Have you ever tried to give someone advice about something that was way outside of your expertise? I have made that error many, many times. When I make the error of an unsolicited suggestion on something (usually to my friends on subjects like fashion, hair styles or anything related), I'm occasionally told to "stay in my lane." It quickly sets things into perspective for me, and I retreat, with a smile, knowing they're totally right; I'm way, way, way out of my lane offering advice about a topic I clearly do not fully understand or have taken the time into learning enough about.

They're totally right, I should stay in my own lane.

When it comes to data security, you're busy, and we completely understand that making sure your operational data is secure may not be always top of mind to you, or your highest priority at all times. After all, the last thing most people have time for is to worry about the security of operational data, because well, they're already very busy making sure a million other operational decisions are made really well, promises kept, employees remain productive, all the while with goals and targets continuously being achieved, or even better; exceeded.

To ecstatic employees everywhere, more and more companies are moving from dreaded, time wasting daily site trips, stacks of paper records and mind-numbing manual processes to technology to provide answers that are supported by factual data, automating tasks that are driven by analytics, data trends and in some cases even autonomous actions.

Downturns, and all the crazy in our world today have made it clear that the “change or die” mantra is far too real.

You probably already knew this—but you may be hesitant to act. That's totally understandable since there are several questions about transition, affordability, training, the return on investment and so many others. Then there's the sustainability questions that come into play. Tech changes really fast these days and everyone is searching for the next best thing. While tech continues to quickly develop some people decide they should wait it out until the next hottest and newest change is available.

You may ask yourself; where exactly do you get the best possible return on investment when it comes to industrial tech that will help support your operations profitability and sustainability at the same time without it being out of date in just a few months only to have to start all over again?

You’ve probably already decided that digitally transforming your operations is necessary as you face a shrinking workforce and tighter budget dollars. The productivity advantages of a full cloud software strategy implementation are many and well documented.

Like cars, snowflakes and superheroes, no two cloud computing service providers are exactly alike, nor are their customers. So, when picking a cloud software provider, it’s important to know if they can adapt or customize their system to exactly what you need (or don't need), or if you’re supposed to bend your procedures to someone’s limited, out-of-the-box configuration.

Here are some questions to ask before you decide:

1. Can the vendor’s system easily fit with the hardware you may already have?
2. Can the new system seamlessly integrate your historical data with the new input they’ll gather?
3. Are Project Managers available to handle all the details?
4. Will the vendor provide the reports you need, by format, frequency, user authorization and department needs?
5. Do they provide ongoing support?

A key factor in any business’s ability to persevere during challenging times is to stay relevant and adapt to their evolving environment. There’s a consensus across all industries today that accurate data collection and application of this data is necessary to improve business operations.

Even though there may be opposing headwinds across various markets, businesses that focus on what they can control will be better positioned to manage and subsequently benefit when the winds change. The consequences for all industrial business sectors (primary or secondary) could be irreversible if they do not recognize and embrace the age of digital transformation.

When we decide to integrate new features into our cloud-native Zedi IIot platform, we carefully analyze how features will benefit you in improving your operations.

Recently we had a customer looking for a cloud-based platform that could accurately monitor their tank inventory levels and their own customers inventory levels, which they are responsible for keeping full.

Building on their strategy to transform their business digitally meant understanding their business needs today to prepare for tomorrow. Our customer required accessible tank data to reduce site visits, increase safety, uptime, and profitability.

Leverage the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), new technologies like our cloud-based platform with software as a service, automation, and our experts to expand, plan or prepare for your operations to be more productive, more profitable and more sustainable through digital intelligence that will enhance your workforce are successfully enabled to augment workflows and processes to create new efficiencies and competencies that bring several positive cultural and behavioral changes to your organization.

We continuously engage with our customers to drive seamless updates that provide the highest return, a secure 'evergreen' platform and widespread adoption in the integration of equipment and systems that leverage IIoT to enhance operational performance and drive profitable results. Emerson's Zedi Cloud SCADA Solutions accomplishes this by helping and guiding customers through the process known as "Digital Transformation."

The water management industry is an asset concentrated, rate-restricted industry requiring informed decision-making to effectively  balance increased safety with capital investment and operational expenses. Capital resources for the water industries can make it difficult to meet on-going challenges like aging infrastructure, declining revenues, retiring experienced workers, and regulations.

One way water companies can face these challenges is to find effective ways to utilize their current assets to increase return on investment and increase safety. Digitally transforming operations will rely on better use of existing data coupled with new sensors, information integration, and data analytics.

In every industry, there's always room for improvement. More industries are looking to find the right data to make better business decisions and keep people and assets safer through automation and to find solutions that can change all areas of their operations for the better.

Water and wastewater treatment plants depend upon remote facilities' reliable and safe operation to continuously move waste throughout the service area to the main stations. By implementing a solution like Emerson's Zedi Cloud SCADA, many parts of managing and controlling remote sites not only become more streamlined, safer and cost effective but also more sustainable for the communities they serve.

If the year 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that technology is no longer the wave of the future; it's right now. It’s all around us, and the oil and gas industry is in the middle of it.

Most oil and gas producers have known that implementation of automation, with remote monitoring and control, and accurate, analyzed data would be more efficient leading to reduced downtime and boosting profitability. But 2020 showed us that having employees work remotely was not only possible, it was necessary.

The growing importance of technology for the immediacy of control and actionable data is changing the workforce. It’s prioritizing those who can deliver usable data for faster, better oil and gas production decisions.

Gas distribution organizations can quickly and easily increase safety and efficiency by hosting their data in Emerson's Zedi Cloud SCADA platform. We deliver automation, cloud platform and software as a service solutions for remote monitoring and operational control. 

Our intuitive, scalable cloud-based platform supports any digital monitoring hardware for real-time data with an aggregated view of operations. Our platform provides a flexible, secure solution for data acquisition, remote monitoring, remote control, and alarm management.