Harnessing the Power of Data and Generative AI with OMRON Europe
This post is co-written with Emrah Kaya and Xinyi Zhou from Omron Europe.
Challenges
Data is one of the most critical assets of many organizations. They’re constantly seeking ways to use their vast amounts of information to gain competitive advantages.
OMRON Corporation is a leading technology provider in industrial automation, healthcare, and electronic components. In their Shaping the Future 2030 (SF2030) strategic plan, OMRON aims to address diverse social issues, drive sustainable business growth, transform business models and capabilities, and accelerate digital transformation. At the heart of this transformation is the OMRON Data & Analytics Platform (ODAP), an innovative initiative designed to revolutionize how the company harnesses its data assets.
This post explores how OMRON Europe is using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build its advanced ODAP and its progress toward harnessing the power of generative AI.
Challenges
By using advanced data and analytics capabilities, organizations can gain valuable insights into their operations, industry trends, and customer behaviors, leading to more informed strategies and increased insight. This approach is particularly powerful when applied to mission-critical data such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems because these contain information about internal processes, supply chain management, and customer interactions. By analyzing their data, organizations can identify patterns in sales cycles, optimize inventory management, or help tailor products or services to meet customer needs more effectively. However, organizations often face significant challenges in realizing these benefits because of:
- Data silos – Organizations often use multiple systems across regions or departments. Integrating these diverse sources to create a single source of truth is complex, making it difficult to generate unified reports or analyze cross-functional trends.
- Data governance challenges – Maintaining consistent data governance across different systems is crucial but complex. Implementing uniform policies across different systems and departments presents significant hurdles.
- Different formats and standards – Systems typically use varied data formats and structures. This disparity complicates data integration and cross-system analysis, requiring significant effort to reconcile and harmonize data for comprehensive insights.
OMRON Data & Analytics Platform
To address these challenges, OMRON Europe (hereinafter “OMRON”) decided to implement an advanced data and analytics platform, ODAP. This innovative solution was designed to serve as a centralized hub for specific data assets, breaking down the barriers between various data sources and systems.
The following diagram shows a simplified architecture and some of the services and architectural patterns used for ODAP.
ODAP aimed to seamlessly integrate data from multiple ERP and CRM systems in addition to other relevant data sources across the organization. Amazon AppFlow was used to facilitate the smooth and secure transfer of data from various sources into ODAP. Additionally, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) served as the central data lake, providing a scalable and cost-effective storage solution for the diverse data types collected from different systems. The robust security features provided by Amazon S3, including encryption and durability, were used to provide data protection. Finally, ODAP was designed to incorporate cutting-edge analytics tools and future AI-powered insights.
Embracing Generative AI with Amazon Bedrock
The company has identified several use cases where generative AI can significantly impact operations, particularly in analytics and business intelligence (BI).
One key initiative is ODAPChat, an AI-powered chat-based assistant employees can use to interact with data using natural language queries. This tool democratizes data access across the organization, enabling even nontechnical users to gain valuable insights.
A standout application is the SQL-to-natural language capability, which translates complex SQL queries into plain English and vice versa, bridging the gap between technical and business teams. To power these advanced AI features, OMRON chose Amazon Bedrock. This fully managed service offers a range of foundation models (FMs), providing the flexibility to select the most suitable model for each use case. The straightforward implementation of Amazon Bedrock, coupled with its scalability to handle growing data volumes and user requests, made it an ideal choice for OMRON. The ability of Amazon Bedrock to support various models from different providers helps make sure that OMRON can always use the most advanced AI capabilities as they evolve.
Results and Future Plans
The implementation of ODAP and ODAPChat on AWS has already yielded significant benefits for OMRON:
- Optimization of reports, leading to more efficient and insightful analysis
- SQL-to-natural language capabilities powered by generative AI, making data more accessible to nontechnical users
- Increased business agility with infrastructure fully deployed in the cloud
- Data democratization, enabling more employees to use data-driven insights
Looking ahead, OMRON plans to significantly expand its use of AWS services and further use generative AI capabilities. The company aims to integrate additional data sources, including other mission-critical systems, into ODAP. This expansion will be coupled with enhanced data governance measures to help promote data quality and compliance across the growing data solution.
Conclusion
OMRON’s journey with AWS demonstrates the transformative power of cloud-based data solutions and generative AI in overcoming data silos and driving business innovation. By using AWS services such as Amazon AppFlow, Amazon S3, and Amazon Bedrock, OMRON has created a comprehensive, secure, and adaptable data and analytics platform that not only meets its current needs, but also positions the company for future growth and innovation.
About the Authors
Emrah Kaya
Emrah Kaya is Data Engineering Manager at Omron Europe and Platform Lead for ODAP Project. With his extensive background on Cloud & Data Architecture, Emrah leads key OMRON’s technological advancement initiatives, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, or data science.
Xinyi Zhou
Xinyi Zhou is a Data Engineer at Omron Europe, bringing her expertise to the ODAP team led by Emrah Kaya. She specializes in building efficient data pipelines and managing AWS infrastructure, while actively contributing to the implementation of new solutions that advance ODAP’s technological capabilities.
Emel Mendoza
Emel Mendoza is a Senior Solutions Architect at AWS based in the Netherlands. With passion for cloud migrations and application modernization, Emel helps organizations navigate their digital transformation journeys on AWS. Emel leverages his decade of experience to guide customers in adopting AWS services and architecting scalable, efficient solutions.
Jagdeep Singh Soni
Jagdeep Singh Soni is a Senior Partner Solutions Architect at AWS based in the Netherlands. He uses his passion for Generative AI to help customers and partners build GenAI applications using AWS services. Jagdeep has 15 years of experience in innovation, experience engineering, digital transformation, cloud architecture, and ML applications.
FAQs
Q: What are the challenges in realizing the benefits of advanced data and analytics capabilities?
A: Organizations often face significant challenges in realizing the benefits of advanced data and analytics capabilities due to data silos, data governance challenges, and different formats and standards.
Q: What is the OMRON Data & Analytics Platform (ODAP)?
ODAP is an innovative initiative designed to revolutionize how the company harnesses its data assets. It is a centralized hub for specific data assets, breaking down the barriers between various data sources and systems.
Q: What is Amazon Bedrock?
Amazon Bedrock is a fully managed service that offers a range of foundation models (FMs), providing the flexibility to select the most suitable model for each use case.
Q: What are the benefits of using ODAP and ODAPChat on AWS?
The implementation of ODAP and ODAPChat on AWS has already yielded significant benefits for OMRON, including optimization of reports, SQL-to-natural language capabilities, increased business agility, and data democratization.
