Using technology positively

Sustainability as an integral part

Asset management has everything to do with energy consumption and waste streams and therefore goes hand in hand with sustainability. Companies that manage their assets in the right way and make the right maintenance choices reduce their impact on our environment. At Gemba, we are working on the question of how we can make sustainability part of our portfolio, in the form of concrete solutions. That is something we will be considering further in 2024.

Plenty of innovation plans

The attention for technological innovation, whether or not driven by sustainability, is increasing. Even in sectors such as gas and oil and utilities, we see the realization growing that innovation is necessary. Developing and implementing new plans requires more manpower. This presents Gemba with a challenge. How can we deploy our people as quickly and efficiently as possible for all plans?

Increasing demand for asset management solutions

In 2023, we already saw a huge revival in the market. For the first time after the corona crisis, there was confidence again. There was a lot of investment in asset management and the demand for our solutions increased considerably. Fortunately, we have found good people to help us meet that growing customer demand. Especially because we expect this development to continue in 2024.

Investing in people

At the same time, the shortage in the labor market continues. That is why we continue to look for new ways to serve our customers. For example, we now deploy new employees directly to them, at a reduced rate. In this way, we both invest to get people’s knowledge up to standard more quickly. In addition, we work more remotely. This has now been widely accepted and ensures greater efficiency and effectiveness. It also offers advantages for our employees to work from home. As an organization that puts people first, this is another good reason for us to go along with this trend.

AI as a game changer

A development that will drastically change the daily work of our company and our customers is AI. In the past year, consumers have massively embraced AI applications such as Chat GPT. This makes these tools ‘game changers’, just like the smartphone was before. In the beginning, smartphones were mainly used for business. Only when they were discovered by consumers did this lead to a revolution in the workplace. Now we see the same thing happening with Chat GPT and similar apps.

Smart analyses for better asset management

AI makes it possible to make better analyses and thereby improve the management of assets. We are identifying patterns that we did not see before, based on huge amounts of data. For example, a fishbone analysis of a malfunction is made in no time. It saves us a lot of time and sets creative thought processes in motion, which we would not otherwise have time for. In this way, AI opens the door to a new future in asset management.

Shift from technology to data

The rise of AI within asset management means that traditional roles will change. The focus of the maintenance engineer is shifting from technology to data analysis. While asset managers will soon be half IT managers, who optimize the maintenance processes through analyses. All this requires new knowledge and skills. At Gemba, we will also put AI more clearly on the map. What can we do for our customers in this area? And how do we deal with AI implementations? We are discussing this in 2024 together with MaxGrip, one of our consultancy partners.

Switch to IBM MAS

Operationally, 2024 will be the year in which several of our customers make the switch to IBM Maximo Application Suite (IBM MAS). We have now completed a first implementation and a second will start soon. IBM MAS offers more possibilities and is easier to use. For example, there is a lot of demand for mobile asset management. With IBM MAS, companies can easily work mobile, without it directly impacting their licenses. The motto is ‘use your application on any device’.

Employees who contribute ideas

From IBM MAS and mobile working, we go back to people, as we started this blog. At Gemba, we attach great importance to our employees. Everyone can be themselves and is given the space to develop. But we also believe that employees should be able to have a say in the direction we are going. There was already an advisory group on mobility, now there is also a group that contributes ideas on corporate social responsibility and our charities.

People first

Last year, we supported, among other things, the victims of the war in Ukraine, the Food Bank and Stichting Opkikker. Whatever our charities for 2024 will be, we are going for people and we hope that many will make that choice with us. Not only in the Netherlands, but all over the world. It is from that thought that we wish everyone a healthy, happy and above all respectful new year, on behalf of all of us at Gemba!