The volume of remote work and data increased significantly, but that was easily handled by the team overall, Cowick said. For McKay, the onrush of interest in more telematics and remote work options was an opportunity to show what her team could do.
"We were able to kick it into high gear and help those customers out to the best of our ability," she described. "That's the amazing thing about telematics – those systems are structured to be remote. We made sure we had a plan in place to get information efficiently, and we were able to prove that we were going the right direction – we were able to meet and exceed the demand of the customers."
While shutdowns meant that there was less opportunity for technicians to get to machines on jobsites, the introduction of new tools has helped expand the ability for SMS teams to work with their customers remotely. Cowick pointed to software updates like SMART Construction Remote that allows teams to log in to machines from the office to do a variety of tasks.
"The demand for remote access has increased. . . transferring files and troubleshooting machines – the need and the speed are there, and the desire is there," Cowick said. "There's a ton of different types of technology out there. We have integrated machines and we have aftermarket technology. . . what we've noticed is that during COVID the integrated machines have been easier to support, which means less downtime for the customer. Customers are starting to see the value in the integrated machines – the value of what that extra speed and time is able to do for them in limiting their downtime."
McKay said that her team has found there's additional demand for training from customers who are trying to understand telematics systems and solutions more broadly.
"Some customers have taken advantage of our ability to do online webinars. We set scheduled timeframes and give customers the ability to log on and learn about some of the systems for their equipment," she said. "We talked in-depth about some things, and others we covered generally to give customers the basics."
In addition, the SMS team – which has expanded to deal with greater demand, McKay noted – has offered phone support and the opportunity to do one-on-one personalized training for customers, she added. Customers are also turning to more alerts from their telematics systems to keep up on what their machines require.
"We have the capabilities to set up in our systems to email the customers at their requested time prior to maintenance being required. . . people have been asking for a lot longer lead time for maintenance notifications," she said. "You now need to get approvals for people to be onsite. . . the availability of supplies may be lower, so it may take an extra day or two to get filters, for example. Customers want the ability to have that time cushion and are making sure they're pre-planning more than they ever have before."
For George Latif, an SMS machine control specialist based in Quebec, the lockdown challenge has been even greater because of the way in which Quebec clamped down hard on jobsites through the early parts of the pandemic.
"In March when they announced we were going to lock down, all of Quebec literally went on a complete pause – nothing was moving anymore," he said. "We were still available, but we couldn't travel. . . even if I could get to the customer I would need them to supply me a letter from the government saying this was an essential service."
For Latif and his customers, Komatsu's Remote Support technology was the lifeline that kept things moving. When he needed to work with any integrated machines, they were accessible right at his fingertips as long as they were in an area with cellular service. With that connection he was able to connect to a machine and upload or transfer files where necessary, as well as receive reports from the machine regarding its condition and send communications to the operators as needed.
"Remote support was always part of our job, because some machines may be a five, six, seven hour drive away. . . remote support was already helping us. But, with COVID, it's even more so," Latif said. "For example, I had a machine that was delivered last week but it was in the red zone. . . I helped the mechanics in the branch calibrate the machine with the remote support, they delivered the machine for our customers and I gave the training for that machine through remote support."
That kind of support has attracted attention in many regions, some of which can be slower to adopt new technology. SMS has seen growth in demand for remote support, and McKay expects to see that continue.
"I think this gave people a taste of how businesses should be using these tools," she said. "This is not something that's just going to go away at the drop of a hat next week. It opens the door for people to start looking at other avenues, making that time for dedicated training and recognizing that these systems are important from the top down of their business."
