Innova Zones
Unifying Disparate Data for Effective Asset Management

Asset management requires regressive planning and implementation. Organizations need to leverage effective asset management solutions to develop, operate, maintain, upgrade, and dispose of assets. To gain visibility into how assets are managed, companies utilize valuable resources and complex technologies to segregate relevant asset-related data. However, the information gathering process has been a manual, laborious, and a costly affair. Innova Zones—a company headquartered in Irving, Texas— takes center stage to tackle these challenges for companies across various industries, and offers sophisticated Human Interface Platforms that allow organizations to electronically gather and sort data to gain visibility of their assets. In discussion with CIO Applications, Brian Barker, the CEO of Innova Zones, shares insights about their mission to revolutionize complex industry processes for asset and data management through simplified, intuitive technology. He further elaborates on how the Human Interface Platforms effectively manage their clients’ business assets and their vision for the company’s future.

Please give us a brief overview of the Innova Zones

We are a cloud-based, SAAS company. Our solutions allow quick and easy gathering of data that guarantees good data in and results in good data out. Through the use of our Human Interface Platforms, our client’s data extraction processes are standardized and streamlined, thus eliminating paper processes. We provide application-based front-end solutions that allow our customers to electronically gather and sort data in real-time to gain much-needed visibility into their assets, compliance, and other critical aspects of their business. More than 30 of our Human Interface Platforms provide features and capabilities that best fit a client’s business needs. We are committed to building products that are simple and easy to use. From the front end to the back end, our solutions can be mastered by anyone capable of handling a smartphone or tablet. That has been and will continue to be our approach to developing software.

In your interactions with CIOs of leading companies, what sense do you get of the challenges they face now in the enterprise asset management (EAM) space, and how is InnovaZones effectively addressing these issues?

One of the means to access EAM information is from an ERP solution, which requires that the two systems be integrated to eliminate redundant functions and data. However, the challenge that many of our customers face is that they are still utilizing legacy ERP systems that are complicated and in some situations, simply out-dated. Innova Zones provides our clients with the ability to take advantage of our innovative offerings, while still utilizing their current legacy systems. Through our cloud-based Human Interface Platforms and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) engine, we can provide customers the ability to apply app-based solutions and continue utilizing their legacy system to implement and monitor their EAM systems.

We also eliminate the laborious process of data-entry into ERP systems. This manual data entry process opens up opportunities for keying errors. We simply make our customer’s current ERP systems BETTER.

Please shed some light on your Human Interface Platforms and how it benefits your clients?

We have more than 30 unique Human Interface Platforms that cater to a variety of industries such as food processing, manufacturing, oil/gas, service companies, and many other market verticals. All of our platforms make clients’ jobs more efficient by not only eliminating the manual data gathering processes, but also helping with sorting the data to provide greater visibility into the assets that were being mismanaged before our involvement.

Many of the industries that we support have workforces that speak different languages. Our Human Interface Platforms are picture based and provide a solution that bridges the language gap as well. Each platform empowers our clients with capabilities such as application-based reporting, tracking transactions to the employee level, monitoring equipment vs. budget spends, identifying packaging waste, and tracking training and compliance.

Innovation is at the core of our culture at Innova Zones. We have developed key programs such as our Yard Management Program and our Foreign Materials Program— focused on our food-processing organizations. Our Yard Management Program combines capabilities from our platforms to assist clients in tracking inbound and outbound trucks and trailers from their facilities and monitor inventory as well. Historically, clients used paper logs that manually track inventory and all truck data, and physically processing the mounds of paperwork was an error filled, manual and a very time consuming process. Our Yard Management Program integrates the features of our Truck Zone and Trailer Zone Interface Platforms to digitally track data such as the trailer number, truck temperature, date and time of all arrivals, and B.O.L. image. Everything our clients need to know is easily accessible at any time, and they also receive email alerts on all inbound and outbound trailers automatically. Our Foreign Materials Program is providing our food processing customers a real solution to protecting the food supply. It integrates features from our Human Interface Platform to track potentially hazardous items down to the employee level, thus adding another level of scrutiny to our clients’ assets. We also incorporate UHF RFID technology to quickly and easily log potential hazardous items going onto the floor and balancing these same items upon exit. Our Foreign Materials Program and Yard Management Program are examples of how our Innova Zones team listens to our customers and innovates programs to help our customers protect their brands.

Another feature our Human Interface Platforms offer is visibility into a firm’s spend dynamics. We accomplish this without slowing their current processes. By connecting every employee to all items that are issued out of a storeroom, we provide management the ability to monitor every transaction in real-time. Our dynamic customer portal provides an organization’s management teams access into expenditures down to the employee level. Within three clicks of a button, bar charts, and pie charts provide a clear picture of opportunities to better manage employee’s behaviors. They have seen up to a 30 percent reduction in usage and spend within days of utilizing the Innova Zones solution.

What does the future hold for your organization? Any footprint expansion plans or platform enhancement strategies that you can shed light upon?

We are continually adding to our line of Human Interface Platforms. Each new Human Interface Platform that is created provides our customers with more control of their business. We will continue to listen to our customers and pay attention to processes that can be improved through technology. Our recent partnership with Aramark—the prominent customer service business across food, facilities, and uniforms— will allow us to diversify the industries we serve and get our software into the hands of an enterprise sales force. We are extremely excited about this expanded partnership and look forward to the growth it will bring to Innova Zones and the value these programs will bring to the Aramark customer base.