Woman engineer working with her tablet and machinery.

The Connected Worker: The New Standard in Industrial Maintenance

In today’s fast-moving, asset-intensive industries, maintenance and reliability teams face increasing pressure to improve productivity, reduce downtime, and maintain safety—all while managing labour shortages, aging infrastructure, and tightening regulations. Against this backdrop, the Connected Worker model has emerged as a transformative solution.

What is a Connected Worker and Why Is It Essential to Optimizing Workflow?

A Connected Worker is a frontline employee empowered with digital technology—such as smartphones, tablets, wearables, and IoT-enabled tools—that connect them to real-time data, systems, procedures, and their colleagues. This connection enables them to make smarter decisions more quickly by reducing manual processes, communication delays between departments, and safety and compliance risks due to a lack of documentation that traditional paper-based or siloed systems can cause, resulting in workers operating without clear, up-to-date information. These out-of-date systems and procedures no longer meet the demands of modern industrial environments.

By having access to the right information at the right time through standardized processes, a Connected Worker can complete tasks more safely, accurately, and efficiently, unlocking valuable operational insights from the field for decreased unplanned downtime, which means a smooth, uninterrupted workflow. MAINTelligence can help.

MAINTelligence: Enabling the Connected Worker

At DMSI, we’ve built MAINTelligence to support the Connected Worker model by delivering digital tools that unify inspections, condition monitoring, work order management, and predictive analytics—all in one system. 

We Offer Mobile Tools for Field Efficiency

  • WorkMT: A mobile work order application that allows technicians to review, complete, cancel, and document tasks from the field. Includes support for photo/video attachments, offline use, and syncs seamlessly with MAINTelligence.
  • InspectMT: Our advanced inspection app streamlines route-based inspections with seamless integration of documentation and images, barcode and NFC scanning, instant work order creation, and real-time issue reporting.

Real-Time Visibility and Integration For Optimizing Workflow

  • MAINTelligence connects field-collected data with backend systems like SAP or other ERPs, enabling seamless information flow between teams and systems.
  • Supervisors and engineers can monitor field activity through centralized dashboards and performance reports.

Predictive Insights and Proactive Maintenance

  • All data collected by Connected Workers feeds into a centralized system for trend analysis, condition assessment, and decision-making, helping teams with proactive maintenance before failures and unplanned downtime happen.

How You Can Benefit from a Connected Workforce MAINTelligence Experience

Real-Time Information Access
Frontline workers can view work orders, safety procedures, and asset data directly from mobile devices, even if they are temporarily offline. This results in reduced downtimes as well, with earlier fault detection and mobile-first issue resolution.

Improved Safety and Compliance
Digital checklists, automated alerts, and standardized workflows ensure tasks are completed safely and according to regulatory standards with faster response times and greater accountability in the field.

Increased Productivity
Digitized work instructions and mobile access through consistent procedures and digital records for high visibility into asset health reduce administrative burdens and eliminate guesswork in the field. 

Stronger, Seamless Knowledge Transfer
Photos, videos, and notes captured in real-time ensure file accuracy and accelerate the onboarding of new employees with easier training tools, as well as increase employee and knowledge retention through mobile-enabled workflows and standardized processes.

Data-Driven Decisions
Real-time operational oversight empowers employees with predictive maintenance strategies and solutions to minimize downtime and improve workflow across teams, sites, and shifts.

The Connected Worker is more than a trend—it’s a critical step in the evolution of industrial maintenance. By giving technicians the right tools and access to real-time data, organizations can increase productivity, extend asset life, and build safer, smarter operations for a healthier bottom line overall.

MAINTelligence is the foundation of that transformation.

Ready to connect your workforce? Book a demo with us or contact us at in**@******nt.com to learn more about services.