Integration or no integration, that is the question.
You as a customer own your data in Bintel's service. This means that you own the information and can choose which internal and external stakeholders that gets access to your data. Data can be shared through different types of integrations. Which integration is relevant, and when is it to be done? Let's dive into this.
You own your data, and that means you can do the following:
- Create as many users as you want in Bintel's service free of charge
- Invite customers such as real estate companies or waste contractors to access data from selected collection points or waste streams
- Via API, automatically integrate information into your internal operations management systems and/or transport management systems
- Via API share data to the municipality's integration platform
- Export data from Bintel's system via CSV format into, for example, Excel for other types of analysis
API – how does it work?
Bintel's open service allows you to continuously read data through an API. This means that the information is free to read from, but that it needs to be integrated into the system used.
In order to use the information inside the system, the system vendor needs to integrate the information. In this way, it is possible to access the information and use it in a good way.
When building the integration, your system vendor can load data from Bintel's systems in two different ways:
- MQTT flow
- REST API
The most modern way to build an integration is via an MQTT flow and means that all changes that take place in Bintel's system are automatically read over in your system.
By working through a REST API, your system calls Bintel's system several times a day or per hour with questions about whether there are updates to be consulted.
Step 2
Data collection – increased understanding of data
An easy and easy first step. Just plug in the devices (sensors) and let them do the work. Data is collected and saved. You don't have to do anything or spend time on the project if you don't want to.
When data is collected over 3-6 months, there is enough information and data to dare to trust and draw conclusions based on the trends you can see.
Here in the first step, it's about understanding and see what kind of information is available. You will learn to understand what this information means to you and how it can be used. You can create hypotheses that you want to investigate. That is, through the first glance of the data, one can think "does it not seem like....".
One hypothesis may be: Fewer people read physical newspapers today and probably the collection frequency or container size should decrease at the collection points we measure. Through in-depth data and analysis (step 2), you can either confirm or deny this hypothesis.
When should you make an integration?
The purpose of the project is crucial to whether or not you should make an integration. If the purpose is to do a current situation analysis to create a baseline, then your operations staff and field employees do not need to change the systems used to test a new working methodology, which means demand-driven collection. It is only when you are going to act and adapt your collection process and operational organization that it is interesting to make an integration.
Bintel's platform, Bintel Insight, is built to help analyze and make decisions based on data. When the decision is made to work data-driven and act on data in your processes, you should integrate the information into your existing IT architecture, that's when it's time to make an integration to Bintel Brain.
So, to take your first steps in the digitalization process, you don't have to go through any integration projects. Only when you want to let data control operational operations is it time to take these steps. However, it may be worth getting a picture of the complexity of these integrations, even when standing on the first steps.
Enjoy the ride!