The future of collaborative decision management

 

We know collaboration improves outcomes. In a business context, collaboration promotes innovation and agility while improving stakeholder participation and employee engagement. It’s not always easy, but collaboration works.  

Being able to work with various data sources can be vital for gaining new insights that are taken in real-time. When we bring datasets from disparate systems together, it's possible to discover relationships and make real changes to business operations.

 

 

What is data collaboration?

Data collaboration is the process of analyzing isolated datasets to gain backed-up insights. We often hear about “sharing” information, but for multiple groups to participate, they must be able to contribute securely. In such cases, each collaborator always keeps control of their data. That way, data collaboration can benefit others while still being managed and controlled for privacy and risk factors.

How are businesses using data collaboration to add value?

Data in retail

Combining access control, heat maps, and point of sale (POS) data has provided a glimpse into customer activity. But retailers are paying greater attention to shoppers who are more careful with their choices and take more time to decide. These shoppers respond positively to improved experiences, including better movement through spaces, and service personnel who only chime in when you need their input.

This was discovered and shared between multiple stores that were normally in competition with one another. With a shift toward information sharing among competitors, relevant insights are being discovered faster, and with more data to back them up.  

A significant depth of understanding can now be achieved through data analysis and is helping break down traditional silos of competition. As with collaboration between stakeholders, data collaboration in retail is helping create value and improve business. 

 

 

Data in a bike-sharing and urban planning context

It’s not just retailers that are sharing information with previously unheard-of partners. Bike-sharing programs are now starting to share the geolocation data they’re collecting from different municipalities. 

Local governments can then use this data to develop action plans to benefit the areas that cyclists frequent. These can range from more lighting and pavement repair to improved experiences in neighborhoods with a lot of bike traffic.

What about data in physical security?

By its very nature, the security industry has been resistant to the idea of collaboration. It was thought that locking things down and reducing risk through containment or restricted silos of access was the way to safeguard systems. Sharing information goes against our training. But data collaboration has actually yielded tremendous opportunities to increase security. 

Working with unified platforms that enable secure collaboration

Working with a platform that does not unify data input means you have no choice but to send personnel to investigate every alarm. This can either be incredibly expensive or become frustrating to pick out real incidents from alarm noise.

At Genetec, we’ve unified our video management, access control, and automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) systems with third-party applications and outside datasets. Genetec Mission Control™, our collaborative decision management (CDM) system, helps organizations efficiently manage their security resources. How? By determining and qualifying dispatchable incidents for operators.

Working in real-time, Mission Control automatically analyzes data being received from different security system devices and sensors. When your physical security system supports decision-making, it allows personnel to focus on safety rather than data organization. In other words, it helps keep your personnel from wasting cycles on things your system can do.

 

 

Working with a unified platform like Genetec Security Center combines access control with video surveillance, motion detection, and ALPR and includes a CDM. This system synthesizes the data to a decision point. It determines whether to issue a request for security personnel.

The importance of always keeping data secured

Given how organizations feel about their data, it’s no surprise that they want to deploy solutions that keep their data secure. For data collaboration to take place both within the industry and elsewhere, data privacy as well as system security are crucial.

Because Mission Control is unified with Security Center, data that comes in is stripped of its personally identifiable information. Through our privacy protector, the video management software (VMS) in Security Center automatically anonymizes video streams. This allows you to share video without putting any private information at risk.

How we’re thinking ahead with collaborative decision management

Our experience developing solutions that allow disparate agencies and other entities to allocate access to information is vital. By working with external applications safely and securely, our solutions will provide a more holistic view of environments. The future of data collaboration through Mission Control will benefit from this experience and our expertise.

This unlocks the ability to create a level of context for teams across departments—so they can make the right decisions, at the right time.