The 5th Annual Digital Transformation and Data in Government conference was held recently at Sky Stadium in Wellington. It was an opportunity for digital transformation leaders to come together and discuss and learn about digital service delivery and citizen engagement. It was also an opportunity for Abley to demonstrate the role of location intelligence and location-based data to an audience who may not realise its value.
Location is not always considered when it comes to digital transformation largely because location hides in plain sight. It is something that is everywhere and is easy missed, being so commonplace. The risk of failing to consider location can result in missed opportunities and poor outcomes.
The role of location is crucial, particularly for digital transformation that relies on the use of connected devices and/or the Internet of Things (IoT). Often the location of devices influences the quality of the data captured and the spatial relationship between them influences the results. A simple real world example would be the recent flooding in Canterbury. Environment Canterbury has been on a digital transformation journey and has implemented many IoT rain and river flow gauges. These gauges provide near real time data and knowing the location of gauges and how they relate to the location of other gauges is very important as there is relationship between rainfall and river flow. Imagine a situation where this relationship wasn’t known. The data would be near worthless.
The spatial relationship between connected devices is not the only value location brings. The analysis of the information or what is commonly known as location intelligence is also crucial in understanding data. Analytical techniques allow patterns to be discovered and better decisions to be made.
This conference was the right place to be and Mark Thompson and I had many conversations with digital transformation leaders who were interested to understand more about the role of location. Many people were interested in how they could optimize their supply chain to make deliveries, or site visits more efficient. There is also pressure to be more carbon friendly and cost efficient. Using devices to track vehicle location, real time traffic data, as well as implement new software platforms that combine both to optimise routing have helped to drive the digital transformation within the industry.
Fortunately Abley has a lot of experience in this area and through our partnerships with Esri and HERE we are able to provide tailored solutions that support business needs and solve many of the supply chain challenges that organisations face. Conferences are a great way to connect with people and this conference enabled us to demonstrate our capability in this area and support Government and other industries in their digital transformation.
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