautiful charts with a high level overview of how a building uses energy? Is the platform a comprehensive solution that includes both a top-down strategic approach and a bottom-up operational perspective? Third, ask who the audience is. Will executives requiring high-level reporting as well as building experts looking to take action be empowered with the chosen analytics solution?
In a future blog, we’ll consider the other two ingredients, because choosing the right technology is not enough.
Written By:
CopperTree Analytics
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