Risk Management for Asset Owners

Imagine, just for a second. You’re responsible for the maintenance of large tunnel infrastructure. Or the safety of bridges in a region. How do you have information insightful for contingencies, for maintenance of operations, for basic safety routines and controls or repair ‘reviews’? 

You could resort to a system of timely controls. You could resort to random sampling and testing. You could even gamble and run the risk of passing it over to future generations, just hoping to save money. Praying that nothing happens. Hope is never a good strategy. It should be clear that you have considerable responsibility in risk management and maintenance budgets. 

Information or Data? 

A first step in the right direction of risk assessment would be to gather all critical and correct information concerning specific infrastructure. This is a huge task, since most of the time, that information is scattered and fragmentary. 

We distinguish between non-digitised information and digital information, providing no direct insights because of the way it is ‘digitised’ and useful, adequately structured information. 

Only the latter is useful in an information management system. The other two types need to be converted to become functional. This is the weak spot for many asset owners. No matter what industry, what market, there is always this mix of old and new buildings, infrastructure and projects. The ability to maintain control, assess the risks, and start with maintenance and repair depends on the insights you can draw out of the project files and the data.  

This is precisely where software like Neanex enters the stage. Providing insights, developing a culture of Digital Information Management, not starting from digitalisation as a goal but starting from the purpose of the organisation. 

No matter how many systems you have installed, no matter how you gather and make information accessible, it all boils down to that one question?

What do you want to achieve? 

To put it simply, if you aim to control costs, you need other data during the construction process than those concerned with maintaining existing infrastructure. 

Who is the asset owner? 

The ever-shifting role of asset owners is crucial in this approach. It depends not only on the project in itself; it must be viewed in its most broad sense. 

Like big pharma companies dispose of an enormous patrimony, and the same can be said of almost any international player in any industry. Production facilities and office buildings or warehouses, they all need a specific assessment in terms of risk and maintenance. An asset owner can be the building contractor at one point, but the maintenance company or operator in the next stage, or the government when we talk about roads, bridges and tunnels. They all have their specific interests at heart and requirements to be able to perform their role. A flexible and correct information hub is what is needed. 

Risk management and maintenance

The crucial question is the process to manage all this and to keep risks to a minimum and insightful. Just like your car, every project needs maintenance. The scale of operations is not facilitating this process, and that is where you need a stable information management system.  

Neanex is not a ‘hit and run’ piece of software. Precisely because of this complex information and data mix, Neanex experts work together with the client to identify the relevant data and make those data accessible and approachable to produce insights and consistency. 

Further down in the process, new data sources can be identified and brought to ‘operational’ use. In this way you can start with small steps to grow towards a more complete management of asset information. So you as an organisation can grow.

Once the information process is in place, you can start to optimise the life cycle of buildings, infrastructure and projects at an optimal cost.