Smarter work execution: How AI chatbots supercharge asset maintenance

In asset-intensive industries, executing a work order isn’t just about work reporting. It’s about accuracy, efficiency, and confidence. What happens when a technician has a question in the middle of a task about safety procedures, troubleshooting instructions, or the steps followed in the previous breakdown?

The technician may need to pause work and sift through lengthy manuals. This stalls the work execution as it might lead to delays, missteps, or even rework.

Common Field Challenges

Technicians often face delays not because of complex tasks but due to missing or hard-to-find information. Manuals, history logs, and help are available, but not when or how they need them. Here’s where most field execution breaks down.

Information Overload, But No Context

Manuals uploaded in Maximo are often too long. Even if a technician has access to them, it’s not easy to search through different formats (PDFs, scans, images, tables, formulas) to find one key instruction. The result? Lost time and increasing frustration.

Work History is There, But Buried

Maximo tracks everything from past work logs to labor and material usage. But when this history is scattered across multiple screens and reports, it's nearly impossible for a technician to connect the dots quickly enough to make real-time decisions.

Meet AskMai, the AI Powered Chatbot

To address these field challenges, we built AskMai—an AI-powered chatbot that can be embedded in our EAM360 application and Maximo. AskMai is not just a search engine. It’s an intelligent assistant designed specifically for technicians and planners in asset-intensive environments. The capabilities of AskMai are listed below.

Reads Complex Manuals in Any Format

Whether it’s a neatly structured PDF or a scanned image with annotations and tables, AskMai can parse the content and extract only what’s relevant to the technician’s question. So, if a technician asks, “What’s the tightening torque for this model?” AskMai can read the Model wise specification table and get the value.

Interprets Asset Work History On Demand

AskMai reads through past Work Logs, Labor Reports, Material Usage, Task Actuals, and Failure Reports. So if a technician asks, “Was the same part replaced last time?” AskMai instantly pulls that detail from the right log.

Contextual Support for Planners Too

AskMai isn’t just for technicians using the EAM360 application. The Planners, who typically use Maximo Manage, can use it to validate whether a job needs more time or parts or whether the same issue has recurred repeatedly. It helps improve work assignment quality and reduce back-and-forth revisions.

Final Thoughts

Most mobile apps help you do the job. By sharing the necessary references, AskMai helps you understand the job while you’re doing it. Whether you're a technician out in the field or a planner assigning the next set of tasks, AskMai makes your job easier by giving you the right info at the right time.