What Are the Major Benefits of Asset Management in the Utility Sector?

The utility sector is a huge and vital sector not just for personal but also for business. As the utility sector includes electricity, gas, and water services, all of these services are basic needs for organizations.

One of the significant regions of worry for the individuals who work in the utility area is asset management. As they have costly assets and in high volumes, from power stations, gas pipelines, water purifying machines, and other critical equipment. They need to monitor their utilities regularly for the safety of employees and their clients.

Undoubtedly, this is a tough and huge task! Without real-time data, field staff needs to track each asset which can occupy a great deal of time and after that, it can also result in issues being neglected to cause interruption. This is where asset management software can help in utility asset management benefits.

How Does Utility Asset Management Benefits Organization?

Utility asset management benefits organization in many ways:

Also Read: Is Utility Asset Management an Expense or a Liability?

Field Staff Access Information in Real-Time

One of the major advantages is that technicians can access data and store data in real-time. Through this way, managers and other team members can fast the process. Not just that they can know other things as well such as:

• Condition of asset
• Asset location
• How frequency asset is being used
• Maintenance records & history

With the asset management mobile application, field officers can connect & access data remotely. It provides visibility of real-time information is very crucial for field officers as they can act proactively for maintenance if they do not have real-time information, they have to work reactively.

We know reactive can be a costly mistake. Thus, it must be avoided for a better outcome.

Asset Are Tagged for More Productivity

Assets are tagged with GPS (global position system) chips, BLE (Bluetooth low energy), or IoT (Internet of Things). However, there are other asset tracking technologies are also available but the mentioned technologies are more effective for real-time tracking of assets. They are very helpful for the utility sector as these tags help in predicting when assets need monitoring and servicing.

When any of these technologies are used chances of equipment failures are reduced and overall maintenance expenses are decreased. Thanks to the software and asset tracking tags. They are proactive and tags keep track of the data. The data can be used in analytics and drive benefits.

For effective maintenance execution, the management needs to ensure that inventory is always available in the stock. Many times, it has been noticed that while performing maintenance the maintenance team does not have inventory available so it is not an effective strategy.

So, this software keeps track of inventory. If inventory goes below a defined level it alerts and notifies the responsible person after which refilling of the stock process begins.

Utility Monitoring & Consumption Tracking

There are several facilities in which electric, gas & water consumption is recorded. Their utility is recorded for bills, as they produce huge bills. Asset management software can record daily consumption. It allows managers to set a daily limit. When this allotted daily limit is about to be crossed then it warns the manager about the same.

This software also provides reports and analytics of utility consumption. These reports help in finding a cost-effective way or saving utility consumption. Budget forecasting with the assistance of past utility consumption records.

Utility managers can get an estimation for future utility consumption. The reports represent data and the data can assist in saving cost and avoiding wastage or over usage of utilities.

Also Read: How CMMS Helps in Maintenance Tracking and Budgeting?

Track Trends to Increase Return on Investment

By tracking assets lots of data is collected, managers can analyze that data and use it in finding trends that can get your organization an extra edge. For example, according to the data find when utility demands are high & when is low (in which month)! Plan a strategy according to this data and use it for business growth.

Data is a powerful tool it can provide a tremendous advantage if used effectively. By monitoring and tracking every asset from its procurement stage to disposal. When there are lots of assets it becomes a hectic task which asset shall be retired when! You need to track assets so that you can know asset need to be disposed of. Near the disposal stage of asset failure, chances are more increased.

This software lets you know when an asset needs retiring

Furthermore, you can calculate the return on investment (ROI) by keeping track of maintenance expenses.

All of these can be done with utility management software. According to Statista, in 2018, the utility software market was valued at 4.2 billion U.S. dollars globally. The figures from 2019 to 2022 were calculated using a constant annual growth rate of 3.5 percent CAGR.

Conclusion

If proper attention is given to the Utility, organizations can save 15 to 20 percent on the utility bill. To save these expenses, asset management software can assist you. It can provide several advantages related to utilities:

• Adding meter for recording usage
• Recording meter reading for tracking utilities
• Utility consumption tracking
• Alert & notification on utility consumption

These were some utilities asset management benefits, other than this asset management software keep track of the asset. It can be very beneficial for organization growth and development.

Also Read: Tips to Manage Your Art Gallery with Asset Management Software

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What Are the Cons of the Utility Sector?‍

Few of the cons of the utility sector are as follow:
1. The heavy and costly infrastructure that needs up-gradation at regular intervals
2. Regulatory compliance needs to ensure all the time
3. Complex process & highly skilled people required

2. What Are the Advantages of Utility Asset Management?‍

1. Prolonging asset life
2. Financial planning
3. Limiting & alerting utility usage
4. Minimizing maintenance cost
5. Meeting client needs
These were a few advantages of utility asset management.

3. For Which Industry Utility Asset Management Software Is Useful?‍

Utility asset management software is useful for all those organizations whose utility is a critical part of the business. Because it is not only helpful in managing them but it also keeps other assets in the best condition.