In the days before Christmas 2022, Britain quite literally faced a perfect storm.
Household gas and electric bills were already at record highs. This was driven by soaring wholesale gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and falls in domestic electricity supplies from Britain's wind and solar-generation farms.
The availability of fuels across all of Europe was tight and politically charged. This meant that stockpiles in the UK became critically low.
And then the temperatures plunged. In levels not seen since 2010, parts of Aberdeenshire hit -17.3°C, while the milder south-eastern region of the UK barely reached a shivering -5°C. Industrial and consumer and gas and electricity demand surged sharply, stretching the country’s limited supplies to breaking point, sparking fears of widespread outages.
But Octopus Energy leveraged its next-generation software platform to rapidly respond to these challenges. In real time, the utility provider watched evolving energy demand patterns across the UK and dynamically reallocated resources to wherever they needed to be at that precise time.
Despite increased demand across the UK, no widespread capacity outages occurred.
Octopus was later lauded for the role it played in preventing capacity outages, stabilising the wider grid, and doing its part to help the UK dodge a significant national crisis.
It is examples like these that underscore the strategic and transformative power of instant and data-driven decision making. Access to real-time data makes it happen, and the use cases go well beyond being able to respond quickly to crises.
The ability to immediately act on emerging information isn’t just advantageous, it is a fundamental part of maintaining organisational competitiveness and customer trust.
Today's digitally-powered society expects near instant results. It’s real-time streaming that makes it happen.
Real-time streaming means that data can be processed and analysed within milliseconds of it being collected and loaded to a warehouse. Unlike traditional batch processing, which operates on historical data, real-time introduces a new level of agility. Organisations can react instantly to unfolding events, predict volatile market trends, and proactively manage risks.
It’s already commonplace in the financial services sector. Global and UK banks like HSBC, and fintech innovators such as Revolut, rely on live analytics to surveil and detect real-time fraudulent activity, triggering immediate protective measures to safeguard the firm and its account holders.
But other sectors reap substantial benefits from real-time data too.
In the retail and consumer goods industry, Marks & Spencer uses live AI data-driven feeds to capture real-time feeds from stores and online channels to dynamically adjust inventory levels. This precise management reduces waste, ensures optimal stock availability wherever the inventory is really needed, and significantly enhances customer satisfaction. Simultaneously, personalised experiences delivered instantly at scale boost customer engagement and loyalty.
The healthcare sector illustrates real-time streaming's transformative potential. NHS Trusts across the UK are increasingly monitoring patient vitals, allowing for immediate medical interventions, and sometimes without the patient presenting with symptoms. Early anomaly detection has proven lifesaving, substantially improving patient care and operational efficiencies within hospitals.
The case for real-time data
As mentioned previously, the use cases for real time are varied and unique to each organisation’s goals. But the most common reasons why Scrumconnect’s clients choose to embark on real-time data projects include:
Adopting real-time data streaming is not without challenges.
Engaging specialist organisations like Scrumconnect helps organisations to navigate these and other challenges.
As a data and digital transformation specialist, Scrumconnect provides expert support, offering strategic guidance, robust technical infrastructure, specialised knowledge, and compliance assurance. In this regard, we have supported several ambitious public service clients, including the Department for Works and Pensions, Ministry of Justice, Department for Education, and others on high value data innovations. Additionally, Scrumconnect is involved in the National Data Library initiative, on behalf of the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO). This integrated and accessible data infrastructure is integral to the UK Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, and is intended to support and run across the whole UK public sector.
By engaging Scrumconnect, organisations can rapidly and securely capitalise on real-time data, reducing risks and maximising the return on investment.
A typical engagement model we’d take for a real-time data streaming project
The individual needs of each project varies client by client, but before the technical implementation took place, our general approach would be to work with organisations to:
Real-time data streaming is no longer an edge case. It's a growing expectation across sectors where speed, accuracy and adaptability matter. The examples from energy, finance, retail and healthcare show the direction of travel. Each sector, in its own way, is discovering that faster insight leads to better outcomes: whether that's saving lives, keeping the lights on, or improving a customer’s experience.
The organisations that thrive will be those that build on this momentum.
The ability to see what's happening now, rather than what’s happened in the past, changes how problems get solved. But it also demands new ways of thinking, organising and delivering as an organisation. It’s high-effort to value, but leaving it for later opens up a massive opportunity for someone else. And this is important because live-data is valuable currency for customer goodwill.
Speak to a data expert at Scrumconnect to discuss what this means for your organisation.
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Scrumconnect is pleased to announce its successful award of G-Cloud 14 Lot 4 Framework Contract.
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Scrumconnect is committed to disability rights.
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