Digitalization itself was an effect of the evolution of certain technologies, else all products, services and processes would have stayed manual. Technology in its current wave is challenging, and is enhancing the experience of service providers as well as end customers. As a service provider, there are various technological tools available to do work quickly, efficiently and accurately. For example, as part of one of our offerings, we convert LiDAR/ drone output, satellite imagery, or other sources of maps into digital data, which means an interactive map/ data that allows us to add additional attributes, or measure various object sizes, including land parcels. This is a critical design input for various cross-country infrastructure projects, starting from highways, railways, transmission lines, gas pipelines and metro train networks for deciding route/ alignments, ROW calculations to derive BOQs and simulated ‘what if analysis’.
Higher-resolution datasets (point clouds) coupled with Artificial Intelligence/ Deep Learning technologies are used to build the Digital Twin, addressing the asset management and operational maintenance issues. As the technology advances to IoT (while I would prefer IoIT, Intelligent Things, and not just things), sensors and edge devices will become ubiquitous, making data collection (type, frequency, speed and accuracy) easy. Similarly, the next in line is 5G, which offers many more exciting opportunities. So, our area of work is becoming more and more relevant. Gone are the days of geospatial playing meta data, it is by default now. Geospatial by default is the ‘new paradigm’.
Playing across sectors
Large projects, which have impact on multiple verticals, are slow in taking off, which is a definite area of concern. However, along with innovation, another lever for staying relevant in this era is playing across multiple sectors, sizes and domains, which are all hedged in some way. That is how, a downturn in one or more sectors/ domains will be cushioned by another. With large projects going slow and some players in the market making desperate attempts to win the deals (including offering incredulous pricing), not only individual players, but (reputation of) the entire industry is impacted. We don’t know how long this trend will continue, because these players not being able to deliver the projects might also stunt the whole thinking process of customers (government or corporate). Like I said before, the choices are many and costs of switching is not high.
If large projects are slowing, we have another bucket with multiple small gestation projects. Currently, this is helping our cash flow. Also, our innovation and technology wing is continuously focused on a completely different range of products that can help us in keeping our investors excited. We have also decided that we will stay on top of the technology curve, rather than play in the routine commoditized services area. Yes, the going is tough, but as the say, that’s when ‘the tough get going’. Geospatial technologies and solutions are hugely benefiting operational maintenance of companies. By becoming an asset management system (visibly) and providing predictive decision support, these systems reduce operational (and maintenance) expenses, bringing higher efficiencies in handling customer service activities.
Also Read: Data powering digitalization
For instance, for our state power and other utility companies, we are geotagging their assets — from substations to household connection via distributive transformers — so that they can find which line has complaints, how quickly to restore the power and many more interesting possibilities. The system can also send the right messages to the customers, keeping them aware of the action and its causes. This can help the O&M (operations and maintenance) teams to focus their efforts in identifying the exact location of the problem and then address it quickly. The best part is that all of this can be done at a very low cost.
Similarly, we are geo-enabling the properties for municipalities and other urban local bodies. Historically, due to lack of verifiable methods, poor/ under assessment of properties, inefficient collection and widespread exemptions, significant revenue leakage happened at majority of ULBs. With our projects and solutions, the revenue collection has at least doubled, enabling ULBs to spend that money on additional projects.
Empowering customers
Customers are at the core of whatever we do. One of the use cases that I can cite to establish this is around designing the safe city/ integrated traffic management solutions. This is a complex solution that involves designing position of the cameras (along with field of views) and enabling commissioning of the camera poles along with electrical and networking sources, and junction boxes (without damaging any of the other utilities in the vicinity). It is about creating a base map (with proper impedances) to dynamically change the routing of the vehicles in major junctions of the busiest cities. We are empowering the (designing, commissioning, operations and maintenance) teams by providing the complete solution (including software) that allows them to seamlessly define, commission and use the (as built) maps for maintenance.
Also Read: Exploring true potential of 3D geospatial
The software has now become more effective in defining the solution (using data from LiDAR/ drone, GPR and high-resolution satellite images). This encourages decisions based on a data-driven approach, eliminating guesswork or dependence on people’s knowledge. We have created a talent pool working on AI/ DL and are using it for multiple other solutions that generate a lot of value to customers, empowering them to take informed decisions.
Innovating to survive
I don’t think there is one single technology that is driving change. A set of technologies coming together is making the solution space exciting. We are now talking about specific sensors (which can relay specific, processed information), IoIT and 5G, with every layer adding and driving innovation. It is primarily the ideation and the ability to devise solution based on that innovation. I strongly believe that in this age of technology, any enterprise that doesn’t innovate will be soon out of business. The choices are many and the cost of adoption is going down every day.
Typically, enterprises invest 10-12% of their money on the table for future innovation. However, for organizations that are smaller and having a high trajectory of growth, like ours, the investment is even up to 20%. This would mean developing solutions in chosen areas.
