2. Doing more with less

With infrastructure owners such as local authorities facing financial constraints, digital asset management is a way to make the most of increasingly scarce resources. 

Operationally, it can unlock efficiencies – enabling organisations to carry out day-to-day asset management tasks more easily. For example, data can flow seamlessly along a workflow from an initial survey that finds a fault, to placing an order for materials to carry out a repair, to scheduling the work. Reducing manual intervention at each stage improves productivity and enables everyone, from the people setting policy to the people working directly with the assets on site, to access the right information at the right time. 

Strategically, digital technology can help secure vital funding to ensure the long-term resilience of assets. How? By showing information to decision-makers, instead of just telling them about it. Combining aspects such as mathematical modelling of deterioration with easy-to-understand interactive dashboards enables asset owners to demonstrate clearly to funders the likely impact of different levels of investment.

4. Rapidly advancing technology

Tools such as Windward are providing opportunities that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. As well as gathering the intelligence needed for a paradigm shift in predictive maintenance, Windward is enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of inspections.

Until now, inspection has often still involved engineers taking printed drawings to site, where they make notes and take photographs to create a report for colleagues in the office to review. Instead, Windward uses an app to capture inspection data accurately, with 360° camera integration. When an inspector highlights a defect, AI will suggest what it is and help measure and record its location. A visual inspection environment allows engineers away from the site to review structures dynamically and interactively, with defects positioned on 3D models. It’s a world away from a PDF report.

We’ve tested Windward's capabilities on various bridges, including rail and footbridges made of concrete, steel and masonry. Working from both current and historical images, the tool enabled us to measure defects with millimetre-accuracy. This allowed us to quantitatively assess changes over time and improve risk management for the assets.

The human factor

The success of digital tools still relies on the skills and support of the people who will use them. As asset management and engineering specialists, we have deep domain expertise and understand our client organisations – many of which we’ve worked with for decades. We work constructively and collaboratively with teams at organisations such as Network Rail to design digital processes that dovetail with users’ needs. 

These users stand to benefit as much as anyone from digital asset management tools, particularly in situations where collecting data manually mean managing safety risks. 

As in so many other fields, digital asset management isn’t about replacing people with technology. It’s about improving quality. It’s focussed on finding better ways to pass on an understanding of an asset to all the people who need it. Yes, it helps reduce costs today. But the real value lies in combining people and digital tools to get data collection right from the outset, and in using that data to make the asset more resilient for future generations.