The following guest blog by Jason Burch originally appeared on our partner ThingLogix’s blog.

The Internet of Things brings a host of new possibilities to the field when it comes to time- and cost-efficient maintenance. Maintenance services need to be timely in order to go above and beyond and retain loyal clients. However, when you’re scheduling and performing maintenance checks manually, there’s potential for human error. Your technician may miss a critical reading, or an impending failure might be missed, requiring costly asset replacement on your client’s dollar. These mistakes are hard to avoid, and they can cost you a valuable relationship.road pic for thingworx blog

Here’s where the game changer comes in. The IoT lets you maximize timeliness and provide the best service quality possible by automating the parts of the maintenance cycle that are prone to human error. Above all, a service relationship is about exceeding expectations, and the IoT lets you achieve this by reducing costs and making the maintenance cycle hands-off as far as the client is concerned.

With a combination of real-time data, automated alerts and ticket creation, predictive maintenance and proximity-based alerts help you provide the service quality that your clients are promised, while maximizing efficient labor and parts usage.

Utilize Real-Time Data

The IoT’s major selling point is that it utilizes real-time data to make decisions using rulesets that you designate. Your clients’ assets are fitted with sensors that measure performance parameters constantly, allowing your technicians to know the status of each asset at a glance. Remote monitoring of real-time data ensures that your clients’ assets are constantly under tabs, even when you have no personnel on-site at that moment.

Your technicians can pull up real-time data on demand using a dashboard, or monitor it constantly as part of a data feed that updates automatically. Configure your team’s dashboard to show the most relevant data in the most easy-to-consume graphical representation, making it quick and simple for techs to see where each asset stands at a given time.

Receive and Send Automated Alerts

Use rulesets to configure any type of alert that your technicians need to stay on top of your clients’ assets. Set alerts for operational conditions meeting certain parameters that need more attention, such as motors operating at unsafe temperatures or downtime exceeding acceptable amounts. These alerts push right to your technicians’ mobile devices, allowing them to respond immediately.

At the same time, send automated alerts to your clients letting them know when a ticket has been created, when you dispatch a technician to address the problem, and when you’ve resolved the problem satisfactorily.

Create Tickets Automatically

The IoT uses data from your connected assets to create and send maintenance tickets automatically as necessary. The alternative is that you wait for your client to request maintenance on an asset, an approach that isn’t proactive enough to provide your client with an excellent service experience. Whether it’s a minor maintenance action or a major failure that requires immediate attention, your technicians will know that they’re needed right away and can respond accordingly. Eliminating the middle man saves valuable time for your client and your technicians alike and helps streamline the maintenance cycle.

Stay Ahead with Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance is one of the biggest game-changers that the IoT brings to the table, giving your technicians the ability to foresee problems before they happen. Rather than addressing failures as they occur, predictive maintenance allows you to address maintenance needs as they become necessary, preventing failure and downtime from occurring in the first place. Predictive maintenance also lets you move away from time-based maintenance schedules, ensuring that you’re sending out technicians into the field when they’re needed, rather than every four weeks like clockwork.

Save Time with a Proximity Manager

Installing Foundry as a management toolset allows you to use the Proximity Manager to perform actions automatically when your mobile device comes into close contact with a designated asset. These actions can include pushing recent performance data for that asset, suggesting a how-to video on the asset’s maintenance routine, or showing recent maintenance records and history for the asset in question. This saves your technicians time that would otherwise be spent searching through records by asset ID number or another identifying factor. Your technicians get their maintenance done more quickly and can move on to the next asset that much faster.

While field technicians have been operating the same way for years, the Internet of Things is revolutionizing the world of maintenance service for the better. The possibilities are fully customizable depending on your business needs and those of your clientele, from managing your technician fleet more efficiently using GPS sensors to tracking the efficiency of your existing maintenance cycle. Schedule a consultation with ThingLogix today to learn more about how our technology can elevate your services to new heights with the IoT.

ABOUT Jason Burch

Avatar photoJason Burch is a client partner at ThingLogix. He has been working in leading edge technology and cloud software related industries for 15+ years. He has a strong background in IoT starting at Isidorey in 2010. From there he went on to 2lemetry. 2lemetry was a leader in the IoT platform space and was acquired by Amazon and is now AWS IoT. Jason then joined ThingLogix, which focuses on connected product solutions, and IoT consulting and professional services.