Businesses today must be more agile, efficient, and proactive than ever. This feat can only be successfully achieved through digital technologies that deliver enhanced intelligence, including the intelligent cloud and the ability to process and analyze data at the source, also known as the intelligent edge. By decentralizing data storage, processing, and intelligence capabilities, the workload on the data center or central processing hub is reduced, eliminating bottlenecks, streamlining integration, and allowing for improved operational efficiency.

An additional advantage of adopting the intelligent edge is its role in facilitating real-time decision-making. With data processing at the edge, organizations can respond swiftly to market changes, customer preferences, and operational dynamics. This enhances customer experiences and empowers businesses to act on insights as they emerge, gaining a competitive edge in their respective industries.

Moreover, the intelligent edge’s capability to handle massive amounts of data locally can support the growth of IoT ecosystems. As businesses integrate more IoT devices into their operations, the intelligent edge provides the necessary infrastructure to manage, process, and analyze this influx of data, thereby enabling smarter operations and innovative use cases across different sectors.

Intelligence to ease integration issues

While the uptake of cloud technologies has accelerated dramatically over the past two years, one of the biggest challenges remains integrating various applications and processes. Incorporating intelligence into devices at the edge that use artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities aids with this integration and ensures that various applications can be brought into the overarching cloud strategy.

For instance, companies are often compelled to integrate their CRM and ERP solutions with cloud service providers, yet this requires a lot of effort in terms of resources for these applications to achieve seamless integration. AI gathers information from the ‘edge’ applications, and as the integration requirements are predefined, this simplifies the integration process significantly and, as a result, reduces costs.

Furthermore, edge computing facilitates the creation of a more unified and flexible IT infrastructure. By leveraging edge devices’ computing power, businesses can build adaptable integration layers that accommodate the dynamic nature of modern business operations. This flexibility supports existing integrations and allows organizations to incorporate new applications and services as they evolve without disrupting existing workflows.

It also eliminates bottlenecks in processing and analysis that were done centrally, with data alignment across multiple applications. Processing becomes faster and more efficient.

Another example is Robotics-as-a-Service using drones. Previously, a drone might capture footage and relay it to a central server or data center. However, with built-in AI, the drone can capture the best frames of the footage and transfer only these to the server. This lowers bandwidth usage and improves efficiencies.

Translating Benefits to ROI

Suppose data is processed and analyzed at the edge. In that case, it means that data doesn’t have to ‘travel’, and as such, there is less risk for data to be intercepted, which in turn reduces challenges in multiple other areas. So, the intelligent edge offers a number of benefits to businesses. These include fewer bottlenecks with cloud integration, improved efficiencies, reduced bandwidth consumption, minimized latency, lower costs and complexity, improved reliability, and enhanced security.

In addition to security improvements, the edge allows for localized data compliance. For businesses operating in regions with strict data sovereignty laws, processing data at the edge can ensure compliance without compromising speed or efficiency. This feature becomes a critical advantage as businesses expand into new markets with varying regulatory landscapes, contributing to long-term ROI.

Return on investment (ROI) is also an area that needs to be carefully considered when implementing intelligent edge technologies. Proof of concepts can be invaluable in providing an idea of outcomes and ROI that can be achieved. However, it is also important to understand that implementing these technologies can be costly at the outset, and fast ROI is very seldom achieved.

However, the long-term ROI can be significant because the benefits are ongoing and will deliver returns long after the initial capital outlay.

Additionally, the scalability offered by the intelligent edge means businesses can gradually expand their edge infrastructure to match their growth. This modular approach to implementation can make it easier to justify initial investments, as organizations can start with specific use cases and build on success, ultimately maximizing the returns as the edge capabilities expand.

Pay attention to the edge

As cloud and hybrid cloud environments become the standard, the benefits that the intelligent edge delivers make it a compelling technology procurement decision. It helps streamline business processes, align data across multiple applications, simplify integrations, and more.

It also reduces the cost of security, one of the more expensive business applications, and helps businesses optimize operations and drive greater efficiency. In addition, it reduces the costs and complexity associated with integrating and migrating applications to the cloud.

Furthermore, the intelligent edge empowers businesses to achieve a more sustainable IT infrastructure. By reducing reliance on central data centers, organizations can decrease energy consumption and carbon emissions. This aligns with growing environmental concerns and contributes to corporate social responsibility goals, enhancing the brand’s reputation in the market.

In an era of ‘always on’ and ‘instant gratification,’ the intelligent edge is fast becoming the way of the future.

Navinder Pal Singh