INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
Mobile tools to unlock the
productivity of African
utilities’ workforces
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Energy and utilities providers are
transforming from centralised supply
companies to more distributed, bi-directional
service providers. They can only achieve this
through the evolution of ‘smart grids’ where
sensors and smart metres will be able to
provide the consumer with a more granular
level of detail of power usage. This shift from
an energy supplier to ‘lifestyle provider’ will
require a much more dynamic and optimised
approach to maintenance and field service.
Colin Beaney, Global Industry Director for
Asset-intensive and Energy and Utilities
at IFS
Colin Beaney, Global
Industry Director for Asset-
intensive and Energy and
Utilities at IFS, says Africa’s
abundant natural resources
and urgent need for
power mean that it is one
of the most exciting and
innovative energy markets.
P
ower systems are evolving from
centralised, top-down systems as
interest in off-grid technology grows
among African businesses and consumers.
And according to PwC, we will see installed
power capacity rise from 2012’s 90GW to
380GW in 2040 in sub-Saharan Africa. Power
utilities are needing to rethink their business
models and how they manage and monetise
their assets to keep pace with the changing
energy ecosystem.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
African companies must thus embrace
digital transformation as an imperative.
This transformation begins by embracing
enterprise asset management to improve
asset utilisation. The subsequent steps are
enhancing upstream and downstream
supply chain management, resource
optimisation, introducing enterprise
operational intelligence, embracing new
technologies such as the Internet of
Things, machine learning and predictive
maintenance and becoming a smart utility.
Embracing mobility to drive ROI
Getting it right is about putting in place an
enterprise backbone that accommodates
asset and project management,
multinational languages and currencies, new
energies and markets, visualisation of the
entire value chain and mobility apps. Mobile
technologies that support the field workforce
have a vital role to play in driving better
ROI from utilities’ investments in enterprise
asset management and enterprise resource
planning solutions.
Today’s leading enterprise asset
management solutions feature powerful
functionality for mobile management of
the complete workflow of work orders,
from logging status changes and updates,
from receiving and creating new orders
to concluding the job and reporting time,
material and expenses. Such solutions are
easy to deploy and intuitive for end users to
learn and use.
Importantly for organisations operating in
parts of the continent with poor telecoms
infrastructure, connectivity is not an issue.
The solutions work offline and synchronise
when network connectivity is available.
Users can work on any device – laptops,
tablets, and smartphones – commercial
or ruggedised.
By ensuring that field technicians have easy
access to information and processes, the
mobile solution enables technicians and
maintenance engineers to easily do the
following tasks:
• Create a new work order on the fly and
log new opportunities
• Access both historical and planned work
information when requested
• Permit customers to sign when the job
is completed
• Capture measurements and inspection
notes on route work orders
• Create new fault reports on routing
• Facilitate documentation through
photo capturing
• Provide easy access to technical data and
preventive actions
The power of mobility allows the engineer to
be the origin of all data capture on a service
event. They can easily inquire on asset
history, record parts used or parts needed
for repair, record labour hours and expenses
as they occur and any notes of repairs
performed. When coupled with workforce
management tools, such solutions unlock
significant productivity gains for utilities
who are trying to get the most from their
workforce and assets. n
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