Solving the top 4 challenges of control room managers
Share this article:
[Sassy_Social_Share]
Control rooms, including operations centers, command and control centers, network operations centers and more are 24/7 environments that are vital mission-critical for organizations and agencies. They are the repository space to efficiently and effectively monitor multiple information streams and make accurate mission-critical decisions. Yet, control room managers across all industries are facing four main challenges that too often hinder their ability to take informed decisions. The next generation of control rooms will need to address these challenges right from the design phase, to the layout of the space right and installation but also the technology and applications adopted.
#1 Facing poor information visibility
Control room managers often lack clear visibility and representation of the information at hand. The ever-increasing number of content sources and applications are becoming challenging to bring together in an efficient and real-time information overview for the managers and for the operators. This does not only create friction in the workflow but can cause a lag in the decision-making or mean that information is being wrongly passed, if passed at all. This can also be the difference between a successful operation or not in a command and control environment. The modernisation of control rooms has become a priority for control rooms managers across industries and advanced visualisation is one of the solutions to create more efficient information overview, to improve shared team awareness and ultimately to increase efficiency and speed up the detection of threats.
#2 Competing technology working in silos
Secondly, control room managers face difficulties when it comes to supporting their critical infrastructure because of their technology set-up. The way traditional control rooms were built was with competing technology working in silos. The integration of technology was then very difficult to accomplish and cumbersome to maintain. Unlike traditional meeting rooms, Cyviz’ Dynamic control room is based on a turnkey and unified platform model that is configurable, future-proof and makes it easy to support and monitor. The changing nature of technology has increased the importance of delivering solutions that are more self-sufficient with self-service tools, and that give more control to the buying organizations. The Cyviz Dynamic control room is based on the Cyviz Easy Platform, which is designed on principles of standardization and configuration and cater perfectly for this requirement. Cyviz’ Dynamic control room integrates with a system management that can monitor, control and support all systems remotely and quickly.
#3 Obsolete technology and high cost of ownership
Thirdly, control room managers end up operating expensive control rooms that cannot keep up with the ever-changing nature of technology and become obsolete or outdated quickly. In classic control rooms, operators end -up having to modify their operational procedures and adapting their workflows to the control room software solution rather than the other way around because limitations arise quickly, and the room they had invested in no longer works as delivered. A control room is one of the most powerful assets of an organization. It should be an investment that remains relevant as technology, threats and working scenarios evolve. With configurable technology as opposed to programmable technology, the Dynamic control delivers a solution that can be updated at each software release is made available and can be configured to integrate with any new applications, software or underlying technology. It evolves over time and ensures a lower total cost of ownership.
#4 Lack of operator comfort
Finally, one of the most commonly shared pain-points in control rooms, is the lack of thought given to the comfort of operators when designing the environment and choosing the technology. Control room operators’ ability to take the correct actions and decisions may directly impact organizations’ uptime, production output, as well as safety, to mention some examples. Therefore, it is crucial that control room spaces are designed to offer them the best possible operator environment. This will come through the ergonomics of the furniture, the layout of the environment room, the means to collaborate and communicate and through the technology at play. Indeed, to monitor several multiple flows of data and information can become difficult and tiresome when the visibility is fragmented and no single pane or view is available to gather all information needed. In traditional control rooms, operators have to split their attention between different displays and sources to keep up to date. And when they have the main a display wall, it is usually a simple mirroring feed of individual laptops, or a static configuration that does not allow for content changes, real-time actions or collaboration. The Cyviz display wall solution enables operators to share their work, interact with the overview information on the large screen and create situational awareness across the control room environment to resolve an issue. Decision-making becomes easier as information is not only shared across teams but is actionable. As a part of the Dynamic control room solution, the Cyviz display video wall is designed for 24/7 environments and the number of sources possible to being shared is practically endless. CCTV, plant real-time feeds, video conference, dashboards and management systems can be simultaneously seen side by side, reorganized on the canvas with a simple pinch and drop on the control panel and actioned. Equally, the secure integration of Unified Communication within the control room opens up new avenues for operators to collaborate easily, and summon experts within the room or in any desired location – without having to leave their desk.
The Dynamic control room
Cyviz delivers integrated, turnkey operations centers that are truly dynamic in their design, ergonomy and in the richness of functionality. They are multipurpose spaces optimized for situational needs that evolve with technology, changing workflows and adapt to the different work scenarios. The Dynamic control room is different from the existing options proposed by AV integrators. The Dynamic control rooms are fully configurable, standardized and delivered as turnkey solutions with Unified Communication integration and certification for the highest security requirements. At Cyviz we believe that the new Dynamic control room will become indispensable in helping organizations manage incidents, improve speed and accuracy of decision-making, and mobilize the workforce when a crisis hits. Cyviz has more than 20 years of experience and knowledge with delivering control rooms around the world, serving the most demanding organizations across industries. This experience helps us anticipate the future needs of our customers’ control rooms. As we consult with stakeholders and operators in our design process, the Dynamic control rooms we deliver do not only meet their requirements but evolve with them over time.
> Get inspired by our latest control room case study.
Do you have a control room upgrade project? Leave your details and we’ll get in touch.
[caldera_form id=”CF5ccace2b4840d”]
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://www.cyviz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/0.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Evodie Fleury works as Product Marketing Manager at Cyviz. She has spent time working in technology across products, marketing and people for 7 years. She is passionate about products, innovation and delivering premium user-experience.[/author_info] [/author]
Back to News