Opinion: How to keep up with the ever-evolving advances in technology

By Jonas Røstad, Miros

Moving to an “as-a-service” (aaS) subscription is the way of the future for operators who want to make sure their offshore sensor technology is always up to date.

We are an industry that’s heavily reliant on data as a key driver of efficient, effective and safe ways of working. In most scenarios, we need that data to be precise and accurate, up to the minute—preferably in real time—and reliable enough to give us complete confidence to respond to what’s put before us.

For most operators, how those data are collected isn’t particularly important; it’s all about the quality of the data, and operators will invest heavily in ensuring that what they buy is the best that is available on the market at that time.

But in an industry where we have experienced unprecedented speed of development and innovation in new technology in recent years, what is best on the market today will already be outdated by what is on the market tomorrow.

For example, Miros’ most recent advancement is WaveFusion, a high-quality sensor that reliably measures directional and non-directional waves at multiple locations around a wind turbine without compromising accuracy.

Innovative as it is though, it is just a sensor, and however good it is today it will be superseded by what we develop tomorrow. So increasingly, innovation cannot just be in the product; it must be in the business model that supports it.

To keep up with advances in technology to ensure that it will always be current and up to date, operators are increasingly seeing the merit of subscribing to an aaS solution rather than simply purchasing hardware outright. That gives them the assurance that the best technology is always available to them, not just at purchase but for as long as they need it.

On paper, investing in hardware that will repay itself within a few years seems to make sound economic sense. Subscribing to a service will work out more costly over that same time period, and you won’t own the hardware at the end of it.

But in that same timescale, the hardware you invested in and now own will quickly no longer be the most up to date on the market. Advances in technology will continue to develop hardware, including sensor hardware, that is faster, smarter and with capabilities for delivering data that will be beyond what we might even imagine today. And if your hardware is not on track with that, you risk being left at the station when the train leaves.

While the hardware you own might function capably for decades, is working with today’s technology in 10, 15 or 20 years as sound a business proposition as having ongoing access to technology continually being developed and updated over the entire life span of a project?

There are other advantages to aaS over purchase. Traditionally on a typical hardware purchase, you take over responsibility for operating and maintaining the equipment, and monitoring data quality once the warranty comes to an end. If a problem arises or an upgrade is needed, for example to ensure compatibility with other, newer systems, you will have to maintain a staff team to fix it or contact someone to do that for you.