“This asset management system is just too complicated for me. I need a much simpler system. One where I only have to press a few fields and it syncs automatically with other systems”.
– A solar installer –
This quote is from a conversation with a solar installer when we talked about his asset management system. In our experience, the importance of a good and modern asset management system is often underestimated.
Examples why an outdated asset management can lead to frustrations
An asset management system gives you an overview of all your material (eg. solar panels) and equipment (eg. screwdriver). In many customer conversations, we’ve learned that an outdated asset management system causes a lot of frustration for solar companies. The main reason for this is usually the same: wrong master data that is recorded in the asset management system.
Here are a few examples that always lead to frustration:
- Installer takes the wrong material (e.g. PV modules) with him to the construction site
- Final offer contains incorrect material data (e.g. inverter)
- The invoice contains incorrect information on material prices
Such situations happen more often than you think. And they can easily turn into a negative profit margin for your solar installation. Root causes for such a situation can be that the material list has not been updated automatically or if a project manager enters false data.This happens easily when offers, orders or invoices have to be updated manually. Or if your other systems such as your project management software is no synchronized automatically with your asset management system.
A modern asset management system needs to have good APIs
We therefore recommend every solar company to use a modern asset management system. A modern asset management system usually has a modern APIs that can be easily updated. This will save you time, create transparency over your material data and avoid the problems mentioned above.
Given our infrastructure, Kwest can integrate easily in modern asset management systems. This can help you to pre-fill documents for your installation partner or automatically create final reports about your installation.
We are also working with solar companies that manage their assets on a simple Google Sheet or Excel file.
