If you want a look at the kind of apps that are transforming how enterprises work, don’t just look at chatbots, artificial intelligence or IoT. Instead, apps that may give companies the biggest benefits of all are inspection apps and punch list apps that help field workers accomplish important tasks, such as inspecting utility poles, managing construction projects, helping with oil exploration and much more. Accomplishing those down-to-earth tasks are in large part leading the way towards the digital transformation of enterprises.
A great example of this is the way in which energy company PG&E is using an inspection app to replace old error-prone paper processes. The app has been so successful that InformationWeek awarded it an IT Excellence Award at Interop IT recently. According to an InformationWeek article, PG&E’s Mobile Asset Inspection app is saving the utility time and money, reducing errors, improving data quality, and leading the way to the company’s digital transformation.
PG&E needs to inspect 2.5 million poles every 20 years, as required by federal law. The company tracks each pole’s status in SAP, so that it knows when every pole must be inspected. In the past, inspectors had to drive to an office and get paper maps showing them which poles needed to be inspected each day. That was extremely ineffective, because, in the words of the article, “the next day, the inspector might be assigned to a pole that was as little as 50 feet away from a pole he inspected the previous day.”
In addition, they filled out forms about the poles’ status and their inspections of them on paper, which then had to be input into PG&E’s system.
All that has changed with PG&E’s Mobile Asset Inspection app, which is connected to SAP, a graphical information system (GIS), and Documentum enterprise applications. Now, inspectors no longer drive to the office to get paper maps and forms. Instead, the information is sent directly to the inspection app on their iPad Pros. Google Maps show best routes to the poles, and daily inspections are grouped more efficiently. Inspectors fill out electronic forms, which flow directly into SAP, reducing errors, improving data quality, and saving time and morey.
Beyond improving efficiency, the app provides data that is being used by PG&E’s advanced analytics team to predict which poles are likely to fail soon. Those poles are then replaced before they fail.
Tying inspection and punch list apps to intelligent systems like this is the wave of the future, according to Jason Wong, a research director at Gartner. He told Computerworld, “Field service and sales continue to see a majority of the investment [for mobile apps] as well because of new capabilities that are still emerging — things like augmented reality, integrating list sensors and IoT, using voice and voice control. That’s all new stuff that needs to be incorporated into apps.”
A great example of powerful inspection apps exist in lean manufacturing. 5S audits involve inspecting workplaces for organization and safety. When these once paper forms become 5S Audit apps that are used daily, more detailed information - including photos and time/date stamps - can be collected quickly and easily and shared around the organization. The result is continuous improvement and higher levels of productivity, safety and eliminated waste.
If you’re looking to build your own inspection and punch list apps, you’ll find Alpha Anywhere and its low-code approach a great solution. It’s ideal for building mobile-optimized forms that are at the core of the apps.
Inspection Solutions is a mobile inspection app that can be customized to serve field inspectors in any industry.
To help you get started, Alpha Software has built a free Inspections Solutions app, a sample app that can be turned into inspection apps for field workers in virtually any industry. Current Alpha Anywhere customers can download the source code for this inspection app from Alpha Software’s Github account and modify it for use in their organization’s inspection process.
In addition, Alpha Software has built the Alpha Construction Punch List App, a sophisticated, pre-built construction punch list app optimized for mobile phones, which most construction workers already carry in their pocket every day. There's also a building inspection app and Toolbox Talk app you can view and use.
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