With mobiles and smartphones turning out to be an essential component, these mobile solutions must be ruggedized to withstand the challenging conditions.

Fremont, CA: Smartphones and mobile devices have become an essential tool for energy and utility companies to supervise various tasks. Significantly, the remote location of numerous energy and utility organizations’ operations makes mobility more critical for the sector. But these companies have another need for their mobile solutions; they should be rugged enough to hold up in the challenging conditions.

The mobile device manufacturers have established various ruggedized product lines to meet the requirements of these companies. Rugged devices stand up to the punishment from heat, water, dust, and impact and offer robust processing, connectivity, and communication capabilities. Rugged mobile devices can enable the workers to get their jobs done in all kinds of conditions and terrains, and they can save energy and utility company’s money in the long run, despite their higher upfront price tag.

Here are five use cases of rugged mobile devices.

Meter reading: Technicians can harbor rugged mobile devices in their vehicles to guide them navigate the job sites and communicate with the dispatchers, then take the devices into the field to accumulate meter data and send updates on work orders’ status. Physical keypads can help the technicians enter data in any weather condition, including rain, making it difficult to type on a touch screen.

Inspections and assessments: Panasonic states that mobile apps running on rugged devices can cooperate with inspections, surveys, and reviews: With the help of the right onsite technology, oil and gas workers can seamlessly manage compressed gas, atmospheric corrosion, gas leak, fuel station, heating oil tank, mine safety, oil rig, fuel tank, relief valve, tank, and used oil inspections. 

Communication: Employees at energy and utility companies depend on mobile devices as communications tools, utilizing their rugged devices to dispatch information to dispatchers, infrastructure assessment teams, and maintenance and repair crews. Rugged devices help organizations empower employees to communicate better and produce faster responses to service connection and disconnection requests, outages, and disruptions.

Safety and compliance: Keeping the managers informed about workers’ location through GPS, rugged devices can enhance safety in the field. Also, with the right apps, rugged mobile devices enable workers to meet safety compliance requirements by reporting incidents and hazards.

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