Socially interactive devices: Have you talked to your device lately?

As well as being a source of information, the internet allows people to interact on a social level. Social internet-based environments have many powerful applications that can be utilised to service equipment in the industrial sector.

Many internet sites are presented as 'communities' where people interact through various 'spaces'. Interaction in such environments is possible using Web 2.0 technologies, the term used to cover all of the latest internet applications including blogs, RSS feeds, wikis, instant messaging, mashups and more. Many companies, however, are now beginning to see the value of Web 2.0 technologies and how they can be used to improve asset reliability. ABB believes that the applications used in social internet-based environments can and will be used to manage all aspects of service delivery.

Giving devices a 'voice' of their own

Remote intelligent device management (RIDM) refers to remotely installed equipment or systems — enabled through monitoring and diagnostic solutions — that use secure connectivity to make system health status available to a central monitoring service centre to aid troubleshooting, and periodic and continuous maintenance. Expertise is delivered to on-site personnel via online connections, and device management solutions are provided by remotely delving into on-site devices. More specifically, these remote capabilities can allow access to:

• Process optimisation experts
• A technical platform expertise centre
• Added training and consulting
• Regional service call centres
• Project engineering support

There is no doubt that RIDM increases overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). However, remote services are evolving rapidly and following paths first explored by online services such as Facebook and MySpace. Additionally, many people now entering the workplace are members of what is commonly known as the Net Generation. 'Net geners' were born in the 1980s and 1990s in a time when most of the digital devices (computers, internet, iPods) were already available, and they are characterised by their high digital literacy. An environment like this is needed to entice younger generation engineers to become involved in this field.

For its part, ABB wondered about the possibility of creating a type of DeviceSpace that could use next-generation internet and enterprise-based technologies as an information platform. In other words, a device is thought of as a user that can generate content of value to a community. This possibility is gradually becoming a reality. By utilising the connectivity already established for RIDM, ABB is developing a collaborative device community that will be able to personify a piece of equipment or system (device), thus enabling it to interact with end users and technical experts through collaborative chat sessions. For example, by using rich instant messaging, devices will provide real-time responses to requests for status, provide error log file uploads on demand and execute diagnostic routines, all within the same chat session (see Figure 1). All chat sessions will then post a blog to the device’s space, where it becomes a searchable and reusable nugget of service intelligence.

Figure 1: An example of an instant messaging chat with ABB intelligent equipment.

The service community has two major spaces, the customer space and the technology space. The customer space provides both customer and site-specific information, which is fed from vendor-managed data sources. This information can be arranged into a customised view by the end user. The technology space provides a non-customer or site-specific environment where all specific technology platform service intelligence is organised and presented (Figures 2 and 3). Every space and page has standard Web 2.0 technologies that enable users and devices to post blogs, populate tag clouds, subscribe to RSS feeds, navigate through mashups and build a real-time view of dashboards and gadgets.

Figure 2: The technology space provides a site-specific environment where all specific technology platform service intelligence is presented.

Why this is superior to traditional methods

Uses existing sources

The focus is on presenting information from existing sources, instead of replacing existing databases or becoming yet another redundant receptacle of information. This allows for quicker deployment and less redundancy of data sources.

Captures expert knowledge

Years of know-how and experience can be captured from experts nearing retirement and is stored in a way that can be readily searched and reused by the next generation of service engineers.

Familiar to the current generation

Web 2.0 technologies provide an environment where the younger generation of technical support engineers can be more comfortable. This is a medium they are more likely to communicate in and one that allows them to interact with seasoned experts.

Provides collaborative real-time device feedback and diagnostics

Devices provide real-time feedback about their health and condition, as well as contributing to self diagnostics. This entices the device, customer and technical support to interact collaboratively, giving all participants the opportunity to learn from the experience and to better document the support session.

Allows customer involvement

Customers are directly involved in the problem-solving process.

Allows customer contribution to vendor databases

The environment provides a portal allowing customers to interact with vendor service databases and installed base management systems. These customer interfaces can contribute greatly to the accuracy of installed base information.

Encourages innovation

Members are motivated to be innovative and collaborative, thus providing new approaches and best practices in an environment that is conducive to the reuse of these ideas.

Provides a single view

Hundreds of important data sources, each with separate logins, can be pulled into a single environment requiring only a single sign-on. Furthermore, the interface to all this information is organised into a consolidated view or dashboard.

Allows user-specific customisation

Users can easily customise their own home pages to align with their job functions and responsibilities.

Is highly scalable

Web 2.0 technologies are proven to be scalable to very large systems that span across the globe, providing harmonisation to the approach a customer uses to interact with members and devices.

Figure 3: A typical service and support personnel page.

Bringing the customer, vendor and device together in collaboration

Vendor service solutions can provide, among other things, field resources, knowledge databases, service contracts, installed bases and software maintenance. With a device-centric community with spaces and pages, users can interact and collaborate with the vendor in a manner that provides better customer satisfaction.

The traditional approach to troubleshooting separates the interaction between technical support and the end user from the diagnostics performed by the service engineer. By enabling the device to engage in a collaborative chat session, problems are quickly and accurately resolved. More importantly, however, diagnostic approaches are captured and readily available for re-use.

The internet platform supporting these interactive communities has proved to be readily accessible, scalable on a global basis, easy to use and the standard medium for presenting data. With mobile computing devices already web enabled – and devices becoming increasingly connected and more intelligent – the time is ripe for building excellent relationships between devices and their human counterparts, ie, end users and manufacturers.

By embedding services in its products, a vendor can focus on asset performance management in a manner that optimises availability, provides quality production, and extends the product life cycle. This in turn gives customers the benefit of lower total cost of ownership, thereby increasing their overall competitive advantage.

ABB Australia Pty Ltd
www.abbaustralia.com.au