AssetPool hosted their first ever webinar on March 15th, 2022 and it was a great success. The webinar was hosted by Darren Leishman, CMO of AssetPool with the Founder, Michael Kirk having an informal discussion with the CEO, Chris Edwards.
Michael comes from a mechanical engineering background: he is an innovator and serial entrepreneur. He specializes in process management and digital transformation for businesses. Chris also comes from a mechanical engineering background and has an MBA. He brings all of this knowledge to the table when discussing Smart Inspection Platforms as a critical business process.
The webinar was kicked off with a question directed towards the founder of AssetPool.
“You coined the term Smart Inspect Platform when describing AssetPool, could you give us a quick overview on what a SIP is and why you built AssetPool in the first place?”
Michael explained that in the early days of AssetPool, their slogan was compliance and verification, and it continues to be a key theme in their smart inspection platform. It is essentially what a SIP does; it gives you things like compliance and verification so that you know assets are being tended to correctly. Michael then described the story of how AssetPool was born. It was created out of necessity and ultimately to solve a problem that he had out in the market. He couldn't find software that would solve the problem he had but he was aware that the technology existed. He needed to be able to complete digital inspections and use an app out in the field to make sure the work was being completed properly and he needed to be able to use predictive maintenance.
Michael is the founder of another business that works in the fire safety equipment and detection industry and this is what led him to build AssetPool. The technicians of this business would need to go out to a big mall or shopping centre to complete service and maintenance jobs. Those technicians were just doing it with a pen and paper. This had its issues in the fact that you cannot track the inspection or know for sure that the technicians have properly inspected the fire equipment. This type of industry has to be compliant as it could save lives. The way that they solved this problem was through the use of AssetPool as now all of the fire safety equipment has a QR code on it. The QR code needs to be scanned by the technician to start the inspection and if required, photos are taken in the app. This gives peace of mind that the inspections and maintenance of these vital assets are being completed accurately.
The old way of inspecting assets was that you would walk up to the asset with your pen and paper in hand to complete the visual inspection. After your day of inspections was complete you would have to transport that paper back to the office so that the administrator could input it into a spreadsheet, possibly printing that information to store in a file folder. Now with AssetPool, each asset is identified with the use of a QR code, ensuring that they are tracked and treated as an individual element. Whether it's a multi-story building, sports stadium or assets at a shopping centre, with AssetPool's Smart Inspection Platform you will have an up-to-date asset register at all times. There is no reason to waste time on transporting, inputting, or filing paper checklists. AssetPool transforms your business processes from paper to digital with a complete and fully customizable smart inspection software solution. You can now take your business off paper and into the cloud so that you can identify who, what, where, and when in relation to every asset inspection.
Chris Edwards answered this question with an example of a company that runs all their business processes on Excel spreadsheets. This company realized there was a need for digital transformation and once they were shown what the reporting functionality and job sheets look like in AssetPool they knew it was the right choice for them. They realized that they can save money on travel time and increase profitability by being able to invoice as soon as the technician finishes their inspection. They don't have to wait for the paper checklist to return to the office. This company will now be able to have a digital history of customers and the maintenance schedule. This also becomes a really nice catalog of the company's growth.
It was one of the key designs and considerations when we built the software that it needed to be used by people who, in some cases, may not have finished school. We have found that people actually prefer AssetPool to writing on paper as people are accustomed to using their phones already. The app gets rid of the worry of not being able to read someone's handwriting. Also, being able to take photos in the app has been a game changer–the technicians absolutely love it. It is very intuitive and once you have completed your first digital checklist it becomes second nature to you. AssetPool has had very little resistance to getting anybody up and running on the platform.
To find out more about how AssetPool can keep your business from 'drowning in paperwork' watch the webinar here.