Discover the hidden value of your data.
How can dark data be leveraged to produce new insights towards making cost savings, improved safety, and greater efficiency?
What is Dark Data?
On a day to day basis, businesses generate thousands of petabytes of data, from a range of different sources. Yet the majority of this data never gets utilised or analysed. This data is known as dark data, and provides an untapped resource that can provide actionable insights when in the right hands. Dark data can be a source of tremendous value for an organisation, and can provide new information that can lead to cost reductions, efficiency improvements and potential business risks. In contrast, uninitialised dark data represents wasted value - with high storage, energy, and environmental costs of keeping unused data, dark data can represent a considerable business expense.
On average, 52% of data within an organisation is dark data, with this reaching up to 96% in industries such as Engineering and Construction
An average of 13% of working time within the Engineering and Construction industry is spent looking for project data
Only 8% of organisations in the Engineering and Construction industry have functional real time full project management information systems that allow for dashboard reporting.
Sources Of Dark Data
Sensors
Drones
Emails
Transactions
GPS
Weather Stations
Vehicles
Wearables
Incident Reports
Maintenance Logs
... and many more
Can you afford to leave your data in the dark?
The average organisation generates 39% more data year on year . This results in a 39% increase in the storage, energy, and environmental cost of business data every year.
Is your organisation growing at the same rate as the increasing costs of this data?
Unleashing the Power of Dark Data
When used correctly, an organisation’s dark data may provide key information that can help inform decision-making and enhance productivity. Effective data analytics on useful dark data can lead to the following business improvements:
Asset Optimisation
Many assets utilise recent technologies, such as GPS and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, but they can frequently be forgotten about or ignored. Analysis of your assets to consider their usage can highlight operational inefficiencies, evaluate asset performance, and assess their effectiveness and reliability over time. In the long-term, this could lead to reductions in operational costs.
Improved safety and compliance
Dark data can contain a wealth of information that may improve workplace safety and ensure compliance with regulations. Dark data can include maintenance logs, incident reports, or even real-time sensor data, which can all be indicative of potential problems and issues on site. Analysis of this data may uncover patterns that elucidate previously unknown risks and help to identify unsafe working practices.
Faster and more efficient operations
Analysis of the untapped dark data may provide crucial insights into the bottlenecks preventing projects from being on time. However, if harnessed correctly, data analysis can help towards forecasting issues ahead of time, allowing decision-makers to take action to mitigate problems.
How organisations power their business using data
A 2017 Experian survey found that 95% of U.S. organisations say they use data to power business opportunities and growth . Respondents said they use this data in a range of different ways.
Yet whilst these organisations use data to power their business, 52% of this data is dark. This represents an untapped opportunity for greater insights.
Making the most of your dark data
In summary, dark data refers to the unused or unknown data within an organisation. It encompasses data sources like reports, spreadsheets, and external datasets that are not currently utilised to derive insights. Neglecting dark data can be detrimental to a business, as it represents missed opportunities and incurs unnecessary storage costs.
Shedding a light on dark data can therefore generate new insights - key to driving informed decision making or alerting stakeholders to issues previously unknown, as well as boost team performance and optimise expenditure on data storage.
So how can you make the most of the dark data in your organisation?
Integrate data partners and software platforms
Having a pair of eyes to look at this data will increase the chances of deriving meaning from, and successfully integrating it in your company - this is what a data partner can provide.
Software platforms ensure that everyone in your company can easily access and see this data. This increases your chances of the data actually being used by people in your organisation
Set Clear Objectives
What is it that you think this data might be used for? If you're unsure, investigate what this data was originally collected or commissioned for - at some point somewhere someone needed this data!
Discuss with your team what key things you would like more insight about in your organisation. Your data partner will be able to tell you what can be done with this data and what insights this data might be able to produce
Utilise Reports and Visualisations
Data needs to be analysed, turned into metrics, bench marked and visualised for your team to be able to derive the most meaning from it and ensure it doesn't just remain unutilised again.
Reports, metrics & visualisations are the tools needed to unlock value from dark data. A data partner will present this in a concise and easy to understand manner allowing you to use these insights.
By following these steps, you can effectively reduce dark data, unlock valuable insights, and optimise the utilisation of your data resources.
We are Atmo
Atmo are a leading provider of advanced software and data analysis solutions. Our innovative technologies empower businesses to transition to cleaner and more cost-effective operations on-site. We specialise in partnering with businesses to unlock the hidden potential of their known data as well as untapped dark data. Our expertise lies in harnessing all types of data to extract valuable insights and drive transformative outcomes for our clients.
Atmo Core
Introducing AtmoCore™, the new real-time portal from Atmo. Designed to unlock actionable insights, enabling businesses to make informed data driven decisions. AtmoCore's highly configurable setup, intuitive interface and advanced analytical features make it the ideal solution for businesses seeking to harness the full potential of their data.
Why Atmo?
Cutting-Edge Technology
Our solutions are developed using the latest technologies, ensuring top-notch performance, reliability, and scalability.
Data Driven Approach
We leverage data analytics to uncover valuable insights and drive continuous improvement, enabling you to make informed decisions and achieve sustainable growth.
Industry Expertise
With years of experience across diverse industries, we possess the domain knowledge necessary to understand your unique challenges and deliver tailored solutions.
Commitment to Sustainability
Atmo is dedicated to making a positive environmental impact. By helping businesses transition to cleaner operations, we contribute to a more sustainable future.