There’s been a lot of talk around industry 4.0 of late, casting a spotlight on digital transformation and the need for smarter, more efficient ways of carrying out certain business processes…and for good reason.
The economic slump brought on by the pandemic has given rise to an uncertain future, one felt by businesses in virtually every sector. Because of this, the pinch is undeniable, even more so in asset-intensive enterprises.
For those desperately seeking solutions to keep their assets in tip-top shape and maintenance costs down, the search for new technologies and the implementation of smarter processes are now firmly fixed at the top of their to-do lists.
So, how do businesses digitise maintenance inspections in a smarter and more efficient way?
Proactive maintenance and digital work management
There’s no denying the importance of maintenance. Sure, it can be an expensive and labour intensive part of any business, but it’s fundamental to the success of any asset dependent organisation.
For this reason, the cost of maintenance has long been a challenge for businesses who seek to shift it from a cost centre to a profit centre, or in other words, a part of the company that ensures income rather than an expense.
One way to ensure that maintenance costs remain manageable is through digital transformation. This could take many forms, depending on the needs of the business, but a good starting point with maintenance is the adoption of a centralised, real-time solution for the recording and communication of maintenance inspections.
Connecting the maintaining of a company’s assets to the rest of the organisation can markedly improve monitoring practices across the board, leading to a robust approach that is transparent, proactive and preventative.
Any sound proactive and preventative maintenance process is made better still by the implementation of good monitoring practices, especially when enabled by new technologies like those that assist with cross-team and cross-organisational collaboration.
Through this approach, early warning signs of potential malfunctions or asset degradation can be identified and maintained long before they become cost-prohibitive.
Digital maintenance in the hospitality sector
Digitising maintenance inspections has numerous benefits. For example, it makes it possible to finely tune the frequency of checks as and when they are needed. This means that interventions are an easier decision to make, ensuring the integrity of any given asset for the long term.
In the hospitality sector, the need couldn’t be greater – the condition of assets can make or break a business, especially in these fraught and uncertain times.
Take hotels, for example, an area hard hit by the economic slump.
The role of a hotel’s maintenance team is to make sure that assets such as furniture or air conditioning units, and facilities like swimming pools are well maintained, in excellent condition and working as they should be.
Failure to do so can lead to negative reviews and fewer bookings, lasting damage to the hotel’s reputation, or worse, compromising the safety of guests.
In a recent Property Inspect blog post, we looked at the costs associated with reputational damage, showing that online reviews impact purchasing decisions for over 93% of consumers.
What’s more, the impact of a single outbreak of bed bugs – which can often be overlooked when maintenance is lacking – costs an average of $6,383, or the equivalent of 51 nights in a moderately priced hotel room.
All told, these sorts of issues brought about by inadequate maintenance checks totalled $23,560 per incident, including litigation costs.
Simply put, a high-quality, proactive maintenance inspection process goes a long way toward preventing any business interruptions. When you introduce a software solution that captures data in real-time to the mix, things become supercharged.
Real-time monitoring is a win for businesses
The information contained in data is certain to give almost any enterprise a competitive edge. It can be the key to difficult business decisions so, to that end, ensuring the evidence and data captured when conducting maintenance can be organised, analysed, and acted upon is of vital importance.
The truth is, neglected assets need immediate attention when they stop working, decreasing the maintenance team’s productivity and impacting other employees who rely on those assets being fully functional.
The digitisation and centralisation of maintenance inspections using digital solutions like Property Inspect can enable businesses to counteract these risks.
What’s more, it can be a real boon for businesses across the organisation, empowering employees to work more effectively and efficiently, saving time that could be better spent elsewhere, and eliminating unnecessary costs.
To book a demo and learn more about how maintenance inspections can be supercharged with Property Inspect’s end-to-end solution, click the button below:
