What fleets should know about condition-based monitoring

Technology continues to break down geographic barriers, making it easier for businesses of all sizes to participate in the global marketplace. This includes moving from a reactive stance to a proactive stance via the Internet of Things (IoT) and condition monitoring.

The industry has evolved to the point where any tool or asset can be inexpensively connected via IoT sensors and data can be captured, interpreted and acted upon. This provides businesses with the opportunity to utilize predictive analytics through data evaluation and AI. Small and medium-size businesses can use this information to improve fleet productivity and improve their bottom line.

The benefits of IoT and condition-based monitoring

There is business value in connecting vehicles and devices to gather near real-time data. The IoT makes data actionable by adding context, including where mobile vehicles and workers are located and what work is being performed in the field and when.

The services industry, in particular, can benefit from IoT solutions through the use of sensors to perform condition-based monitoring (CBM). For example, an IoT sensor placed in an appliance like an air conditioner enables a service call to be initiated when issues with machine health are detected, as opposed to today’s regularly scheduled maintenance trips.

With IoT-enabled condition-based monitoring and big data, companies could dramatically reduce their maintenance costs, become more predictive and proactive, and deliver a higher level of service to customers. By constantly monitoring equipment via IoT platforms, a fix can be initiated even before a customer is aware of an issue, helping to reduce unplanned downtime. The right IoT platform helps you identify useful information from the noise and looks for patterns and potential issues.

By taking advantage of IoT, businesses can find new ways to improve their processes as well. In today’s almost ubiquitous cloud-enabled-devices environment, there is almost seamless information availability. With that high volume of data, companies can make more informed decisions and employ machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to help in the decision-making and analysis process.¹

As CBM continues to expand, these connections will increasingly be fed into digital twins, which is a virtual model of a process, product or service that is used to detect issues, test and simulate scenarios on the physical model for quick, valuable insights into what is happening inside machines.

This predictability, made possible by capturing and interpreting massive amounts of sensor data, could allow companies to begin productizing service, packaging hardware and service together, and leading to recurring sources of revenue. By using data gathered from your IoT solutions and machine learning, digital twins can aid in the decision-making process. Additionally, utilizing your data in a digital twin creates a controlled environment to explore new solutions to issues, enabling your company to be more agile than your competitors.

Preparing for the future while improving productivity today

The ability to proactively understand equipment to reduce cost and downtime is a huge priority for businesses large and small. As machines share information autonomously, actionable data results could help businesses transition away from traditional reactive operations and respond more quickly, becoming more productive and delivering a higher level of service to customers.

And as high-quality services are provided, businesses can use their capabilities and brand to be rewarded for the excellence they display. As customers rate their services, a more transparent marketplace results. This gives providers more visibility for their businesses to compete on a much broader plane. Those forward-thinking companies that manage their demand more intelligently and have a thorough understanding of their mobile resources, while providing quality service, will likely have more power in this new industry dynamic.

However, with a myriad of tools and partners available, it can be difficult to determine where best to make technology investments. A shortsighted approach focused on achieving immediate needs with minimal investment can yield strong short-term results but leave businesses open to threats from competitors with more comprehensive digital transformation strategies. Adding a new technology to your toolbox may require a shift in mentality and updates of aging infrastructure, but in doing so, you position your company to improve your processes and provide your customers with top-notch services.

By aligning with a partner, such as Verizon Connect, that invests significantly in innovation and R&D and being a part of its data-rich, secure network, businesses can reap the benefits of those investments to help them achieve their immediate business goals and support their long-term success plans.

To learn more about the future of the industry and how your organization can put data to work, view our latest webinar or download our latest eBook here.

^1. https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/CISA%20IoT%20White%20Paper_3.6.19%20-%20FINAL.pdf