We follow a simple formula to assist clients and try to get them focused on a few simple integrated strategies, but today I want to highlight one is the most common item preventing clients from quickly and fully capturing the benefits of moving to Directed Work, Operations by Exception, and using OT.
We have customers that have marginal success or struggle capturing significant, lasting, recurring OPEX savings, why???
The do not know the the secret to moving to Directed Work is Using a Single Custom Developed Field Mobile App.
Their operators are moving between one application for maintenance, another for their other work orders, another one to find and respond to alarms, another for field data capture, another for truck tickets, and then check two or three third party automation cloud apps to check on the status of their wells and facilities. This is a significant waste of time, and barrier to engaging your field staff and getting them bought into directed work and operations by exception.
We have several clients spending months looking for a field operations application that meets ALL their operational, directed work, alarm management/response, field data capture, maintenance management, inspection, forms, and field deficiency tracking requirements, and then never find it. Then they compromise, either out of frustration, or needing to get their project off the ground and select a partial solution.
If you shop the current cloud hosted / “off the shelf” offerings from our competitors, you are likely to match 6 or 7 of your 10 requirements, but it is highly unlikely you will find a 9 or 10 out of 10 match, or not be able to fully integrate your SCADA/Process Control, maintenance, and other operational and engineering systems into your mobile application.
If you do select one of the “off the shelf / cloud” solution, then you usually have to accept some form of perpetual per month per user of “something” recurring costs, and accept you do not any intellectual property. Then you also need to top up those costs up, with a support contract.
And when you need to make rapid or timely changes, to continually improve and optimize your operations, by adding features, you have to submit a change request, get in line for with all the other customers, “take a number”, or even worse, have another co-tenant customer veto your change.
To continually optimize and improve, you will need to integrate and exchange data to and from your internal data systems. Some cloud / mobile operations cloud vendors struggle with executing timely data integrations, or are new to the approach. Be careful to select a solution with easy simple data integration capabilities; once you get your field bought into this journey, you want to quickly integrate their feedback and maintain their engagement.
The proven answer to get all your current and the majority of your future requirements met, is to build your own mobile application, specifically matching your work flows, data integrations/flows!
And after the mobile app is built, there are NO LICENSING COSTS!
It’s YOUR mobile application and you own the intellectual property and do not need to ask for anyone’s agreement or permission to make a change or be limited in how fast you want to make change.
Your OT Mobile App becomes your company’s STRATEGIC WEAPON and ADVANTAGE!
Sample Directed Work Single Operator Mobile App Interface with many integrations
See our web site for practical information on how to move to Directed Work and Operations by Exception and the path the operational excellence and millions in OPEX savings
Contact us at shane.yamkowy@qtltd.ca for more information or to have a meeting and chat!
