When it Comes to Advanced Technologies, 2021 Needs An Action Plan, Not Predictions

By Jeffrey Ricker, CEO and co-founder of Hivecell

As we learned in 2020, it's become more important than ever for companies to not try and predict the future, but to have reactive technology that is able to adapt to any situation that may come their way. Instead of focusing on what might happen in 2021, I'd like to discuss how companies can be more reactive and set themselves up for success by using advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning and edge computing.

It's clear companies need to be more nimble in 2021 to not only survive, but thrive. The need to be both proactive and reactive so disruption does not become catastrophe is more important than ever.

Last year we saw CPG companies deal with disastrous product shortages. We watched restaurants pivot to take-out only to limited dine-in to take-out again. In the oil and gas industry we saw the cost of a barrel go negative for the first time ever due to lower demand.

The past year has doubled down on the need for scalable solutions and AI. IoT and machine learning went from nice to haves to need to haves. According to Gartner, by the end of 2024, 75 percent of enterprises will shift from piloting to operationalizing AI, driving a 5X increase in streaming data and analytics infrastructures.

However, we also learned in 2020, when every cent spent needs to be accounted for, that running these technologies in the cloud is inefficient and costly. Instead organizations need to leverage these technologies at the edge. They now need compute power for advanced analytics at the source of the data or as close to it as possible. There are several reasons for this shift to edge computing; the most notable are bandwidth, cost, reliability, security, compliance and latency.

Extracting business relevant data from a sea of raw data is of the utmost importance for companies looking to adopt these advanced technologies and in turn, become more nimble. For instance, there are 30,000 sensors on a typical oil rig, but it would take 12 days to transport just one day of data to the cloud. As a result, most of this data is going unused, unanalyzed, just falling on the ground as it were. The key is to do initial analysis of this data at the edge and send only the valuable data to the cloud.

This is especially key in case of an emergency. It's nice to have peace of mind knowing that a machine is running properly, but even more crucial to know when it's not. Or even better, to know when it's on the verge of breaking down so you can fix the issue before it becomes a larger problem. Having the right data analysis will drive that. With an edge solution in place, those problems, and solutions, may be quicker to identify.

Investing in a Platform as a Service (PaaS) solution that enables your company to be provisioned, monitored and updated remotely with the press of a button is a great place to start empowering your data and enable a more efficient, productive and safer environment along the way.

At Hivecell, we are an Edge-as-a-Service company seeking to make edge computing accessible to companies of all sizes and all industries, especially those looking to scale. If you can deliver a pizza, you can install a Hivecell.

In 2020, edge computing established itself as a true leader within various technology sectors. Moving into 2021, it's up to companies to understand their weaknesses in collecting, processing and storing data and update with the appropriate edge solutions that can scale and evolve with any issues that arise.

How are you ensuring your company is prepared for any disruptions that may come your way in 2021? Follow us and continue the conversation on Twitter: @hivecell_paas.

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About the Author

Jeffrey Ricker is the Co-Founder and CEO of Hivecell, the Edge-as-a-Service company. Jeffrey is an experienced technology leader, a hands-on senior software developer and entrepreneur. He has a 30-year career working with the financial industry, start-up companies and the Defense Department.