Challenge

The client, a Fortune 500 provider of industrial enterprise solutions, manufactures handheld devices including mobile computers, printers, and barcode scanners that are used in retail stores, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and hospital settings. There is constant data generated from these devices that had historically not been put to good use. We helped our client accelerate development of an operational intelligence product to remotely monitor the devices to maximize efficiency and performance of the products for their clients.

Approach

The first use case was to accurately predict devices approaching battery end of life and requiring battery change. Lack of battery life indicators in current devices causes clients to swap out healthy batteries in bulk from multiple devices when they encounter failures with one device. This led to both negative impact on operations during unexpected battery failures as well as higher operational costs associated with device maintenance. We built predictive models that accurately forecast remaining battery life based on an hourly feed of device usage information.

Outcome

The “Intelligent” Operational Intelligence Platform was a new product offering and revenue stream for the client, who had traditionally been a hardware supplier. Usage of the platform led to a 10% decrease in operational costs associated with handheld devices over the first 6 months.