Every asset-intensive business has to address four core elements to stay competitive in business.

Asset-intensive organizations do not operate the same as normal businesses. When dealing with high physical risks, productivity drains and expensive assets, the stakes are simply higher for companies in these industries.

The aspects of success

These challenges create very specific needs that must be addressed for the success of any company in an asset-intensive industry. While many companies go about this in different ways to varying degrees of success, there are generally four needs that must be addressed no matter how a company chooses to do so.

These aspects or needs are as follows:

• Ensuring employee and contractor safety

• The need to increase productivity

• Increase asset utilization and decrease down-time

• Adhering to environmental, regulatory, and compliance requirements

If an organization is able to achieve these four needs, it will be able to operate effectively and have a competitive edge over its competitors who neglect these needs. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Ensuring employee and contractor safety

Asset-intensive businesses usually deal with large, expensive assets that require special skills or can pose significant risks to operate. Thus, ensuring employee and contractor safety is a goal most of these businesses have in mind. 

The benefits of satisfying this need include more efficient and productive workers who, in a safe environment, can perform their duties and tasks with confidence and without injury. If this need is not met, however, companies risk harm to their employees and vendors and ultimately can be vulnerable to legal action.

The need to increase productivity and decrease down-time

While this is a common concern for all companies, it is especially relevant for asset-intensive organizations. The amount of money that is involved in the operation and delivery of services and goods for asset-intensive companies means continuously doing more with less.  Companies that do not continually optimize production efficiency fall behind relative to the cost profile of their peers and competitors.  

In addition to this, assets for the industry are extremely expensive to own and operate. This means that the utilization of those assets needs to be maximized in order to generate a return on investment. Poor utilization of assets ends up hurting the overall profitability of the company in question. However, assets that are used to their maximum efficiency open up more opportunities for the companies that use them and boost their competitive standing.

The aim to lower down-time

Every minute an asset is unable to produce value is a dollar lost for the company that owns it. Unfortunately, maintenance and other procedures require that certain assets fall out of use for an amount of time. Businesses that aim to lower this time are simply more efficient and effective. Optimizing access to asset information speeds the completion of both planned and unplanned procedures, limiting the amount of downtime companies are forced to incur.  

Adhering to environmental, regulatory, and compliance requirements

Staying compliant is of critical importance to all industries, and the asset-intensive industry is no exception. Failure to do so could result in hefty fines or even a complete shutdown. It could also mean that the company could suffer reputational damages or financial loss due to public and private litigation.

The bottom line

It should come as no surprise that businesses have endeavored to meet these requirements throughout their operation. One of the best ways to achieve these four critical needs is to have easy access to detailed documentation. Accessible, trusted, and relevant documentation offers many advantages for businesses seeking to address the above needs and avoid any challenges that may arise from them. 

A single source of truth for documentation provides certainty for processes and a more accurate approach to accomplishing tasks. It also decreases the time required for operations and maintenance due to stakeholders having fast access to information they need, and causes greater visibility and control. Finally, team members who have access to more updated and accurate documentation are more likely to perform their jobs safely so they can go home to their families at the end of each day.  

The value of data management for asset-intensive industries is apparent for nearly every need and challenge for asset-intensive companies. However, not every business understands how to assess and implement highly impactful solutions to these challenges.  

Gain a deeper understanding

To gain a deeper understanding of how your business can tackle these essential needs, we recommend that you download our free whitepaper on the topic, here. It suggests eight steps asset-intensive businesses can follow to identify which processes need addressing, where they can optimize, and how to go about creating the future that addresses their challenges and needs.

However, nothing is as effective as gaining a consultant to help you optimize your business processes. Qellus is a consultancy that understands your needs and challenges on a fundamental level to help you achieve success. They have developed applications and processes that allow organizations across industries to find digital solutions for concrete problems.

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