Oct 20, 2021
Reduce the Total Cost of Site Ownership: Start Monitoring Today
Managing dispensers across networks of retail fueling locations can be challenging. In addition, retailers typically don’t know when a dispenser isn’t operating correctly until a customer tells them, which is too late.
Approximately 39 million Americans fill up their gas tanks every day at fuel dispensers, and many have experienced the following scenario:
The customer pulls up to a fuel dispenser and there’s a problem. Maybe the fuel site isn’t on or it won’t take your payment. Maybe the flow of gas is really slow or maybe, you can get through the entire process of pumping your gas but can’t get a printed receipt and need to go get one from the gas attendant. In the vast majority of cases, gas station site operators don’t know there’s a problem until a customer tells them or complains.
Start monitoring your sites today and reduce total cost of ownership
Did you know approximately 90% of out-of-action fuel dispensers are reported by the customer? Without a remote monitoring system in place, it’s the customer who is informing the store operator of problems with their fuel dispensers the majority of the time. To makes matters worse, equipment problems can cause negative customer experiences that can affect both short- and long-term sales due to the customers reluctance to come back to the fueling site the next time they need to fill up.
Needless to say, staying on top of issues that prevent critical equipment from operating at its best and resolving issues before they cause an impact is of critical importance to all site owners. Without proactive monitoring and real-time alerts on the health of each dispenser, service to customers can be interrupted, leading to customer dissatisfaction. Disruption to normal forecourt operations can be easily resolved or avoided through a remote management and site optimization solution that gives you the information you need to make your site more efficient and more cost-effective.
DX Monitor, one of the core solutions comprising the DFS DX™ connected solutions platform, can help increase the availability and uptime of critical equipment at your sites, provide meaningful and relevant device data, reduce expenses and increase efficiency while supporting a more positive customer experience through remote monitoring and management.
We’ve gathered a few tips to help you navigate remote monitoring and management technology.
Identify and mitigate equipment problems
MONITOR FROM A DASHBOARD
No matter how many sites you’re monitoring, with DX Monitor®, the dashboard view is your core status hub and where you oversee everything. You’ll be able to quickly and easily understand how many sites need attention, what alerts have been occurring, and what recent actions have been taken.
REPORT ALERTS
DX Monitor® can be configured to report a number of alerts either via email or SMS. These alerts allow for timely awareness and responses to issues that can impact equipment performance or availability, or otherwise create a negative customer experience for those affected. Examples of alerts supported include: printer and paper issues, low flow rate, bad card reads, dispenser offline, secure payment module battery low, door breach and security issues.
QUICKLY RESTORE EQUIPMENT
Timely understanding and clear communication of specific issues with identified equipment can speed response times by store operators or designated maintenance personnel, restoring equipment to optimal performance and supporting the fueling experience your customers deserve.
Manage and maintain equipment remotely while lowering operational costs
REMOTELY FACILITATE TROUBLESHOOTING
DX Monitor® enables site operators or maintenance personnel to be made aware of issues via alerts in the application or sent notifications via SMS/email. DX Monitor® can help facilitate troubleshooting and analysis without maintenance personnel being physically present at the site. In addition to alerts, personnel can securely retrieve data logs, view the dispenser screen, initiate a reboot and inventory equipment.
REMOTELY RETRIEVE DISPENSER LOGS
Provides the ability to remotely retrieve and evaluate the log file of a dispenser, which allows technicians to retrieve logs from the dispenser, terminal, and Edge devices for easier troubleshooting
VIEW DISPENSER SCREEN
Additional context can be provided via the ability to remotely view what is being displayed on the dispenser screen to the end-user as this can indicate certain error messages or make visible certain behavior that is otherwise not easily communicated.
REMOTE REBOOT
In many cases, rebooting the dispenser can clear error conditions and return it to a normal operating state. Rebooting can also be a key part of troubleshooting to return the dispenser to a known good state prior to focused investigation.
REMOTE INVENTORY
DX Monitor® can be used to report on your inventory of dispensers and their components as well as those components that are designated as PCI assets. This reporting capability not only provides an accurate inventory of assets, but also provides other key information such as deployed software versions and device serial numbers.
REDUCE SITE MAINTENANCE VISITS
DX Monitor® provides the ability to receive timely condition-based alerts, remotely manage and troubleshoot issues, and initiate upgrades that contribute to lower overall operational costs. With typical costs for site visits by service personnel ranging between $250 and $500 per visit on average, any site visit avoided produces direct benefit to the site’s bottom line.
REMOTE UPGRADES
The ability to deploy software upgrades remotely has proven to be a tremendous benefit to DX Monitor® customers with well-established parameters for savings over the need for personnel to physically attend sites. With DX Monitor®, software can be deployed to individual dispensers, all dispensers at a site or all dispensers at multiple sites. The customer is able to schedule these deployments in a way that suits their site and schedule. This can include immediate ad-hoc site visits or scheduled for periods that will minimize disruption to site operations, such as early morning hours or on weekends.
WELL-MAINTAINED EQUIPMENT
In addition to minimizing service visits, well-maintained equipment can cost less to operate. Addressing these issues proactively while they’re still minor or small instead of waiting can minimize larger, more expensive and higher impact problems that could potentially shorten the life of your equipment.
REDUCED NUMBER OF URGENT VISITS
Proactive monitoring and remote management can reduce the number of urgent (and higher cost) visits through remote access to dispenser logs as well as clearing errors through reboot. Remote access to accurate information can lead to increased first time fix rate as well as reduced service visits overall.
Proactive monitoring and remote management can help you maximize the efficiency of your forecourt by identifying and responding to issues while minimizing the time, resources, and expense associated with maintaining your equipment.
Utilizing the ability to remotely update dispenser software and firmware, DX Monitor® reduces maintenance costs and maximizes fuel dispenser uptime. Having visibility over the health of each forecourt in your enterprise enables you to proactively prioritize maintenance activities and focus on sites that need immediate or near-term attention. By providing access to insights on each dispenser and fueling point, DX Monitor® can help make your fueling station more efficient, more cost effective, and ultimately deliver a reliable, frictionless experience to your customers.
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