Articles & Blogs

I don’t know that there’s ever been a single event that has unified the world’s population like the COVID-19 pandemic.

No matter where you live, how old you are or what measure of success you enjoy, you currently must take precautions to protect yourself from this virus. All 7.8 billion of us humans are in this together.

As we commemorate Earth Day today, it strikes me that I’ve never felt as connected to every resident of our planet. When this crisis is eventually resolved, I hope that sense of united responsibility will continue.

The unprecedented shutdown of life as usual has made it clear the impact we have on this earth. Analysts show satellite imagery of how much clearer the air is since so many of our factories have shuttered and cars have been idled. Scientists report that pollution-weary New Delhi, India, is experiencing 70% drops in both nitrogen dioxide pollution and PM 2.5, which are tiny particles of soot. Similar reports are coming from China and Bangladesh, as well as large Western cities.

A reduction in tainted air is a good thing, but the way this was accomplished is not sustainable or desired. We will begin driving our cars more. Factories will go back online.

There are ways that we can achieve clearer skies and cleaner water without going into economic lockdown. But it means we must change the way we provide the world its necessities. It means we have to think beyond the now if we want to reduce the emission of two billions metric tons of CO2 each day.

For the large industrial assets that Hexagon PPM’s software solutions serves, a universal shift in work processes must occur. I’m referencing the digital twin and how it helps our customers put data to work, in thousands of ways across hundreds of sites around the world.

Consider this: 90% of the data in the world today was created in the last two years, but in our industries, only 10% to 15% is being used. That’s the status quo we aim to change. The gap you see is an enormous opportunity.

We can “weaponize” the data shift beyond the status quo. At Hexagon, we fuse the physical world with the digital world, with sensors and software solutions that leverage the data within your organization.

Industry is at its best when it leverages its data intelligently and autonomously – from front end engineering design > to detail design > to projects > to procurement and materials > to fabrication > to construction > to completions > to operations. Our portfolio of solutions can scale up to any size and is still nimble enough to scale down for smaller, less complex projects.

Earth’s margin of error is running out. Even if only a portion of the greenhouse gas science is correct, we know that over the next 30 years, we will inflict devastating, irreversible consequences to the planet and humanity, not to mention putting our businesses at risk.

The cost of not using our data to drive maximum efficiency and safety – as well as profit – has gotten too high. But we cannot optimize operations without first digitizing them. By providing customers access to their most important data and then empowering that data with reality capture and machine learning and algorithms we can, quite literally, change the world.

The revolution that Hexagon is leading – driving down the cost of scalable sustainability by improving your performance, growth and production – can reverse that trend. When we do the right things for our business, we will be doing the right things for the planet.

We can put an end to the status quo.