Maximo Mobile, a cutting-edge AI tool for field technicians that could have a far-reaching impact on how infrastructure is managed and maintained.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated many trends in business and technology that were already bubbling below the surface, pushing the timeline for widespread adoption of things such as remote work, digital marketing and artificial intelligence (AI) ahead by perhaps as much as a decade. It was already nearly impossible for many professionals to do their jobs without a strong understanding and knowledge of technology, now it may be completely impossible. The pandemic might be on its last legs, but the transformation of how business gets done is here to stay.
Typically, the boots-on-the-ground workers at most companies are the last to benefit or feel the impact of the adoption of newer technologies. The decisions regarding AI and new technology are made without their jobs in mind, even though they may not be able to see significant benefit from adoption of the right advances. IBM is honing in on this gap in how new AI software is rolled out, focusing on making AI more accessible for field technicians who are away from their office working on remote assignments.
IBM’s Maximo Mobile seeks to deliver AI capabilities into field technicians’ hands as they inspect roads, bridges, utility towers and manufacturing equipment. The use of AI technology in the field will ultimately allow workers to be more efficient, avoid delays and downtime, and stay safer. Maximo Mobile is a first-of-its-kind app designed specifically for intelligent mobile enterprise asset management. With IBM’s new suite of tools, workers can still tap into the power of AI no matter how remote their job site may be.
Maximo Mobile’s key capabilities are broken down into three categories: asset management, remote monitoring and predictive maintenance. Maximo Manage allows users and asset owners to extend asset lifecycles, optimize maintenance work processes, leverage embedded industry best practice data models and unify asset management procedures. Maximo Monitor offers AI-powered detection of anomalies and issues through advanced analytics of an asset’s operating history, scaled operations across multiple processes or sites and enterprise-level data to gain insight about a larger operation. Finally, Maximo Predict helps to extend asset life by identifying performance factors and improved maintenance reliability, increase production output and asset utilization, and reduce maintenance costs.
For workers in the field, Maximo Mobile allows them to do their job better and safer. Many of the workers who stand to benefit the most by adoption of AI-driven technology do their job in dangerous environments where one false step could result in serious injury. This technology puts more data in the palm of the worker’s hand so that they can make quick decisions from the side of an offshore wind turbine or while hanging from the underside of a bridge 100 feet above a river.
From a worker’s perspective, Maximo Mobile is a powerful one-two punch. It packs in a ton of tools that make it easier for field technicians to make rapid-fire and, more importantly, correct decisions and judgments when something goes wrong or doesn’t look right on the job site. When it’s time to return to the office and process the data collected in the field, Maximo brings it all together by using the strength of IBM’s AI platform to improve long-term asset management. At a time when investment in infrastructure couldn’t be more important, technology like Maximo Mobile will make it possible to guarantee that every dollar being put into infrastructure is being spent in a way that will pay off in the long run.
