We’re excited about seeing our colleagues at the upcoming Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). This year at the conference, we encourage you to think about one key theme: data.
A major focus area of the I/ITSEC community is improving warfighter readiness. How do defense organizations and other stakeholders know they’re improving readiness? They measure the effectiveness of training. And they need data to do this.
This year’s theme of “Innovating and Accelerating Training” made us think about the objectives and outcomes of training and the metrics used to meet these goals. A focus on data-driven measurement is key. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) leverage data to automate the insight needed to assess training.
Affordable, easily accessible, and secure computing and storage resources are now available in the cloud. This makes collecting performance data across multiple events in the lifecycle of training easily attainable, both at individual and enterprise levels. And now with advances in biometric wearables, measurements can be made across a spectrum of human performance.
Another way to view the I/ITSEC theme “Adapting to an Unexpected Future” is through the lens of data-driven analysis. AI-driven insights derived from big data provide metrics that help us understand how successfully an individual or organization is adapting to change. The COVID-19 pandemic proved that it is impossible to envision all futures. Organizations must define and collect metrics on the current state of performance to establish a baseline from which to measure future change and improvement.
When you arrive at the conference this year, you'll see many devices and capabilities on the exhibit floor. How do you determine if a particular solution meets your needs? Ask whether the solution has an open architecture for updating, analyzing, and storing data. Ask exhibitors if they have open application programming interfaces and ways of connecting different capabilities together in a rapid fashion to react to the speed of the changing threat environment.
We can’t wait to see you in Orlando!
