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Disconnected data New Intoware survey reveals that 68 per cent of rail companies are being held back by disconnected data
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ecision making is an important activity at the centre of every rail company, whether it’s timing critical track renewals or deciding on how many engineers to deploy in the field to help minimise disruptions and keep the network safe – it all helps to power efficiencies, compliance and cost competitiveness. The rail industry has seen dramatic change during the pandemic, with passenger levels falling to a historic low of just five to ten per cent, although the industry is now recovering, it faces the challenge of how to ensure safety, reliability and greater efficiencies as commuters slowly return. In the face of these challenges, being able
that delivers actionable insights is the key to mitigating these challenges. Industry 4.0 and IoT technology, facilitates the access to data in ‘real-time’, without the need to take the assets being monitored out of service. This allows access to critical data that supports the day-today life of operators, asset managers and passengers by helping to minimise travel disruptions. To better understand how data informed businesses are post-pandemic, digital workflow specialists Intoware commissioned a survey of 1,030 decision industrial businesses on the 28th February to the 3rd March 2022. It included rail transport, utilities, oil and gas, manufacturing, civil
engineering and transport and logistics sectors. Everyone from senior decisions makers, managers, supervisors to frontline workers were asked key questions to discover how they use data? These included, do you see data as an asset, what the current challenges are to accessing data, how confident you are using digital ‘tools’ and whether your work culture is driven by data or intuition and finally, plans to invest in data-skills? With the aim of helping businesses to become datainformed, so they can make the most of their data insights. to respond quickly and accurately is critical not only to competitiveness, but survival. Having an effective digital strategy in place
Survey findings Intoware found that 68 per cent of rail companies post-pandemic, are relying on legacy systems and spreadsheets to get tasks
done, believing this inflexible, often outof-date, disconnected data is sufficient to support corporate decision making. The survey showed that most rail companies, 92 per cent claimed to be datainformed and 68 per cent trusted data
enough to complete tasks, this is despite most of them relying still on disparate legacy systems. Intoware’s CEO, Keith Tilley, comments: ‘The research revealed that most of those surveyed believe they are data-driven, when in reality they could be relying on old, outof-date data. This disconnected data acts like a ball and chain, tying down your staff as they spend a huge amount of time trying to unlock data trapped in spreadsheets and legacy systems to meet the demands of businesses, customers and regulators.’ With 68 per cent of decision makers having access to data and over three quarters, 76 per cent, believe that data is an asset, which is very good news. However, just under half of those surveyed, 47 per cent use data only occasionally to help get Rail Professional
