Mobility for Maximo Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) is no longer a good-to-have; it's a must-to-have considering the opportunity loss without an intuitive and contextual mobile solution. Moreover, your newer workforce is more familiar with a mobile app than a web application.
Choosing a mobile app that focuses on usability and integration is essential to meet the above objective. A user group study reveals that 85% of Mobile app implementations for Maximo are not successful due to user adoption challenges. One of the reasons is choosing non-native mobile apps, which use Gestures and UI elements not familiar to the iOS or Android operating systems routinely used by the user.
Another reason is the complexity of integrating the Cross-platform/ Hybrid mobile app. In comparison with Cross-platform / Hybrid apps (i.e., apps built using platforms such as React Native or Flutter), Native mobile apps can integrate directly using the out-of-the-box Native APIs provided by External Applications, Sensors, and Devices such as Beacons, Printers, etc.
The following are the top 5 challenges if the field technician can't leverage Mobile as the reporting tool for Maximo EAM.
The Technicians need to enter the data twice - first, to note down the work data on the field on a piece of paper, and second, to enter the information again in the EAM system on a desktop computer.
Dual data entry will reduce the Wrench time and decrease the overall productivity of the Technician.
The operators can't provide sufficient data for the reported problem or incidents, and the Technicians can't provide relevant data for better troubleshooting or shift hand-over. They are restricted from leveraging the smart features of the mobile phone, such as taking photos and highlighting the problem area, Capturing a video, Recording the audio, Locating the work location with map data, etc.
Insufficient data will increase the Mean Time Taken to Repair (MTTR) and impact the Service levels.
The Technician can't access the critical data required for troubleshooting quickly, such as referring to the maintenance manual or accessing the Asset's history to understand the previous problem and the solutions provided. They can't leverage the features such as scanning QR Codes or Beacon to view the Asset History/ Open work orders or Maintenance manual.
Lack of access to critical data will reduce the percentage of first-time-fixes and also increase the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF).
Ensuring safety compliance is a challenge without a mobile app. The Technician can't view Hazards and Precautions at the worksite contextually. Also, the HSE team can't enforce and audit the safety information is read & acknowledged by the Technician before the work is started.
Lack of enforcing safety acknowledgment will increase the probability of Incidents and Near-misses.
The Technician will not have access to relevant information such as offline routes, documents, and other critical on-demand data required for work execution on the field.
Lack of on-demand data offline will increase the Mean Time Taken to Repair ( MTTR) and reduce the service levels.
Author:
Arul Varadarajan
Principal Consultant & Managing Partner - Enterprise Asset Management
