With the support of the Microsoft partner company, CrazyTechLabs, the Orion Group managed to develop a sophisticated platform with automated processes, data analysis using Machine Learning, and the creation of an interactive digital twin for its clients. The new monitoring reality solved a major challenge in the gastronomic sector and building infrastructure managers with sustainability and operational efficiency.
With over 20 years of operation, the Orion Group is a technology company specializing in infrastructure management, preventive and corrective maintenance, building and industrial installations in the areas of electrical, electronics, air conditioning, plumbing, generators, structured cabling network, electronic security, and automation.
The company faced a significant challenge from its clients, a latent demand for monitoring consumable expenses such as water, energy, gas, as well as people flow and facility usage.
The solution from the Orion Group was developed in partnership with CrazyTechLabs, a Microsoft partner company, and found the answer in an IoT (Internet Of Things) solution. "We and the partner developed a Microsoft IoT solution focused on accelerating development securely and at scale, without compromising flexibility and adaptability," explains Ronaldo Moscoso, Director of the Orion Group.
The architecture is based on Azure resources for IoT, with a prominent role of Azure Digital Twins – which creates digital models of physical environments – and Azure Machine Learning. For data monitoring and analysis, the solution relies on Azure Event Grid, Azure Function App, and IoT Hub (which also ensures data security and compliance with LGPD, the Brazilian data protection law). Data storage and device management are handled by Azure Postgres Flexible Server, and Azure Computer Vision performs reading of energy and water bills.
"Data is received from sensors and pre-processed at the edge, followed by real-time alarms locally, and then forwarded to Azure for post-processing and integration with other systems," says Ronaldo.
Orion has achieved a new platform that covers telemetry to data-driven action prediction – all in a fully automated manner. "We have clear cost visibility and data security. We provide cutting-edge solutions using reliable services with an extremely reduced development time," Ronaldo celebrates.
The solution allows visual reading of bills through computer vision, presenting real-time data in an interactive digital twin of the space. Thus, the platform brings tangible improvements, such as restroom cleaning based on usage, changes in consumable usage, water and energy leakage detection, aiding in management and altering the business model of their clients.
"We guarantee more sustainability and operational efficiency to the processes. We've changed the way our clients perceive the functioning of spaces, providing understanding to data that used to generate only alarms," he explains. "Microsoft is more than a supplier for Orion; their service at all levels and their responsiveness exceed our expectations by far," Ronaldo concludes.
