Tech Update: Remote Monitoring Improves Field Service Performance

By Brian Albright, Field Technologies magazine

The development of relatively low-cost and reliable remote monitoring systems based on machine to machine (M2M) communications technology has presented an enormous pportunity to field service organizations. By tying equipment directly to the network, service companies can lower cost and improve overall customer service by receiving automatic status updates from remote assets.

"The process improvements vary based on the business," says Scott Constien, vice president of technology at Enfora. "It can be as simple as monitoring a vending machine and reporting inventory levels … or, it could be remotely monitoring equipment and analyzing the data to manage maintenance and predictive failures in an attempt to minimize service downtime for customers."