To ecstatic employees everywhere, more and more companies are moving from dreaded, time-wasting daily site trips, stacks of paper records and mind-numbing manual processes to technology to provide answers that are supported by factual data, automating tasks that are driven by analytics, data trends and in some cases even autonomous actions.
Downturns, and all the crazy in our world today have made it clear that the “change or die” mantra is far too real.
You probably already knew this—but you may be hesitant to act. That’s totally understandable since there are several questions about transition, affordability, training, the return on investment and so many others. Then there’s the sustainability questions that come into play. Tech changes really fast these days and everyone is searching for the next best thing. While tech continues to quickly develop some people decide they should wait it out until the next hottest and newest change is available.
You may ask yourself; where exactly do you get the best possible return on investment when it comes to industrial tech that will help support your operations profitability and sustainability at the same time without it being out of date in just a few months only to have to start all over again?
Chasing the hottest tech should be the first thing you set your mind to rest on, that’s an easy one to address. When you adopt a cloud platform like Emerson’s Zedi Cloud, you never have to worry again about system updates bogging down your IT people with upgrades or the system not being the very best, fastest or latest development, or even if your computers can handle the heat of the newest tech.
You don’t even have to worry about updating your software. It’s so straight forward and easy, and literally a non-event for your people as well as your data. Our evergreen software updates always provide your people with the latest and greatest developed advances without any disruptions to their day, your data, or your operations.
This is a totally valid question for any investment or change. After all, you have a ton on your plate day to day and adding this significant change to you and your people should be as painless as possible. Maybe even happen overnight and be a non-event. It’s all possible, if it’s done right that digitally transforming your operations can not only present you with fast return on your investment but continue to prove it’s worth for long term sustainability on many levels including (but, not limited to): overhead, profits and safety, while setting your operations up for long term success.
Emerson has calculated the numbers for the top quartile of digital transformation adopters, and it looks really good. For example, E&Ps using digital technologies most efficiently have reduced lease operating expense (LOE) by an average of 40%, increased production by an average of 8%, and cut safety incidents by 50%.
Digital tools greatly reduce site trips because your sensors are always onsite, never taking vacations, calling in sick, or even taking any lunch breaks. They send data constantly, alerting you within minutes of a stopped pump, a tank fillage or a spill and several other potential hazards at your remote sites.
It could be 24-48 hours before an outage is detected with human site trips, and the pumper may have to return to the shop to get the right tools or parts. Our solutions can tell you the issue immediately and, if a site trip is required, your technician leaves the yard with exactly what’s needed to speed the repair. With our cloud-based platform in place, many adjustments can be made remotely, without any site trip. This repeatedly reduces your downtime, while boosting income and keeping your people and the environment much safer.
Our platform can help you reduce overhead because you’re getting that rich, easy to read data from those sensors without paying for windshield time. Your staff is more efficient because they’re only dealing with actual real problems, which also enables them to focus on more important tasks at hand.
Management gets reports and actionable data automatically without it being processed separately in every department. This data unity means everyone is working from the same numbers. If your company uses our cloud platform with Zedi software as a service, the data is available to authorized decision-makers 24/7 worldwide, even from their phones with our mobile app; Zedi Go.
Safety incidents are typically cut in half and come largely from reduced remote site trips. Also, there’s no need to climb a tank to take measurements so it removes a large amount of risk to your people.
The great thing about digital transformation is that you can adopt it in stages and easily manage your investment, while you scale your return. It isn’t an all or nothing approach. Your journey can be easily scaled to fit your target and goals. One size does not fit all, and your digital workforce change and investment can both be proportioned to your comfort level.
It pays some great dividends even if you’re just monitoring pumps and tanks to get started. You’ll reduce some site trips and boost production. With the savings from these steps, you can quickly move to the next steps of a digital transformation strategy that we can help you design to best fit your needs and goals. Finally, you can add advanced analytics that can fix many issues automatically, and in some cases it all comes together to even do it autonomously (like for rod pumps).
Gradual adoption also simplifies transition and training. Your people learn incrementally—and as they see the benefits, everyone will be increasingly enthusiastic about taking the next steps that free them to focus on more pressing matters. Getting more done, faster and more accurately and safer is a better position for your operations, and your people.
Visit Emerson’s Zedi Software Solutions site for more on these solutions to help you drive your digital transformation initiatives forward at your own pace.
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