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EVORA
Big Data in Our Daily Lives
A few weeks ago, whilst on the train, I was browsing my emails when a new, unfamiliar email, landed in my inbox talking about Big Data. Opening it, I was told I had earned 30 leaves in the past month. Apparently, I was doing quite well. People in my area had earned, on average, 26 leaves. The email was from Nest, and contained my first report on energy usage.
In its own subtle way, the email showed how this is not just a buzzword, but very much a reality for people in their day-to-day lives. The Internet of Things is enabling huge amounts of data to be recorded and we are being meticulously analysed, whether we like it or not.
Big Data for Sustainability
A couple of years ago, John Hsu wrote about the potential of Big Data use for sustainability. EVORA was already considering using Big Data for its clients at the time. We understood the impact that it would create, and have since developed systems for SIERA, our proprietary sustainability software, that allow manual as well as automatic data import. This allows us to accrue vast amounts of data for our clients. The amount of data we store is demonstrated in our recent infographic: SIERA By Numbers.
Once the data is in place, the possibilities for reporting are almost endless. That is why we are currently developing features that will allow clients to shape and visualise their data into meaningful reports.
As the name suggests, it brings a sense that data can be overwhelming to human perception. The term ‘Data Lake’ has been coined to describe an entity that is difficult to render anything meaningful from. That’s why SIERA provides rich, intuitive reporting features such as its GRESB capabilities. For example, in less than a minute, SIERA can auto-generate an asset data spreadsheet that’s fully aligned to GRESB’s template, ready to be uploaded directly into the GRESB portal; a process that saves our clients a lot of stress, time and money.
[clickToTweet tweet=”With its rich reporting features, SIERA #sustainability software saves you stress, time & money.” quote=”With its rich reporting features, SIERA sustainability software saves you stress, time & money.”]
Big Data and Predictive Analysis
But perhaps the biggest selling point is its use in predictive analysis – using data to model what will occur. EVORA recognises this powerful use of data and we are working towards features that will enable clients to predict the future.
The obvious benefit is to help reduce cost. One such example is our metering strategy. Earlier I mentioned Nest. Through collation of metering data, we can suggest monitoring and targeting strategies to enable real savings; not just the awarding of leaves!
[clickToTweet tweet=”EVORA enables real savings for its clients through the collation of metering data + M&T strategies.” quote=”EVORA can enable real savings for its clients through the collation of metering data and monitoring and targeting strategies.”]
However, there are other tangible benefits for Predictive Analytics. It could also suggest disruptive methods that may realise an advantage by changing policy or practice.
How Big Data Will Continue to Shape SIERA
As this concept matures further, there will no doubt be more possibilities not yet realised. We will continue to build more functionality into SIERA to enable our clients to get the insights and information they need to improve their sustainability efforts. This helps each client with their long-term aim of adding value to their assets and retaining tenants.
As for my Nest leaf count, I’ll keep you posted…
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