What single word best describes our world?
Well, depending on your perspective there are many, of course.
But surely one would definitely be near the top of the list: connected.
Thanks to the power of ever-evolving technologies – and a voracious global demand for convenience, efficiency and profit – it seems connectivity underpins everything.
Essential services, commercial business processes, consumer behaviour, human communication – there aren’t many aspects to our modern way of life that do not depend upon it.
We associate connectivity with simplicity, speed, and automation.
However, ironically, the scale and complexity of our increasingly connected world is now behind the renaissance of something we may have thought was fading in its contemporary relevance – the Operations Control Center.
That’s because technology’s eye-popping, life-changing, capability to connect everything to everything and everyone to everyone is not yet fully automatic, nor without a need for the kind of cognitive dynamic that only human intervention can (at least for now) provide.
In short, robots are not running things completely (yet).
So – for organisations keen to capitalise fully on the rising connectivity dividend – a feature-rich, state-of-the-art, well-resourced OCC is the new must-have.
“There are two main technologies fuelling the need for Operations Control Centers – the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence,” says Jacques Der Ohanian, Senior Director, Head of Communications for Vertical Solutions at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, whose smart RainbowTM communication and collaboration solution connects millions of people all over the world and integrates seamlessly via APIs with OCC functionality.
“Smart buildings, smart transport and smart cities are all expanding concepts which depend on a central control center to monitor operations, manage crisis, minimize potential service disruption, deliver preventive maintenance and assist those in the field that provide the human support for those processes.
“No matter who or what within those workflows triggers a command; communication between people is vital in order to exchange information, coordinate responses, deliver an action and follow-up on operations.
“The Operations Control Center provides a central hub for the receipt and interpretation of, and the response to, that key contextual information such as an image, a CCTV video or an automatic alert or alarm.
“All of that information must be processed and acted upon in a collaborative manner and associated communications must be secure and highly resilient. No call must be lost, no calls must be cut. It can be a question of people safety and health but, in a commercial context, it can also be about quality of service and, ultimately, cost.”
A powerful use-case example might be a gas leak at a chemical plant.
On site sensors would detect an odour, an alarm would trigger an OCC response, AI would understand wind direction and plot a likely course that any harmful gas cloud might take, emergency services would be alerted, field agents deployed and other critical stakeholders informed.
Alternatively – in the case of a connected town – there might be a fight in the street.
Artificial intelligence would assess the tone of the person who raised the alarm in order to confirm it is genuine and not a hoax; CCTV at the location would be captured; street lighting would be turned up so police officers can see better; and all of the stakeholders on scene and in the background would be conferenced-in to a live communication.
Co-ordinated by OCC staff, those collaborative communication channels can be stood up, action plans shared and cognitive judgments made that are designed to successfully resolve the issue.
Finally, all associated communications data can be captured and later analysed to help redesign processes or inform refined best practice.
“All of that activity must be integrated with the OCC’s different business processes and workflows, from operator dispatch, to command and control, to supervision systems,” says Der-Ohanian.
“This can also leverage existing installed communications systems and applications that provide integration APIs for a hybrid approach.
“For example, our Remote Visual Assistance solution provides the best possible digital experience for agents and experts within the OCC and those out in the field.
“Wearable and soft phone technologies combine with our Rainbow CPaaS platform to enable them to single-click to make a call or send a message, and double-click to transfer on-line video or images.
“Operation Control Centers are not new; they have existed for years. But because of IoT and AI innovation, everything is now connected. Shops, warehouses, factories, roads, university campuses, whole towns.
“Because of an increase in sensors and detectors and CCTV, everything generates a trigger or an alarm. Before, a person would need to make a call to report an issue. Hyper connectivity has changed that.”
Of course, prevention is always better than having to react – particularly when it comes to disruptions of service or reducing operational cost.
Control over it all?
Now you’re talking!
- To learn more about how ALE can help your business digitize and thrive, visit https://www.al-enterprise.com
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