New analytics approaches reduce risk in IIoT decision making

We all have a different tolerance for risk.  But let's face it, most of us only like risk in moderation.  There's inherent risk in crossing the street - more so if we dare to cross outside a crosswalk, or before the walk light appears.  But few of us aspire to base jumping, or to follow in Felix Baumgartner's footsteps.

There's inherent risk in management decision making too - that's where the big bucks are after all.  But that risk is increased by the length of the feedback cycle.  Intuitively, the longer the feedback loop, the less likely you are to make changes or try something new.  In the past, that feedback loop has been very long.  For example, I worked with a hospital many years ago that was trying to reduce the number and severity of pressure ulcers (bedsores).  Before they started using BI to help, the feedback cycle was three months.  That is, once a quarter, someone would manually collate data on the pressure ulcers.  So imagine for a minute you're an executive in a similar situation.  Would you be willing to risk initiating a process change if you knew you wouldn't get feedback on the impact of that change for 90 days?  Me neither....

Traditional BI solutions can help with that of course, cutting the feedback loop to a month, or maybe even a week or so.  But for some people, that's still a long delay between events being generated and feedback on those events.  And I think that can lead to a defensive style of decision-making - remember, the longer that feedback cycle is, the more risk there is.

So why stop there...?  Newer analytics approaches such as complex event processing (aka event stream processing) and predictive analytics can be pushed close to the source of events, leading to a much shorter feedback loop.  That's going to be essential to deal with both the velocity and volume of data generated by the Industrial Internet of Things.  But for decision-makers, faster feedback cuts risk.  With less risk, maybe we can afford to be a little more darling in our decisions.  With so much data, combined with the right analytics approach, we can usher in a new era of bolder management experimentation.  All it needs now is a change of management mindset...