Asset Management is using the power of sensors, connectivity and software to monitor, track, and optimize assets.
Let’s take some time to review 6 benefits of asset management and then 8 industries that can benefit greatly by incorporating asset management into their operations.
Here is a link to the webinar: www.youtube.com/novotechwebinar
And, if you’d like to skip ahead to the parts relevant to your business, click on the sections below.
Webinar Overview 02:28
What is Asset Management 03:17
Benefits to all organization 04:25
Food Industry 06:21
Retail 07:38
Construction and Infrastructure 09:18
Agriculture 10:54
Logistics and Transportation 12:17
Property Management 13:32
In the office 15:03
Industrial Applications 16:16
Solutions for all sizes of business 17:43
5 Things to remember 19:06
Contact Novotech 20:10
Benefits Of Asset Management And 8 Industries That Can Benefit From Asset Management
5 – Overview (02:28)
During this webinar, we are going to cover many things.
First, we will give a brief definition of what Asset Management is
Like many solutions, there are many benefits that virtually all organizations, regardless of what you do or how big you are will see from using an Asset Management solution.
From there, we look at eight different markets to cover some more specific examples of how keeping a closer eye on your valuable assets can improve all aspects of your business. Don't worry if your organization does not fall under one of these; we will cover the benefits in a way that a few of them will no doubt help your organization as well.
Finally, we recap by giving you five takeaway points about the power of Asset Management that you don't want to miss.
6 - What is Asset Management? (03:17)
Like many things in technology, this explanation can be as elaborate as you want it to be. I will try to avoid too much industry jargon by saying that it uses the power of 3 separate technologies to bring you the data you need and to do so in a manner that is more useable to you.
The first component is the sensors. Sensors are good at one thing; they can give you the status of an item or an area. Factors could be temperature, the level of humidity or about 100 other items.
Getting the sensor information to you is the responsibility of the connectivity side of the house. This includes local area technologies (think Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) and long-haul technologies (think cellular connectivity or plugging your office Internet connection).
Finally, without software, the information from sensors may make little sense to you. The Software side allows you to make sense of it; this is how you see trends in temperature in a graph or get a text to let you know that an important device is down.
When you combine all three of these things, you get the power of asset management.
7 - Benefits to all organizations (04:25)
Now, all companies and organizations are different. Not only do you do or make different things, but you also have different priorities as to how you wish to operate.
Because of that, each organization may find a different set of benefits from an IoT solution that is unique to them.
However, there are several benefits that every company should not only see but also improve from
One of the most significant sources of lost productivity is duplication, often due to a lack of information sharing across your company. IoT allows for real-time data that can be shared, allowing your teams to make better decisions and have less downtime.
IoT helps safety in a few ways. Work alone solutions, while not Asset Management solutions help keep your team safe. However, Asset Management solutions also warn your team of dangerous situations, allowing them to take necessary precautions.
By sticking to the maintenance schedule better and by warning you when your key devices are not working well, you can extend their life in the field, allowing you to save money and downtime.
How does IoT help you to reduce waste? Smart cooling solutions allow you to know if the temperature is too high or too low, preventing unwanted spoilage. On the non-perishable side, it keeps track of all of your inventory and shipments, eliminating the chance of duplication.
Nothing is more frustrating, either for the customer service person or the customer when they cannot give the answers that the customer needs. IoT allows your team to know what is going on and often make changes over the air to fix issues.
Finally, when you eliminate waste, duplication and ensure that all of your machines are operating at peak condition, you are going to lower down your energy bills!
8 - Food Industry (06:21)
The first industry that we are going to look at is the food industry, which includes restaurants, food merchants, food storage, food processing and more.
One area of food that leads to a lot of waste and extra costs is with refrigeration. Asset Management solutions often include AI-based software which can help optimize your usage, and even offer excellent marketing information about your customers.
If you want customers to be happy, they need to be comfortable. Know what the temperature, amount of light and more are for your areas, reducing heating/cooling costs and improving satisfaction.
Did those strawberries get here before that batch? Considering the amount of food at many restaurants, it is often hard to tell, resulting in a lot of wasted products. Using RFID tags to let you know when to use food up reduces waste and spoilage.
Finally, every part of the food industry uses some cleaning, chopping, processing or cooking machine. Keeping these machines running at maximum efficiency lengthens their time in the field, reduces downtime and lower your energy bill.
9 – Retail (07:38)
More than ever, retailers need to cut costs, improve service and find ways to get people to get off their couch, where they can order millions of things from pages like Amazon.
IoT solutions are helping in a few ways: by monitoring key storage areas, retailers can reduce waste, improve security and better keep track of inventory levels.
In most cases, retailers are not too concerned as someone walks around with things in their cart. However, make it a $10,000 bottle of scotch at a store, and it makes sense that people want to keep an eye on it. Be notified of any changes to the product, for example, if its container is open or even keep track of it if someone were to leave the store with it.
One does not often think of a retailer as having a lot of critical pieces of equipment. However, depending on the type of store, it may be a cutting machine, hair dryers or even the HVAC systems. IoT keeps them all up and running.
How do you know where your shipments are, whether that is when it is on its way to your location, between locations or even if it inside of your massive warehouse? There are Asset Management solutions to help you with all aspects of a product's journey.
Finally, many retailers are looking to reduce their costs, especially for energy, but they need to do so without sacrificing their customer service. IoT solutions eliminate unnecessary light use, lower down HVAC costs and can let you know of unauthorized use of key machines.
10 - Construction and Infrastructure (09:18)
When one thinks of Construction, you tend to think of big equipment, hard-working men and women and dangerous work.
The reality is that Construction is quickly adopting many different IoT and Asset Management solutions to help with all aspects of their work.
A construction site is often a place that brings the thrill of playing with toys that many of us used in the sandbox to live. Unlike the sandbox toys, these machines are not only incredibly expensive, but they also need to keep working to prevent costly unwanted downtime. Asset Management solutions help to maintain these devices and alert to any imminent failure that may occur.
Even at smaller sites that do not use heavy machinery, there are valuable tools such as hammers, jacks, drills and more that need to be available when needed. Solutions enable you to locate them quickly and get a notification if someone is trying to steal them.
Construction sites are dangerous places. One of the ways to keep them safer is to have a better understanding of the work environment. Ranging from the presence of unwanted water, excessive heat and vibration to humidity levels that can damage the material, sensors allow project managers to keep things running and to reduce costs.
Finally, materials are expensive, ranging from building materials to the diesel used to keep machines running. Asset Management solutions allow you to keep track of these things, both on and off the job site.
11 - Agriculture (10:54)
The world of agriculture is constantly be expected to do more, produce better quality food while having food spend less time on a truck and to do it all by creating less impact on the environment. Asset Management solutions help farmers do just that.
One of the most valued commodities in the world is clean water, and much of the water we use is to grow the food we eat. By having a better understanding of the current status of the crops and the amount of rain that has fallen, farmers can reduce the amount of water that is required to grow the food we need.
Once the food is grown, it has to be stored. As well, farms use a lot of different liquids, such as fertilizers and fuel. Asset Management solutions improve both the storage of finished goods and to help alert to low levels of key items that are needed to keep things running.
Farmers today use much equipment, ranging from during planting to harvesting. IoT helps to prevent them from being stolen as well as to alert to any potential issues to avoid costly downtime; this helps to lengthen the life of devices in the field, improving their return on investment.
Finally, ranchers are looking for ways to improve the life and value of their prized herd. IoT solutions help to keep track of their location, but equally important; they help to keep track of the health of the animal using biometrics, so, yes, like a Fitbit for cattle!
12 - Logistics and Transportation (12:17)
One of the largest vertical markets in the world is the area of moving items around. Trillions of dollars a year is spent on such services, and Asset Management solutions are a significant part of how they have streamlined operations, reduced costs and improved their bottom line.
Most people understand the value of tracking your vehicles, be it a plane, train or automobile. By knowing where they are, you can increase employee safety, reduce costs and increase your productivity.
It isn't just your vehicles that can be tracked either, Low-cost solutions allow for monitoring a key item around a facility, a city or around the world.
Sometimes, items need to stay at your warehouse for a while, and many of those items have precise requirements for things like heat, vibration and temperature. Even if the items are not that sensitive, sensors allow you to know if there is the presence of an intruder, a natural disaster or a flood before it is too late.
Finally, if items can get lost in your garage, imagine at a large warehouse facility. Keep track of skids, forklifts, emergency equipment and more by using low-cost tracking solutions that can reduce downtime and costs.
13 - Property Management (13:32)
For this slide, we look at Property management based on if you manage a property, regardless of whether you are the owner or not. So, this would include professional property managers, school boards, recreational property owners and hotel owners, to name a few.
Whether it is your employees, tenants or guests, keeping them comfortable is good for business, but you want to do so in a way that controls your heating/energy costs. Asset Management solutions let you know if temperature and humidity are too high or too low and give you optimize your HVAC systems.
There is machinery that is involved in the operation of any building, including boilers, furnaces, AC units and more. Keeping an eye on them maximizes their life, lowers down costs and prevents unwanted downtime.
Lowering downlights and temperature when no one is there is just one of the ways that Asset Management solutions help you reduce costs. They can also let you know if valuable heat is escaping through an open or drafty window.
Nothing wastes time and money more than having the garbage picked up when it does not need to be. However, you also can't risk your bins running full too often either. Get notified when containers are ready to be picked up.
Security is a key to any successful building, as you need to keep your team, occupants and guests safe. There are many solutions, including ones that help to notify of unwanted guests and ones that help keep key areas lit to improve safety.
14 - In the office (15:03)
Even with the boom in working remotely and from home, millions of people still do their work in an office each day. In addition to the benefits from the previous slide on Property Management, here is how Asset Management solutions can improve life at the office
There are many essential pieces of equipment in the average office, including photocopiers, AV equipment and more. Asset Management solutions can help keep these available, as well as specialized equipment like exam equipment at a doctor's office.
No one ever seems happy with the temperature at an office. Localized temperature, humidity and light sensors help keep individual areas at the right levels, increasing your team's productivity.
There are many dangers at an office, not just office politics. Vibration, water and noise sensors help alert you to things like earthquakes, floods and unfortunately, gun violence to help keep everyone safe.
An essential part of helping your company's bottom line is to keep costs down without sacrificing service. Things like reducing heating/cooling costs, as well as electricity usage help to do that, and are also good for the environment as well.
15 - Industrial Applications (16:16)
Every day, millions of workers work in some very tough conditions that can be both rewarding and dangerous.
The work they do is vital to our day to day life, so we need to ensure that things keep running smoothly and safely.
Asset Management solutions maximize the uptime of key devices, alert to potential dangers and give workers the information they need to make better decisions.
There are hundreds of different types of Industrial applications, but here are four that offer easy to understand benefits.
Keeping Oil and Gas production up and running is a big business and something vital to the world economy. IoT helps keep track of all aspects of the production.
Factories are becoming very high tech with the introduction of automation. Asset Management solutions help to further that by keeping key machinery running and alerting to any issues before they cause downtime.
When you think of pipelines, the natural thought is energy being shipped, and that is an integral part of our economy. However, liquids from water to industrial chemicals also use pipelines. Asset Management solutions alert to any potential failure well before they happen.
Finally, some of the most crucial work done anywhere is in labs. IoT helps to protect workers as well as to keep the areas optimal to avoid issues or contamination.
16 - Solutions for businesses of all sizes and markets (17:43)
Now, you may say to yourself, this all sounds great, but we're a small company, or we only have one location, I am not sure that these solutions are for us. They seem like they are suitable for only big companies.
Asset Management solutions come in all shapes and sizes, and they can be as technical or advanced as you want them to be.
For the Small business owner, the solutions can be set up in minutes, and you get the alerts that you want. A fridge is not working; a fundamental machine is not turning on or get a notification when your team arrives in the morning. The solutions are all securely hosted and require nothing more than a smartphone or tablet to get started.
For the Medium business, you may have some more advanced systems to work with, and you may wish to share the data into different departments so, you may want your Finance team to get information on the lifespan of equipment, while you want your Operations team to get notified of outages. Solutions can allow you to customize as you need and you can use existing systems that your organization is already comfortable using.
For the enterprise world, no two companies ever genuinely do things the same way. Asset Management solutions are flexible in letting you set them up to the way you want; leave them as standalone systems, integrate into your CRM/ERP system or any combination that meets your needs today and in the future.
17 - 5 things to remember (19:06)
Sometimes when you throw information at someone, it can be overwhelming. To help, I wanted to do a quick recap of 5 things that you need to remember about Asset Management and how it helps your organization.
Every business has some expensive equipment: cars, HVAC systems, stoves, printers and more can have their lifespan increased by ensuring that they are running at their optimal condition.
When you keep things running optimally, they will also run more efficiently- This lowers down your operating costs, such as utilities and the cost of maintenance and repair.
When your team has better information, they can make better decisions which leads to things running better and being able to fix customers issues faster]. Often before the customer is even aware of a problem!
When your team has access to information, they spend less time on the phone and doing investigations; this makes them more productive.
Finally, going green is good for your pocketbook and the environment. Lowering down your energy costs is suitable for both.
18 - Contact us slide (20:10)
Many thanks for taking the time to watch this webinar. As always, we welcome your feedback on what you liked and how we can do better.
Novotech is here to help you get started on any aspect of your IoT journey, including Asset Management solutions.
We have reselling partners and integrators all over North America, as well as several IoT Sales and Technical professionals who can help you from Business case to deployment.
If you are interested in learning more about IoT, we have hundreds of blogs, white papers and more on our web page.
Finally, we encourage you to follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
Thanks again, take care