Mother Nature is always full of surprises. No one ever knows with absolute certainty what extremes the weather might deliver, from freezing cold or blistering heat to a hurricane or tornado. This scenario is particularly challenging for operations leaders. No business wants to be forced to close its doors, but is it possible to brave the storms? The answer is yes—with an IoT-connected facility on your side.
A week of sales lost to bad weather can mean the difference between a good year and a bad one for many businesses. Having a connected facility reduces the risk of failure during extreme weather events in a number of different ways.
Monitors HVAC
Rooftops are brutal environments, which makes depending on seasonal maintenance alone a game of roulette. Pair this uncertainty with the possibility of unexpected downtime, and there is a lot of unnecessary stress.
A connected facility can constantly monitor HVAC units’ energy usage and temperatures to help guide maintenance technicians to make preventative repairs. In addition, by leveraging proactive text and email alerts to your staff when there are equipment issues, you’re in front of problems before they become catastrophic failures instigated by extreme weather. These insights eliminate the need for costly repeat visits and prevent units from malfunctioning to ensure there are no unwanted surprises.
In addition, using connected equipment provides control over lighting and other equipment, which leads to lower energy expenses, maintenance costs, and overall equipment downtime.
Provides Alerts for Maintenance Issues
If repairs and upgrades are only addressed during the occasional seasonal check-in, it can mean bad news when severe weather rolls in. A connected facility provides minute-by-minute visibility over critical assets like refrigeration units, HVAC systems, lighting, and kitchen equipment. By shifting to proactive monitoring and maintenance, unexpected downtime is reduced, and time and money are saved.
Generates Fix Lists
Solutions like Open Kitchen and SiteSage offer an HVAC ‘fix list,’ which prioritizes the most urgent issues that contribute to comfort problems for customers. Red alerts highlight the issues that need to be addressed now, while yellow alerts provide long-term visibility into issues that may not require immediate attention. So before a severe weather event even occurs, problems are spotted and can be ranked by priority.
Ensures Food Safety
Food safety applications, like the one offered by Open Kitchen, are equipped with temperature monitoring, real-time alerts, workflow processing, corrective action tracking, and automated reporting. This data makes it possible to keep food safer for customers while maintaining brand standards, which is especially important if there are disruptions caused by temperamental weather.
Conclusion
Severe weather can’t be avoided, but a connected facility will make managing your equipment, energy, and operations a lot easier during tough times. Mother Nature doesn’t stand a chance against real-time alerts, fix lists, and proactive maintenance.
Learn more about how a connected facility helps during extreme weather when you start a conversation with a member of our team.