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Introduction to Scenarios and Regions
This article will address cases of digital transformation in operations located in the Amazon region. What do we think of when we talk about Amazonian regions? We automatically think of areas isolated from civilization, places where technology is slower to arrive compared to the capitals of large metropolises. Certainly, operating any business in these areas ends up becoming a little more complex and challenging, but these factors do not make it impossible to carry out technology projects Given these complex scenarios, there are large companies operating in the region, and many contribute to the development of the surrounding municipalities, generating jobs and supporting social and environmental development programs The companies that operate in these regions are of countless cultures that range from agribusiness to countless plants of the most varied segments, so it is common that the information technology sector seeks technologies that are adherent to the operations to facilitate the daily routines. Digital transformation is a strategy and not a project, because it is about transforming how the operation conducts its processes, taking advantage of the indicators that are generated in its daily routine to take a resolution approach to a problem at a time. With the difficulties related to geolocation and nature, it is possible to make digital transformation in these companies, applying to the areas of Telecom, Infrastructure, Systems, and information security. As a case study, the scenario of an operation that operates in five northern states of Brazil will be presented, being them in Pará, Roraima, Rondônia, Amazonia, and Acre in totally isolated areas, without access even by roads, ports, or airports. Transforming Telecom In Telecom, internet distribution started to be carried out with the options of optical fiber to the most distant locations and where there is no passage of fiber, the option via radio and via satellite was used for the most isolated areas. Currently the Telecom networks have more structure and are well distributed to ensure that operations do not stop, because in addition to all forms of distribution redundant links were also applied. After the standardization of the networks, the administration of these regions is carried out in a consolidated manner, and for continuous improvement it was necessary to implement some projects to improve performance and organization, thus bringing comprehensive visibility and real-time communication network and network stability and increased productivity in places of difficult access. Among the projects applied for this modality are solutions that enable comprehensive, real-time visibility into the entire corporate communication network. As solutions for network management with security by performing filtering of what can or cannot be accessed Firewall, following the company’s policies and thus mitigating the risks of viruses and attacks. The distribution of internet through Ethernet and Wi-Fi networks made life easier for the employees who work in the operation, because they are connected to a stable, safe network, monitored and managed by the team of Telecom and Security specialists These Telecom deployments are fundamental to ensure the connectivity of all workstations regardless of location, in a safe and effective way for all employees and operations, and prepare the company to strengthen itself as an Industry 4.0. Transforming the IT Infrastructure After the network standardization, the next step was to ensure that the infrastructure is adequate with the information security policies. Most companies that operate in isolated areas, usually have local servers to serve the operation, the cost to ensure the support of these solutions can be high and do not guarantee 100% availability, because any intermittence all dependent locations end up going offline. Speaking of digital transformation, it was also possible to migrate local servers to highly secure cloud environments, bringing more security and guaranteed operation 24 x 7. With the migration of environments to the cloud, problems such as server unavailability ended up ceasing to exist and the infrastructure team is able to serve the company with more agility, because the network administration is consolidated through a single management platform. The project of migration to the cloud contributed to the reduction of cost with equipment and maintenance assets in place, agility in meeting any demand because all servers are available to be accessed from anywhere regardless of whether it is accessing remotely or locally. The infrastructure team can know in real time the availability of each environment, and better manage the processing, performance and storage of hardware, resources needed for the systems to operate, view network status and services needed to ensure the operation. With the infrastructure management in sight, the team can work in a planned manner in preventive and corrective maintenance, and can mitigate all possible risks in advance. Transforming Systems With the telecom projects, the issue of IT network (corporate) and OT network (operation) segregation was also solved, because through this Telecom and Infrastructure structuring, it was possible to carry out process automation projects via OT and IT systems, and ensure that all systems are within the security standards. The industries operate through supervisory systems for monitoring and industrial and environmental control, and their production is controlled in ERP systems with corporate applications. Following the good practices of system implementation, it is important that the supervisory systems are on a segregated network for the safety of the equipment in a fully protected network, and with digital transformation all OT equipment cannot be accessed over the internet, unless this function is activated by the team of specialists. Addressing IT information systems, all the company’s business areas need software to manage processes and generate indicators that will be consumed in all areas of the company, from the operation to know if the parameters in which the equipment is configured are generating good production results, to the BackOffice areas to manage the administrative routines more effectively. It is part of the transformation process in systems that the ERP’s are deployed following good practices, to ensure that the process is within the audit requirements and generating positive results for the company’s economy. And for the processes to bemature in the systems, it is important that the business areas actively participate in the implementation projects to ensure that all processes are met in their entirety. The application of great software in these companies is already a reality, to manage all BackOffice processes and in the future to attend the manufacturing operations Conclusion We can conclude that the transformation process that began in Telecom has brought great positive impacts in the areas of infrastructure and systems, such as optimized security with advanced information protection and security solutions for all users and benefits in the execution of processes, and especially that it is possible to take the digital transformation to operations located in isolated areas with difficult access.
