Eindhoven wants to become a smart society. But how is that going? What’s happening already? And what examples can we learn something from? The Datastudio is researching the transition that the city needs to make to become such a smart society. E52 features a new contribution every Friday. This week: Can companies deal with their data in a better way? Read all of the submissions here.
Every company collects big data, either deliberately or not, but there is still too little being done, according to Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschapij (BOM) and BrabantKennis. In the March edition of the e-zine, it shows that a lot of companies are already out of the starting blocks, but the awareness should be there for everyone. But what steps should you take to make this switch?
If you want to deliver added value to your customers in the future, then you need to include an element such as datafication, according to Ruben Kolfschoten, Business Development Project Manager at BOM. But before you as a company immediately hire data scientists, you should first look at the possibilities. “Companies quickly start collecting data, but do you know why you’re doing that? Firstly, are you aware of where all data can be collected, what other companies are doing, and where your possibilities lie? This awareness has not even come so far yet, and that is of utmost importance before you can even think about what can I do exactly with big data.” In order to be able to deepen your knowledge of the subject, you should, according to Kolfschoten, hold talks with business associations, visit masterclasses, and make connections with universities.
Once you are aware of where you as a company stand, and the opportunities that big data offers, then you need to look at the requirements. “Where do you need to develop further as a company, do you need partners or certain facilities? Only after these steps are taken can you start to build your program around your datafication.
“This awareness has not even come so far yet, and that is of utmost importance before you can even think about what can I do exactly with big data”Ruben Kolfschoten,
The enormous growth of digital information, or big data, can provide businesses with added value for both their own organizations, as well as for their customers. Big data can, for example, predict when machine maintenance is required so companies can better use their service engineers. “Data can help improve your business. You can come up with new ideas, new improvements, products, customer insights, and new ways of interacting with your customers. If you gain an insight into how things are done by means of datafication, then you can, in this respect, implement improvements.”
According to Kolfschoten, you cannot and must not isolate yourself. “If you cut yourself off from what is happening around you, then you will be written off. The companies that have been able to gain value from their data, they have advantages with this. On both financial and competitive levels. This can still be on a limited scale, but it is getting bigger.” It is a matter of starting ‘something unknown’ as a company. “You do not know exactly where the added value lies. It expects an investment with unknown results.”
With the e-zine, a start has been made about the awareness of datafication. The BOM is currently in the process of setting up a program to see how they could support businesses. “With the e-zine, we are going to look at the status. What do companies already know about the topic and how do they work within that. We want to promote economic growth, and for this, we want to look at the needs of companies so that we can potentially fulfill that.”
