Asset management is becoming increasingly complicated. Organisations are faced with ageing infrastructure, rapidly expanding networks, environmental concerns and ever-evolving regulatory requirements. In this landscape, leveraging digital solutions to develop an asset intelligence culture is integral to good asset management. Moreover, businesses that make asset intelligence a cornerstone of their organisation stand to gain a competitive advantage.
Maintaining a properly functioning asset management program is vital to ensuring an organisation maximises the value of its assets and minimises risk. Poor asset management can lead to a breach of regulatory requirements, create significant safety risks, damage an organisation’s reputation and put a strain on financial resources. This can result in long-term consequences for a business’ profitability.
Effective asset management allows businesses to optimise the performance of infrastructure, extend the life of assets, and reduce maintenance costs. With a strong asset management practice in place, businesses can then direct attention towards identifying and investing in new infrastructure that will meet future demand and improve efficiency of operations.
Increasing populations result in the continued expansion of critical infrastructure networks. Urbanisation and extreme weather events put compounding pressures on ageing infrastructure assets. Meanwhile, all organisations must continuously adapt to changes in safety and environmental regulations.
As businesses evolve, becoming increasingly digitised and data-driven, developing asset intelligence is crucial to a properly functioning asset management program.
The asset intelligence advantage
Through asset intelligence, companies can collect, analyse and utilise data about their assets in order to improve their management.
Organisations that foster an asset intelligence culture will have a more comprehensive understanding of the condition and performance of assets, leading to better decision-making concerning repairs, replacements, and upgrades.
Maintaining high-quality location data is critical for assetintensive industries. For instance, the utility industry involves the maintenance of large, complex assets that are geographically widespread. Utility assets are essential to modern society and their reliability and efficiency are critical to the economy and public safety.
It is critical that utilities can visualise and track the location of infrastructure assets to ensure fast replacement once they have reached end of life. Harnessing data on asset performance and utilisation allows organisations to predict when maintenance is required, which is particularly useful for managing widespread network assets.
For instance, data can be used to understand when critical infrastructure assets such as roads are experiencing damage and deterioration. Organisations can then carry out maintenance more efficiently, making predictive repairs and reducing the costs associated with checking and accessing sites.
Asset intelligence can also be used to monitor assets in realtime, allowing organisations to detect potential safety hazards, respond quickly to issues and prevent downtime. Periods of downtime not only lead to financial costs and service interruptions, they can also pose safety risks to workers and the public.
Through improved monitoring and auditing of equipment and systems, asset intelligence supports the provision of a reliable and efficient service to customers. This leads to improved customer satisfaction and trust and helps maintain an organisation’s reputation.
An asset intelligence culture also supports organisations in regulatory compliance. In industries such as food and beverage and electricity transmission and distribution, breaches in compliance are very serious and can result in significant fines and reputational damage.
Asset intelligence can mitigate risks of compliance breaches by streamlining compliance checks, improving traceability and accountability, assisting with compiling reports and preventing the risk of oversights. Providing a single authoritative source of data that can be updated in real-time also ensures all relevant parties have access to the most up-to-date, accurate and complete compliance information.
Asset intelligence can create a competitive advantage by enabling businesses to make better decisions, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiency overall.
Finding the right solution
Xugo work management software (WMS) can provide the tools required to develop an asset intelligence culture in your organisation. As a software as service (SaaS) and cloud-based solution, Xugo is easily integrated into existing processes and tailorable for your particular business needs.
By providing a single authoritative system/database for all information and communication, Xugo streamlines workflows and improves efficiency overall. Using Xugo, your organisation can gain a comprehensive and holistic view of assets and access to real-time data on assets through your workforce and customers.
Xugo can support asset intelligence through the completion and performance of asset and equipment inspections, audits, investigations, assessments, safety and compliance checklists and forms. Through the Xugo app, companies can use worker checklists such as a job safety analysis (JSA) checklist to track activities and ensure no step is missed.
Businesses can use Xugo to undertake minor maintenance including corrective or preventive works while on-site at assets, saving costs of returning later. All work can then be recorded and transferred back to enterprise asset management/resource planner (EAM/ERP) systems.
Xugo Maps allows users to access location data on both desktop and mobile, providing tracking and identification of locations where tasks are required to be completed or the location of an incident. Assets can be displayed on the map as pins and be selected and edited within the map, with the ability to update incorrect asset location information.
With Xugo, businesses can use data whether that be inspection data or asset conditional information, maintenance records, technical or customer information via the application or the mobile app, making it accessible wherever you are. Users can report faults, create orders, issue parts and complete work.
Importantly, Xugo makes it easy to gather inspection data including measurement points, notes, photos, geographical location, attributes and readings. In today’s digitised landscape, organisations must take advantage of data to drive decisions and optimise performance.
Implementing WMS can support the gathering of data and helps attain visibility over your assets. Xugo’s intuitive digital solution fits seamlessly into your business, providing a flexible environment for your asset intelligence culture to grow.
This sponsored editorial was brought to you by Xugo. For more information about how Xugo can help your business intelligently manage its assets, head to www.xugo.com.au
