In most of today’s modern industries, data is the reigning king for making decisions and measuring success. And for good reason – data analytics offer additional insight into almost any business. Recently, an article from IoT Agenda compared the benefits baseball teams saw once they starting using analytics to how today’s businesses can find the same success.

“What can businesses learn from a similar use of analytics? With the advent of the internet of things and all the data being produced by field devices, businesses are rethinking their strategies as IoT gains ground. Operational technology (OT) managers see how shared data acquired by their controlled devices helps improve their own business decision-making. They also recognize how a common architecture that spans across their now disparate OT and IT infrastructures could improve efficiency, while reducing costs. Like sports sabermetrics, OT managers see IoT eventually leading them to a walk-off grand slam win.”

OT refers to using computers to monitor or change the actual physicality of a system. The term was established to clarify the fundamental difference between traditional IT and other, more industrial, control-system environments. OT collects data to monitor and determine the health of machines from sensors, meters and other devices – similar to IoT.

“IT and OT implementations evolved independently over time to solve different problems. In IT environments, the need to have different applications and systems interoperate with one another forced the requirement for open standards. Not so with OT. Working within the parameters of their pinpointedly focused proprietary systems, OT has continued to operate relatively sheltered from this pressure.”

However, that sheltering isn’t always a bonus. OT managers are beginning to understand the benefits of data sharing and, as such, have become more welcoming to the idea of open standards to eliminate inefficiencies and accelerate innovation. The hope is that the advancements of the IoT will also serve to improve the way OT works as well.

Interested in open technology standards? A good way to get involved is to become an OpenStand advocate! You can: