GISCafe Industry Predictions for 2024 – Berntsen

By Mike Klonsinski, President, Berntsen International, Inc.

Accelerating trend in 2024: Connected Asset Management

Mike Klonsinski

The promise of the Internet of Things (IoT) centers on the premise that every object’s data – location, origin, status, interactions – will be part of an interconnected digital world. While industries like manufacturing and healthcare have made significant strides in realizing this promise, the infrastructure sector has faced delays. However, a shift is anticipated in 2024 with the deployment of products and solutions that connect infrastructure assets in the field with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Asset Management Systems (AMS).

This evolution is made possible by a few key technological advancements:

1. Development and production of lower cost, reliable sensors to collect and communicate data from ‘things’.
2. Growth in bandwidth and storage that enables even simple products to communicate large amounts of data and be part of the connected world; and
3. Increases in the capabilities of GIS and Asset Management systems to integrate and make sense of large inputs of external data.

These technological advances create conditions that will drive changes in 2024 infrastructure management practices and investment.  Many of those changes will be in Connected Asset Management and a few are highlighted below.

Asset Management and GIS integration

For many years, there has been an ongoing tension between a location-based system of record (GIS) and an asset-centric system of record. However, this distinction is irrelevant today for infrastructure managers who must track and manage assets through a life cycle that includes changes to location and changes to status.

The largest players in GIS and Asset Management have recognized this for several years and have been working hard to build integrations between the two systems or to incorporate components of Asset Management in GIS, or vice versa. Expect advances from both sectors in this area as well as proliferation of software that couples asset status and location tracking.

Growth of Digitally Connecting Asset Identifiers

While asset identifiers may not seem exciting, they are fundamental to a Connected Asset Management world where each ‘thing’ needs a reliable, unique, and digitally connected identifier.  Traditional on-asset identification labels are inconsistent and difficult to integrate in a digital world. Randomly assigned asset identifiers in a digital system are disconnected from the actual asset in the field.

Global standard asset identifiers such as RFID, NFC, bar code, and QR code have advantages of being universal, scalable, durable, and part of an integrated digital asset system.  Expect rapid growth of the use of these identifiers in 2024.

Embedded Sensors in Traditional Products

Many infrastructure assets are viewed as a standard, mundane commodity, not worthy of modification. However, lower cost of sensors and demand for ‘smart’ infrastructure has changed that perception and these assets are now viewed as part of a world connected to GIS and digital asset management systems.

Forward looking manufacturers have already been incorporating data collection and communication technologies within traditional products (e.g. catch basins with water level sensors, guard rails with impact sensors, boundary marking products with land movement sensors). Expect accelerated introduction and deployment of these embedded technology infrastructure products in 2024.

Utilities, public works, and other organizations responsible for managing infrastructure assets have traditionally lagged in the adoption of new technologies.  2024 is likely to be a year when we see these organizations deploy next generation connected asset management practices.

About Author:

Mike Klonsinski serves as the President of Berntsen International, Inc., bringing over twenty years of executive leadership experience in manufacturing and technology organizations. In his role, Klonsinski directs the company’s extensive 50 years of expertise in boundary and infrastructure marking toward the development of connected marking technology. Specifically, he concentrates on advancing Berntsen’s InfraMarker® solution, which enhances infrastructure asset management by leveraging RFID technology to connect assets with GIS and other digital platforms for comprehensive asset management.

Category: GIS Industry Predictios

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2024 at 3:06 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.