In order to deliver on the promise of your #DigitalTransformation project you need to identify 5 phases. You cannot just rush to the end game. You must go through the steps to ensure you are building a smart city that will deliver on your citizens, visitors, employers and employees requirements.
These phases will take you from the current situation to a city where citizens are engaged and supportive.
Connecting Objects
The project plan starts with the need to connect, audit and digitize all useful data sources. Identifying these sources and the useful data is key. Also it is critical to share and develop a database, create a data ecosystem, and open a smart city operation centre. In order to be successful security must be built in from day 1, so an information security centre and plan must be included.
Data Tracking
The collation of the collected data and its monitoring are essential if we are to gain an insight to what is happening in the city. Data must be collected in a usable manner and be useful. Storing volumes of useless data must be avoided. The object of this phase is to find data that can give information we can exploit in future phases. For example, to understand how weather, traffic, pollution etc interact.
Optimisation
Once we have the data and we can start to see how aspects of city life interact we can start being preemptive and predicting what is going to happen. Validation of our predictions is important so definition of our measurable expectations is required.
Action
We are now able to make informed rapid decision based on what we see is happening and what we anticipate. This will start to lead to visible benefits in time, cost savings and better services. Once validated the final phase can be started.
Citizen engagement
Although not explicit in the earlier phases it must always be remembered that a major objective will be to engage citizens with appropriate tools, user interfaces and systems.
