Transparency Transformation

As part of our never-ending transformation, we need to talk about Transparency which implies openness, communication, and accountability. It means operating in such a way that thoughts, feelings, or motives are easily perceived and it is easy for others to see what actions are performed.

This open-to-all transparent thinking is a significant shift from our proprietary “me” thinking of yesteryear and it is a big part of our process of Metamorphosing Me. I find my younger mentors bring clarity to the meaning of Transparency when they express puzzlement as to why a certain thing is done a certain way – it seems to make no sense! The answer is often because in the past we did not want to be transparent...Yikes!

That is a scary thought, but true. Achieving Transparency may even be scarier if we do not change the opaqueness of our mindset. We need to listen to the people who are driving the digital metamorphosis that I have been ranting on about in my last few columns, giving it a Brain, Face, Body, and Voice.

Here’s a good working definition from techtarget.com:

Transparency, in a business or governance context, is honesty and openness. Transparency and accountability are generally considered the two main pillars of good corporate governance.
The implication of transparency is that all of an organization’s actions should be scrupulous enough to bear public scrutiny. Increasingly, the nature of social media and other communications means that even actions intended to be secret may be brought into the public's awareness, despite an organization's best efforts to keep them hidden.

From this Article, The New Deal Initiative by Jim Lee, CEO Cimetrics, Inc.:

Today, the industry is grappling with the impending disruption brought about by information technology, specifically the “digitalization of everything” under the moniker of the Internet of Things… 

Discussing disruptive forces can be both invigorating and uncomfortable at the same time. Many in the industry that makes up CABA’s membership will be excited by the New Deal, while others will see it as unnecessary and counter to their current business priorities. A better way to view disruption is that it is inescapable, and the industry’s acceptance of this, and an open dialog about self-disruption will be much better than the inevitable external disruption from entities less able to fulfill the needs of building owners, operators, and managers.

The New Deal is based on three tenets, explained in full in the white paper:

•   Open Standards

•   Digital Twin

•   Service Transparency

In this article How IoT is Transforming the HVACR Industry From Ronald J. Zimmer, President and CEO of CABA, comes these words:

Through new, emerging IoT technology, property owners and managers will be able to control building operations and respond to tenant requests from applications on their smart devices to provide a higher level of service. Critical issues regarding standards, APIs, cybersecurity and the cloud are the focus of much of the industry’s efforts today. These issues will be resolved, and the industry will evolve to determine how best to manage and access gargantuan data sets to yield meaningful insights designed to better manage large building portfolios.

We project that real value from IoT will amass in the years ahead, as mountains of data accessed from HVACR devices are sifted, sorted and examined through complex analytics. Our research affirms that the unique value of IoT is expressed through practical applications, such as intelligent buildings, where previously isolated, standalone systems become functionality integrated, sharing data, and thereby providing wider benefits.

So how do open standards promote transparency? Here’s a quick example from the sixth annual Connection Community Collaboratory: