By Basant Singhatwadia, VP of IoT Product Strategy, Accruent

The importance of controller hardware agnostic IoT platforms.

Traditional remote monitoring platforms can find anomalies, but it is not useful to your business if those anomalies are not taken care of and fixed. It is important that your IoT solution does not just find anomalies and throw them at your maintenance team. The people that interact with your software are just as important as the software you install. If your maintenance team cannot dynamically interact with the system, it will cause problems for your business. The software should find the problem, go into a dynamic workflow and then allow your team to act while understanding the priority of the issue.

It is important to design your workflows with your maintenance team in mind.

Some issues may result in automatically creating the work order, others may need intervention from a facility manager, and others may need to be referred to regional managers or internal bureaus.

When searching for an IoT remote monitoring platform, look for solutions that:

  • Support configurable workflows depending on problem types
  • Allow for specialized alerts to various stakeholders based on problem type. Mechanisms such as making automated calls, sending SMS messages and emails should all be options
  • Have reminder functionality to ensure follow up action so issues don’t sit in an inbox or voicemail
  • Ensure escalation if action is not taken. If the issue has not been fixed and is being ignored, your system should automatically escalate to the next step in the workflow, documenting along the way

A remote monitoring system is not the solution to all your maintenance and facilities problems. Your staff is your greatest asset when it comes to executing on your maintenance strategy and extending the useful life of your assets. Creating a seamless process from software to people is the key to unlocking more savings and more value for your business.

Explore the rest of the “Essentials of an IoT Remote Monitoring Platform” series:

  1. Introduction
  2. The Importance of Hardware Agnostic IoT platforms
  3. Cutting Out Alarm Noise to Focus on Real Issues
  4. Creating a System Between Your People and Your Remote Monitoring Platform
  5. Creating a Closed Loop Maintenance System for Your Business
  6. Stop Reacting: Use Data to Get Ahead of Equipment Failure
  7. Gaining Enterprise Control of Your Setpoints For Next-Level Savings