How the Cloud is Transforming Data

As employees return to commercial and corporate buildings, connected data will help leaders make better-informed decisions.

A new partnership between Honeywell and SAP will - for the first time - combine both financial and operational data, providing insights across an entire enterprise.

“We’re really helping corporate real estate managers respond to the new reality COVID 19 has laid upon our laps, which is: How do we help remote working? How do we help enforce social distancing? How do we help manage the unpredictable ebbs and flows of people coming into the office in this new world,” said Que Dallara, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Connected Enterprise.  

Businesses having one view of financial and operational data will enable faster decisions.

“Companies are really looking for scalability and for trust in data,” said Peter Maier, president of SAP industries and customer advisory.

Here’s how businesses will use the cloud to overcome the challenge of unifying operational and business data.

Collect data at the edge

Enterprise operations are complex, with proprietary operational technology (OT) assets that generate data in silos. Think of all the devices and assets that companies use to perform their daily operations, from the machines on the factory floors, vehicles, security measures, to building systems such as HVAC and fire. These assets sit at the “edge” of the enterprise and often interact directly with employees, occupants and customers– unlike core IT systems that exist on corporate servers.

Combine IT and OT analytics with the cloud

Accessing and working with OT data alone is already a challenge; combining it with business data has been all but impossible. But with the new post-COVID 19 return-to-work push, insights that businesses can generate from a holistic data set went from a dream to a necessity. Enter the cloud.

The cloud of the future will unify both IT and OT data in a single tool. Business leaders will figure out how and when their employees are coming back to the brick and mortar. Along with planned utilization data from business systems, they can look at badge-in and badge-out data to measure actual utilization patterns to better inform decisions at the site and across the enterprise.

Make insight-driven decisions

Before, decisionmakers had to guess based on an incomplete picture. Soon, they can tie business and operational data to learn how people really move throughout the building. It can help tightly control air quality, utilization, HVAC efficiency, all while knowing how leadership’s choices directly affect employee wellness and happiness by contrasting it with HR feedback data from business systems.

Unifying data from across the enterprise will unlock new insights that will usher in an era of data-backed decision making. Thriving in the post-COVID landscape will require driving efficiency, productivity and sustainability throughout commercial buildings from the boiler room to the boardroom.