There’s an evolution to all relationships and most of us want to feel like we’re continuously progressing forward. For sustainability and energy management professionals, data-only solutions can feel one-dimensional, like serial dating. But the real magic happens when the date(a) evolves into marriage. As we celebrate the 12th anniversary of InSite, we’re thinking about data and the power of long-term relationships. In a world full of serial dating, we believe in marriage.
On a date, you may get a compliment “You look good.” In a marriage, it’s more about the feeling “You get me.”
In data terms – it’s easy to visualize data into a line chart or bar graph. But it’s difficult to ascertain meaning from dots and rectangles.
On a date, you may feel seen. In a marriage, you should feel heard.
From a data perspective – these days, data aggregation is as easy as a VPN connection and a taxonomy. It doesn’t take long for data from disparate systems to be visible to various users. But data without machine learning and algorithms that enable it to be analyzed consistently and through a set of parameters tailored to your unique use cases, it’s just a pile of ones and zeroes.
On a date, you may alternate who picks up the tab, or payment responsibilities may be completely one-sided. In a marriage, you’re in it together no matter whose name is on the card.
As it relates to data – it’s not enough to be transactional. This is why data solutions delivered with a managed services component outperform data-only solutions in delivering long-term outcomes to enterprise customers.
According to a quick Google search with the keywords “energy management provider” and “building optimization services,” there are more than 2,000 software companies in the U.S. alone delivering these capabilities to clients through a software-as-a-service model. This doesn’t include the data companies that can write in Python but can’t spell BACnet.
Both types of companies will promise to collect, aggregate and visually present data from your buildings so that operations teams can implement predictive maintenance programs while executive management teams can get the reporting that they need. While their recurring revenue models may feel like a long-term relationship, without services to support you in your use of the technology, a SaaS-only solution is no different than a date with commitment issues.
At InSite, we use data to inform our services, but the services are where the value is. In dating terms, we’re in it for marriage.
