system would know who that
user is, what their skills are,
what the tasks are that need to
be completed and will suggest
what they need to do next.”
Rather than going through
a complicated process to gain
instructions ahead of time, the
system will prompt the user
with relevant information,
he continues, “which is
based on what has happened
before and the current
situation.” Fundamentally,
the technology needs to be
intuitive, and it needs to help
the user do their job quickly
and effi ciently, he stresses.
Data sharing
The second key element is
what the technology can do
for the business – and this
is where data comes in. “We
believe that NG data lakes
will essentially enable two
things: prescriptive analytics
and predictive analytics.”
Currently, there’s a lot of data
available but it’s being misused
or not being used at all, he
bemoans.
“We’re at the beginning
of implementing data lakes
with Menzies. These data
conduct.” By way of example,
he suggests differential
pricing. “If someone is really
accurate and really effi cient,
you can reduce the price;
if someone is costing you a
lot more to serve, you can
increase your price. You could
do a lot of things to predict
how things will happen
in the future based on the
analysis of these events,”
he enthuses. Furthermore,
this is all available in what
Baruch terms a “server-less”,
cloud-based environment, so
customers can use it without
dependency on the core
system.
Being more open
The next element in future
proofi ng the technology is
openness. “We’re living in
an open world. Everything
needs to be able to connect
to everything. Menzies’
customers or suppliers want
to know what’s going on
or to be able to connect
to Menzies in an easy
way, so part of the system
now includes APIs. We’re
enabling what used to be
a closed system, with great
The “server-less” Hermes NG
ecosystem comprises apps, APIs
and data lakes
We’re enabling
what used to
be a closed
system, with
great dependency
on the software
provider, to be an
open system
Yuval Baruch, Chief Operating Offi cer,
Hermes Logistics Technologies
lakes are different from the
old business intelligence
where you would log into
a complicated database,
bringing you static data. Data
lakes are basically a collection
of meaningful events,” Baruch
explains. Such events could
include a ULD being moved
or a document being released
at a certain time. “We’ve
developed a mechanism
where there’s a relay that
sits on top of Hermes 5 that
constantly throws these
events to a Microsoft Azure
lake, so you always have a
real-time picture of what has
actually happened.”
The real-time aspect
of the data lake enables
the ability to react almost
immediately – and other
benefi ts besides. “That will
enable prescriptive analytics:
you gather this information
and it will teach you what
needs to happen next. It will
also be predictive: you would
be able to know in advance,
for example, if you have a
trucking company that’s
always late and based on
that information you will be
able to change your business
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