Government agencies, health authorities, vendors and suppliers – in all these organizations, contingency procedures to ensure business continuity are constantly tested and intensively. Utilities and telecommunications, along with their engineers, field technicians and specialists, help these organizations by maintaining the infrastructure they need to function. Regardless of the outside temperature and weather conditions, infrastructure maintenance is a daily necessity and requires intensive planning work. With advances in software, sensors and networking, these challenges can be tackled with intelligent solutions. The digitization of data obtained directly after generating them and directly from the source enables better decisions and improvement of the quality of services provided on the basis of these networks.
CHALLENGES IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Food, water, clothing and shelter have long been recognized as the most basic necessities in human life. Governments in all countries also recognize sanitation, education, health and, more recently, access to the Internet as additional factors necessary for a successful life. The energy and utilities sector is, in a sense, linked to all of these needs – energy helps keep food fresh and provides adequate living conditions in buildings, the internet network supports global communication and education, running water meets people’s food and sanitation needs. All this naturally leads to a situation where the demand for these services is extremely high.
In the event of natural disasters, the response time of energy or media services becomes even more important. As much of business and commerce has moved to the internet in the last decade, telecommunications infrastructure has also gained importance, requiring telecom service providers to provide their customers with the fastest available internet connections.
Scientists from Nokia Bell Labs conducted a successful link test with a capacity of 1.52 terabits per second, which only confirms the belief that consumers will constantly expect to expand infrastructure and take advantage of growing technical possibilities. With infrastructure that supports efficient information transfer, reinforced mobile devices and access to real-time data, telecommunications service providers and media providers can constantly optimize their activities and thus deliver stable and secure services of very high quality without downtime.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MOBILITY
One of the most effective ways to increase field productivity and reduce response times is to equip field technicians and engineers with rugged mobile devices. A rugged tablet or laptop helps service technicians to reach the affected locations, access the most current information and provide additional on-site security measures. For example, in the event of a power plant or distribution station breakdown due to a natural disaster, the evacuation routes to these facilities may change, and access must be ensured. Currently, only 26 percent. of companies equip at least half of their field employees with mobile devices, and within five years this proportion is expected to increase to 43%. It is obvious that providing access to relevant information in the field is a simple, but also effective way to reduce response times and ensure the safety of service technicians.
CHALLENGES IN THE PUBLIC SERVICES SECTOR IN THE DIGITAL ERA
With the development of technology, customer expectations increase, so media providers must constantly analyze their procedures and use the latest mobile solutions. Fortunately, today, by introducing new technologies to work in the field, you can facilitate and control the work of service technicians who care for the maintenance of infrastructure.
The use of sensors for remote monitoring will enable telecommunications service providers and utilities to better allocate their resources. For example, a company can direct field service technicians to a critical area for a given infrastructure right away, rather than carrying out a series of on-site visits to verify the situation at various less significant points in the network. Over the next five years, at least 9 out of 10 companies in this sector plan to fully implement sensors and remotely monitor their infrastructure. Thanks to the data from monitoring systems, analysts are able to develop models that help in the appropriate planning of service activities. Thanks to the data on weather conditions, energy and water consumption and other factors, companies will be able to develop appropriate work schedules and efficiently use the available resources. Subsequent implementations of the 5G network, appropriate applications and services based on smart networks, connected to a network of sensors, will enable the transmission of huge amounts of data from devices supporting the Internet of Things at an unprecedented speed. Media providers, instead of sending their service technicians on site, will be able to intervene remotely via their operators and remote video calls. Greater possibilities of data transmission and analysis as well as a change in the way of disposing of resources will lead to a significant increase in efficiency and optimization of the use of available resources.
The rapid technological progress we are already observing in the telecommunications and media sectors provides new opportunities and significantly expands the offer of services in this segment. Telecom and media service providers are able to better utilize their staff and thus provide higher-level services to their customers by combining sensor network functionality, analytical solutions, operational software, field infrastructure testing, and rugged mobile devices. Is your company ready for it?
