Your data, your way: 30MHz on “Big Data” and “IoT”

Barely a day goes by when I am not bombarded with articles on “Big Data”–the billions of connected devices around the world, from microwaves and cat flaps to self-driving cars and multinational banks. There is a lot of this data being created and somehow it is changing our world.

Are you as confused as I regularly am?

The benefits are often somewhat vague… often, media commentary focuses on the darker side: questions about data ownership, the trading of personal information, companies using my data without my knowledge to market to me.

Big Data is (very) big business. Market research firm IDC estimates that sales of data analytics tools and services will reach $187bn by 2019. That’s almost as many connected devices as each of us will apparently have in our home in the near future.

Apart from being the buzz phrase of the moment – no doubt a large portion of what is now called “big data analytics” had an entirely different (and less exciting) name just a few years or even months ago – this data explosion leads to many questions. Who owns the data? How do we manage and use the data? Do we need huge budgets to gather and analyze the data?

What is the real value of the data? For those who care about compartmentalizing, 30MHz is in the business of big data. We’ve generated 2 billion documents of powerful, actionable data for our customers over the past two years. The ZENSIE dashboard provides deep analytics and custom visualizations of data captured by sensors that enable our customers to customers to monitor and improve their performance.

While we never sat down and etched “our rules” for handling customer data in a stone tablet, there are some implicit assumptions that underpin what we do. From the sensors we’ve developed to analytics and data, our product roadmap and philosophy have always been deeply influenced by our customers and their needs. Below is a (by no means exhaustive) sketch of that philosophy:

Data is no more (or less) than hard insights into your business.

Data generation is the starting point to understanding different aspects of your business rather than the end goal. Quantifying what was previously unknown or estimated allows for deeper analysis on how to do things even better. This is why flexibility — of metrics captured, of how data is visualized and expressed is so central. You know your business, and the insights you need most. We’re the toolbox to capture that information.

Your data is your most precious asset. It belongs to you.

Data on your workplace physical environment is your intellectual property. All the data that we generate is owned by our customers and is entirely confidential. All analytics and storage are done with our customers’ permission. Nothing is shared unless the customer expressly chooses to do so.

Data reliability is non-negotiable.

Having incorrect data is worse than having no data. When the value of your solution depends on real-time data, scale and consistent uptime are paramount. The key value proposition in creating sensor networks is to provide new insights into your business that allow you to improve efficiency and optimize your assets and environment. Our system is architected to maintain uptime and connectivity, ensuring the final information you receive is accurate.

Security is paramount.

It goes without saying that we do our utmost to ensure your data is secure. We’re an end to end product, and everything is encrypted from sensor to storage. Configuration is all done in-factory to ensure data security.

To be effective, data should be easy to use.

To provide value across the information, data must be actionable, easy to engage with and easy to share. We want everything we generate for our customers to be of immediate value to all end users. It shouldn’t require teams of technical experts to deploy sensors capturing data, nor should it be difficult to explore, interpret or further share insights on the physical environment. That’s why we’ve designed a product that takes minutes to deploy, gives the user full control over dashboards and data visualization, and makes data export a breeze.

Nathan Griffiths is Chairman at 30MHz