CES 2019: ELHOM® Solution on the ENGIE & Partners booth

How and why was the ELHOM® Solution developed?

Since the creation of Dexip in 2006 we’ve offered asset information management. We are neither software vendors nor high tech hardware builders: we sell services. In 2012 we developed a collaborative interface that allows people to exchange data between those in the field and the back office. The launch of ELHOM® Solution also coincided with the advent of new digital tools such as tablets and smartphones. For us, ELHOM® Solution is one of the components of a global data management offering.

For example, let’s take the case of Storengy: we have helped them achieve the digital transformation of their field teams by equipping 400 people with tablets they can use to access the technical information they need on a daily basis with the 'ELHOM® Solution apps. Storengy no longer handles their internal data management; instead they delegate this service to us and we maintain the data in SAAS mode and host it in the Cloud.

The ELHOM® Solution apps incorporate technology that is compatible with Android, Windows, and Apple environments. Additionally, with the help of partners such as TFTLabs, we have chosen to become interoperable with all of our clients' 2D/3D /GIS data sources in a way that is totally independent of the major CAD software, meaning it doesn’t require a license. It is an element of differentiation that will undoubtedly make a major difference in our ability to persuade clients that our solution is the right one.

How do you currently collect data?

When the operator is in the field, they should have to gather as little data as possible: photos, responses, comments... All this information, when updated in real time, is the essential source of data for the back office of Ineo Dexip to process and update the data repositories: equipment lists, technical plans, 3D models, cartographic representations, etc. 

In your project, will the emergence of connected objects change way you work?

For now, the appearance of connected objects doesn’t change our project. Instead, we’ve identified it as an opportunity:

• to offer more interactions between on-site physical element and their digital duplicates in ELHOM® Solution, using this additional data source.
• to expand the logic of being a connected operator by integrating artificial intelligence in ways that will help field operators in their daily activities gestures or on more sensitive operations. In this case, connected objects will be able to "feed" this AI with dynamic information related to the equipment, (vibrations, pressure, temperature ...).

What does it mean for you to participate in CES?

INEO DEXIP has reached a real level of maturity over the last 18 months: our solution has been produced at an industrial level, the team of 30 people has managed to efficiently manage data and are now, through the ENGIE Group, able to respond to requests from energy operators everywhere in the world and even outside the Group.

Participating in CES next January will provide us several opportunities:

• to come into contact with various cultures and evaluate the relevance, creativity and time to market of our solutions in relation to American or Asian markets.
• allow us to collect opinions and comments from all kinds of visitors from a wide variety of backgrounds.
• to establish or renew contacts: we have already started prospecting in the American market and the CES is an opportunity to reactivate contacts and show them how the solution has changed.

What will you show?

We will be on the booth with the interfaces that people use on a daily basis, with a demonstration based on concrete use cases: tramway, energy storage, industry, etc. We want to demonstrate that our system can be used in many different types of situations.

We will also present a flight case on wheels equipped with a large screen that is designed to centralize and share documents and technical data. It is a user-friendly, collaborative tool for annotating, disseminating and transmitting information, a business interface that facilitates management with specific actions, and supports decision-making and project management in the field.

What would the ideal meeting be for you at CES?

The ideal meeting would be with an operator in the field of energy, urban networks, oil wells or a natural gas carrier based in North America to whom we could demonstrate the relevance of a European technology on their use cases.

It could be meeting a company like Kinder Morgan, a big natural gas carrier, the US equivalent of GRT Gaz, for example.