Episode 7: IoT and Remote Monitoring in Field Service: Featuring, Andy Briggs, President, PowerTelematics,

Transcript

Power and energy and literally keeps the lights on. We're going to be talking about IoT and remote monitoring, and it's one of the biggest behind the scenes shifts that's happening across energy infrastructure facilities and critical power systems. So to break this down, we've brought one of our experts who I'm going to let introduce himself from Power Telematics. Briggs I'm president of Power Telematics. We're based in the Atlanta, Georgia area, and we provide remote monitoring solutions primarily focused on standby and mobile power generators that provide backup power and even prime power to a whole host of really any kind of application. But we've been doing this our businesses ten years old. But, um, for me, I've been doing this a lot longer than that, but I've been in this industry for quite some time. But, uh, indeed, uh uh, this is a thriving and growing segment of our market and what we do for sure. One thing that you think that people misunderstand about implementing these systems today? Well, I think most people are um, really they're unfamiliar with the with the type of technology or really what the concept is. And, uh, some are concerned about cost and all that, but mostly people are just, uh, at least historically, have not been aware that the technology exists. And what I mean by that is that we provide, uh, you know, some gateway devices, hardware we refer to that actually, uh, mount install at the, at the equipment on the emergency power generator, at the automatic transfer switches and really any other kind of equipment that, uh, that we're monitoring. And what that does is it really looks at the, uh, several different types of applications. Uh, some of the more simple, uh, applications might be we're looking at the primary conditions, just the generator running. Is it, uh, is it operational? Is it in a Inner fault condition. Is it ready to run when the power goes out? And that's the primary concern. And then we have more advanced diagnostics type systems that really take a deep dive. And they will monitor and measure all kinds of crazy things from not only the engine parameters but also the electrical parameters. But really what what most people that we talked to over the years and years, um, they're mostly not familiar with the technology. Once they hear about it, it's like, wow, that's really cool. I think I need that. But the overall goal, uh, from our perspective, is for for an emergency power generator. It is there for a very critical reason. It absolutely has to work in the event of a power outage. And our goal and our whole purpose and mission is to make sure that it does. And that's why looking at it 24 hours a day, our systems automatically do that. And if there is any kind of a problem where that generator will not work, then, uh, the, uh, the generator owner and the service company are notified. Uh. Really that. Hey, this generator has a problem. So, um, our. I think mostly in this industry, it's, um, people are starting to adopt and accept and even adapt to using technology instead of the traditional way of servicing equipment by sending a technician to physically check it out and make sure that it works. Okay. Yeah. So many good things that you said in there, Andy. And I think that it's really important that people expand when they're just starting to explore IoT, um, that they really think about how this technology fits into their overall strategy and how it works into their operations as a whole. Um, what would you say? Um, where do you think we are at on the adoption curve, or are we in the early days, are we near the tipping point? Where do you think people are at when it comes to these remote monitoring devices? Great question now because in fact, I wrote an article not long on that and we addressed that, uh, the very point in the, uh, technology adoption curve, you have your innovators, uh, and early adopters and then your, uh, early majority. We were we really were just now entering the early majority phase. We anticipate an estimate based on not just our research, but others in our industry as well, that roughly 20 to 25% of the generators out there today are remotely monitored. So that means, uh, you know, call it 75 plus percent or not. So we feel like we're just now entering the early majority phase of adoption, which, um, you know, is is exciting because it's taken us a while to get to that point, uh, just from an adoption standpoint. But, uh, what it also is exciting is that there's so many more generators out there that are not monitored that need to be monitored. And that whole, um, acceptance and adoption, as you indicated, um, is really starting to grow and is growing very rapidly. Yeah. Is there anything else you wanted to add, or any final thoughts that you wanted to leave listeners with today? Um, really just, uh, you know, uh, we try to tell people to keep an open mind and not be afraid of technology. Technology. Um, there's all the discussion about AI and what it's going to do for everybody these days and all that. But there are very simple technology solutions that are very cost effective that, um, just encourage people to keep an open mind and, uh, uh, you know, try it, um, and really feel comfortable reaching in and, uh, embracing some of the technological changes that are happening in all industries.