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5.12 The Sentient City

Section 5.4 includes a rather light-hearted definition of a smart city, which I’ll
repeat here: “You know your city is smart if you poke it with a stick and it reacts
appropriately.” This definition makes the point that a smart city should have
the ability to sense and the intelligence to react appropriately based on the re-
sults of the sensing. This requires a sophisticated ability to digest a wide range of
data and to identify opportunities and threats and respond appropriately. It also
requires the successful incorporation of data and technology into governance
and business processes.
The concept of a sentient enterprise was first defined by Mohan Sawhney
(McCormick Foundation chair of technology and clinical professor of mar-
keting and director of the Center for Research in Technology & Innovation,
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University) and Oliver Ratzes-
berger, Teradata executive vice president and chief product officer [16]. Figure
5.12 illustrates how the sentient enterprise defines an organization as a single
organism that is capable of feeling, perception, and self-awareness. This envi-
sions a future enterprise that can listen to data in real time and develop re-
sponses based on intelligence.
A discussion regarding these abilities is currently under way within the
private sector as there is a growing understanding of how big data and analytics
can be harnessed to provide the level of sensing and intelligence required to sup-
port enterprise agility and robust operations. The sentient enterprise concept
could also point the way toward the future of smart cities.

Figure 5.12 A company as a single organism—the Sentient company.