Opportunities & Business Impact
Areas for Social Innovation
“Public safety and security will be one of the defining factors of how society evolves and a key opportunity area for Social Innovation Business.”
At Hitachi, business in the field of digital transformation is defined as Social Innovation, which in our previous white papers
(http://social-innovation.hitachi/en-gb/about/white-papers/) we described as “the deployment of technology and new business models to bring about real positive change to the lives of individuals and societies, creating shared value.” This means that IT-OT convergence and digital transformation is at the very heart of Social Innovation Business.
Public safety and security will be one of the defining factors of how society evolves and a key opportunity area for Social Innovation Business. Stable and safe living environments enable business innovation and provide a better quality of life for citizens. Security needs to be at the heart of planning and development.
Equipping public safety organisations with the right tools and technology to protect citizens and infrastructure will bring multiple positive impacts:
1. Direct cost efficiencies by delivering better expenditure of government funds and delivering improved value for taxpayers
2. Improving city efficiency by ensuring continuity of public services and city operations
3. Ensure more efficient and better decision making from public safety agencies by providing a quicker resolution to threats and security incidents
4. Improve public well-being by delivering better-protected societies and safer citizens
5. Create a thriving and competitive security industry, driving technology innovation to predict and prevent future threats
6. Place security at the heart of smart cities, protecting the digital society of the future
The Impact & Benefits of Digitised Public Safety
“The benefits of digital transformation of the public security ecosystem will be felt in multiple dimensions from spending efficiency to improved safety and new operating models.”
Providing More Safety for Less Money
Investment in technology will drive cost efficiencies across public safety agencies. Technology allows streamlined processes, better and more relevant information to be analysed, and greater use of resources. In many areas of the world, government budgets have been reduced and there is pressure to provide more security with less money. Investment in new digital technologies is the only way to achieve this and reduce operational expenditures. This provides better use of government funds for the future.
Securing Smart Cities in the Move towards the Digital Society
As the world moves towards a more digitally enabled society, security will have to be at the centre. Protection of smart cities will be one of the most complex challenges that public safety agencies face; however, the benefits that these will bring outweighs the risk. Creating a secure and safe environment will allow communities to thrive and help to improve the quality of life for citizens.
Fostering Security Innovation
All of the dynamics of public safety will continue to drive innovation within the security industry. It is critical to support this to ensure that security organisations have cutting-edge tools that are able to respond to emerging threats. The challenge of all public safety agencies is to stay ahead of the curve and prepare for all circumstances. Ensuring a thriving and competitive security industry is critical to achieving this.