The Record - Issue 21: Summer 2021

143 Sims. “Their feedback has been incredibly use- ful to ensuring HxGN Connect is as effective as possible. These discussions have led to the discovery of HxGN Connect use cases we had not even considered.” Hexagon’s collaboration workspace is built on Microsoft Azure and uses several Microsoft technologies for storage, maps and messaging. “We’re definitely all in with Microsoft,” says Sims. “The company has been wonderful. From day one, the team sat shoulder to shoulder with us, reviewed our designs, provided feedback and assisted in troubleshooting. It’s been a great partnership. We continue to work with them to explore new Microsoft innovations that will benefit HxGN Connect customers. “There’s no direct comparison with other solu- tions in this space,” she says. “There are com- panies that provide major event management systems, but we go beyond that. “One of our primary differentiators is the ease of integrating data from a wide variety of exter- nal data sources, including systems, devices and sensors.” This data integration is powered by another Hexagon product – Xalt | Integration. “And that is really our secret sauce,” says Sims. “We can build the integrations with external sources or customers can because Xalt | Integration is that easy to use. Xalt | Integration overcomes a big technical barrier to doing these types of projects.” Another major factor that differentiates HxGN Connect is its data sharing framework. “The technology barrier to a system like this is data integration, but the other barrier is more people-centric and surrounds the poli- tics of sharing data,” says Sims. “Agencies need to control their data, but a solution like HxGN Connect is only as useful as the data that it can collate from disparate sources. “So, we created a data sharing framework that allows every organisation to decide what data they want to share, what other organisations and roles within that organisation they will allow to see each type of data and the rules of sharing that data.” With so much information shared in HxGN Connect, Sims and her team believe assistive artificial intelligence (AI) will help to prevent a “data deluge” for its users. “By assistive AI, we mean AI that’s helping to identify potentially time-critical informa- tion and proactively present it to the decision makers,” she explains. “With so much data, there’s no way that humans could manually review and assess it in time to make a differ- ence. To address this challenge, we are devel- oping assistive AI capabilities to correlate the data and alert users of links or patterns so they can analyse the information and make better informed decisions on what actions should be taken on the alerts. “To reimagine our smart cities of the future, cities need to embrace agile solutions like HxGN Connect that help break down departmental silos and work with existing infrastructure and systems to achieve true collaboration.” PUB L I C S E C TOR