Data At The Edge Is The Key To Sustainability

With the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence applications in enterprises and public services, businesses and organisations now share the understanding of how critical data is driving innovation and providing better products and services. However, there is one more area in which we may not be realising the full potential of data: sustainability.

Data is the key to sustainability. Harnessing the power of data unlocks the greater potential of sustainability programmes and innovations. To a company’s executive team, data helps them to build evidence-based sustainability goals and better align their commitment to society. A responsible, resilient, and purpose-led business can be built. Customers are welcome to examine a company’s position and data on the products they are using on parameters like 100% responsible sourcing of minerals, greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency and the percentage of recycled materials and packaging in the products.

Much of the sustainability data is distributed at the edge

A big part of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) progress revolves around sustainability data, and that requires each company and energy providers, customers, and suppliers to connect with data at the edge.

The edge is where “real-time decision-making untethered from cloud computing's latency” takes place. It is the outer boundary of the network—often hundreds or thousands of miles from the nearest enterprise or cloud data centre, and as close to the data source as possible. As billions of factory machines and operational devices come online and begin churning out zettabytes of data concerning sustainability, the massive explosion of data at the edge is challenged by bandwidth limitations and transport costs. Today’s model of centralised cloud will need support from the edge. To reduce time to gain insight when it comes to sustainability data, the analysis must be created as close to the data as possible --- at the edge.

This allows businesses to calibrate models, rely on operational data, align on actions and confirm sustainability results. Collecting and leveraging data at the edge is even more crucial when it comes to monitoring sustainability outputs in real-time in cases like energy and water consumption or hazardous waste disposal. Sustainability data collection at the distributed edge must be standardised and credible to meet the standards of those sustainability global frameworks, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).

Overcome the barriers of data gravity of storing sustainability data closer to their sources at the edge with the right data storage solutions will put companies in control of how and when to store and analyse that data, supporting a seamless edge data collection and real-time monitoring for customers and industry partners. It is the crux of sustainability maturity in assurance policies, key business coalitions, transparent public reporting, and industrial ratings. It is also used for aligning a company’s global commitment to sustainability goals. The regular reporting and decarbonisation strategies are all built upon the foundation of accurate collection, measurement, analysis and quality of data close to its sources.

Data for future-proof business sustainability

Automating and unifying sustainability data management and its processes enable frictionless and immediate access to accurate sustainability data regardless of the location. This can minimise waste, operational downtime and human intervention in real-time, unlocking actionable insights through data stored, activated, analysed and audited. Companies can then learn how well the sustainable solutions performed, optimising materials consumption, energy output and global footprints, examining the outliers while defining new ways to improve measurements.

Having data points and data management tools for appraising and quantifying the total environmental impact of operations and products also assists companies to make better-informed data-based decisions. Historical datasets of energy used, customer location and shipment emissions can be leveraged and incorporated in operational data from operation hours and facility productivity to sales volume.

Such sustainability data must be driven into a company’s product design, sourcing, operations and go-to-market strategies. This data can also be used in communicating with stakeholders to reach common goals, engaging partners and supporting customers with sustainability data that they can feed into their sustainability calculations. These become opportunities to innovate, track progress, and future-proof business sustainability.

Data at the heart of making sustainable business decisions

In the long term, incorporating sustainability data into business can help make a positive impact on both the company and consumers. For a company it would be improved operational efficiency, product stewardship, time-to-market strength, compliance, competitive advantage, company reputation and business longevity. Consumers are empowered with well-informed purchase decisions and lifestyle choices through this data. With the quality and reliability of products ensured, data security, too, is delivered.

Business environments are constantly in between ever-changing policies and incentives. Companies need to be agile and adaptive with their sustainability programmes and data is the key to making these decisions.

Sameer Bhatia is Director of Asia Pacific Consumer Business Group and Country Manager for India & SAARC, Seagate Technology