Industrial Automation Magazine India

Legacy mechanisms of sorting data are not adequate for Big Data

Published on : Wednesday 04-05-2022

PV Sivaram, Evangelist for Digital Transformation and Industrial Automation.

What exactly is Big Data? What actually is the difference between Big Data and plain Data?
In plain English terms, Big Data is a large amount of data. This common term has a specialised meaning in the technological domain. In the domain of Artificial Intelligence, Analytics and Machine Learning, Big Data is understood to be a collection of complex data sets, stored in specific manner on large servers to achieve defined business goals. The data is retrieved using defined access mechanisms. The procedures, protocols and tools for managing the complex data sets are collectively called Big Data. Big Data is data which is being collected at a furious pace, and continuously growing in volume. Legacy mechanisms for searching and sorting of data are not adequate for Big Data. The authenticity and reliability of prognostics made by Analytical engines processing Big Data is far superior to what can be achieved by the lower volumes of data.

What is the relationship between Big Data and Digital Transformation?
Digital Transformation as a catch-all term is a journey of an enterprise to become more adept in three major areas. First is to become more agile in serving the customers which means quicker to service expressed demands. Second is to become more efficient in its processes thereby gaining competitive advantage. Thirdly, continuously innovating its products as well as business models by quickly becoming aware of changing customer demands, which are not always articulated. These are activities which need a response in real time. The inputs come from customer interaction, from the manufacturing field, and from social media. These inputs are so diverse in nature, and the arrival rate of new data is random, hence only techniques of Big Data are adequate for the purpose.

Data has been compared variously to oil (black gold) and also garbage. How to make sense between the two extremes?
There are various tools and platforms claiming to provide the ideal fit for purpose. How should enterprises evaluate and select the right solution?

Whereas manufacturing companies and process industries have well defined benefit statements, how do service industries benefit from Big Data Analytics?

How does the 5G rollout change the landscape of Digital Transformation ?
A new advancement is looming ahead in mobile communications, commercially called 5G. There is speculation about how this technology will impact on Digital Transformation. At the outset, the IIoT model allows many technologies to be deployed at the communication layer – starting from traditional plant field buses, wireless field buses, GPS, Bluetooth and so on. 5G is one more addition to this array of media. But there is a good significant difference – 5G is quite fast. The impact of 5G will be proportional to the impact of the applications which can leverage this speed advantage. This area is a work-in-progress. We are unable to say that 5G will make sweeping changes.

PV Sivaram, Evangelist for Digital Transformation and Industrial Automation, is mentor and member of steering committee at C4i4. He retired as the Non-Executive Chairman of B&R Industrial Automation and earlier the Managing Director. He is a past President of the Automation Industries Association (AIA). After his graduation in Electronics Engineering from IIT-Madras in 1976, Sivaram began his career at BARC. He shifted to Siemens Ltd and has considerable experience in Distributed Systems, SCADA, DCS, and microcontroller applications. 
 
Sivaram believes strongly that digitalisation and adoption of the technology and practices of Industry4.0 is essential for MSME of India. He works to bring these concepts clearer to the people for whom it is important. He believes SAMARTH UDYOG is nearer to the needs of India, and we must strike our own path to Digital Transformation. Foremost task ahead is to prepare people for living in a digital world. He is convinced that the new technologies need to be explored and driven into shop floor applications by young people. We need a set of people to work as Digital Champions in every organisation.