Notch 8 To The Golden Run, Part 1: From Sensors to the Boardroom

This is Part 1, “From Sensors to the Boardroom,” of a three-part
series based upon the new book, Dynamic Multi-Level Decisioning
Architecture: Making the Right Decisions at the Right Time, With
the Right Authority for Sustained Competitiveness and Relevance, by
Sonia Bot, Sheppard Narkier and David Sherr. “It’s about how all
industries, including the rail industry, its partners and adjacent
competitors, are evolving in the throes of digital disruption and
other external forces, and the role people play in decision-making
at all levels of an organization,” say the authors.
“Decision-making needs to flow better upwards and downwards, tying
the boardroom to the railroad yards, transloading facilities,
tracks—the whole rail network and transportation ecosystem. “The
bigger story is about each stakeholder needing a better
understanding of how to make the right decision at the right time
with better, more-focused knowledge, applying hard-earned wisdom to
make better decisions with better and traceable outcomes. It’s
about the convergence of two long-standing silos, OT (operational
technology) and IT (information technology), becoming the
cornerstone of effective innovation in large, complex firms like
railroads, which need to meet the increasing impact of disruptive
forces. The need to address this convergence affects a wide range
of disciplines to unveil a much broader scale of end-to-end
systems—from the sensors in the field to the boardroom.
Out-of-date, isolated data that lacks context causes major
paralysis.” Bot, Narkier and Sherr discuss these concepts with
Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono