SIFT Analytics Group wins Enterprise Software - Data Analytics Award

SIFT’s Agri-map Data Automation educates farmers on changes affecting their agricultural land.

SIFT Analytics Group took home the Enterprise Software - Data Analytics Award in the recently concluded Technology Excellence Awards (TEA).

Acknowledging the organisation’s ability to develop a solution that provides great assistance to Thai farmers, Singapore Business Review (SBR) decided to merit the accolade to their Agri-map Data Automation initiative, which habituates farmers to environmental transitions that influence the country’s agricultural products.

The platform helps Thai farmers gain grasp of land conditions and shows them what products to cultivate in each particular geographical location. Rather than turning to a single type of crop or having a meager or unsuccessful harvest, farmers can turn to automation to yield more bounty.

The product was initially conceived and completely operated on Python; however, this proved to be extremely cumbersome and tricky to maintain. In addition, development via Python posed obstacles in adapting to the type of information being received. This resulted in onboarding two additional pieces of technology to make the app run smoothly.

The platform added a software called Alteryx, which equipped it with a development framework for swift and productive process development that utilized a workflow based user interface. This system enabled SIFT developers to quickly and methodically craft several macros that handled the data’s dynamic nature without difficulty.

In addition, Alteryx also established a solid foundation for a second phase, which involved using the software’s tools to run predictive analysis on geospatial data, which can be harnessed to forecast trends and help determine patterns.

SIFT developers also incorporated Google BigQuery, a web-based service that aided in the calculation of heaps of data, providing a complex spatial analysis on the supplied information. Because of the less constricted nature of parallel calculations operations and the enhanced processing power supplied by the service, the workflow was able to churn data more rapidly

Upon completion, the automated solution performed a wide array of processes that spanned data cleansing, preparation as well as validation of national geospatial information. It was also able to determine layers and area computation with spatial analysis. It also calculated other statistical data like expenses and advantages, plants, and soil quality, to name a few. The platform also refined data onto the Agri-map application.

The development of smart farming in Thailand is both groundbreaking and vital to the country. Agriculture has always been one of the prominent sectors of the Land of the Free, and through Agri-map Data Automation, farmers can now fuse technology and innovation with conventional farming methods.

Aside from this, the initiative managed to reduce the time allotted in processing  data from weeks to mere hours. Prior to automation, these tasks were overseen by a team of around six specialists. The workload was often time-consuming, and the team needed around one to two weeks for each map layer. Keeping this in mind, the initiative targeted time reduction to a few hours per layer.

SIFT also managed to produce a dynamic process in overseeing various data types. The workflow surrounding the project was also relatively rapid in terms of development and maintenance was taken care of with little to no difficulty.

The Agri-map Data Automation is a joint venture between the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Science and Technology Development Agency, one of SIFT’s clients.

The Technology Excellence Awards, presented by Singapore Business Review, was held via video conferencing throughout the first and second week of June.

This year’s nominations were judged by a panel consisting of Daryl Pereira, Head of Cyber at KPMG; Cheang Wai Keat, Head of Advisory Services in Singapore and ASEAN Technology Consulting Leader at Ernst & Young; Chin Chee Choon, Advisory Leader and Assurance Director at Nexia TS; Rizwi Wun, Partner, Acting Head of Intellectual Property and Technology Practice Group at RHTLaw Asia; Carolyn Chin-Parry, Managing Director and Digital Accelerator Leader at PwC.

If you would like to join the 2021 awards and be acclaimed for your company’s exceptional technological innovations, please email Julie Anne Nuñez at [email protected]