Introduction

In an era where the need for non-destructive testing (NDT) and inspection services is steadily growing, and qualified inspectors are in high demand and short supply, industrial inspection companies are turning to technology solutions to become more efficient and effective with existing resources. This paper looks at the factors driving NDT organizations to adopt digitalization, discusses some of the characteristics of digital solutions that lead to better outcomes, and finally shares an in-depth look at our answer, Floodlight Software.

Factors driving interest in Digitalization

Operational inefficiencies – marked by manual data entry, lost or misplaced data, fragmented communication channels, and an inability to track jobs in real-time – lead to increased costs, project delays, and decreased customer satisfaction. Many NDT companies find themselves in a constant battle with these issues, resulting in decreased profitability and customer turnover. This situation forces continued financial pressure and difficulty making necessary process improvements in the business. Managing inspections using a digital platform provides an opportunity to break out of this vicious cycle and start making the slow, steady improvements that will ultimately transform your business.

Some NDT organizations have started using digital testing tools and/or automated inspection data capture to become more competitive and provide more value to their customers. Managing digital inspection output with manual processes can be cumbersome and error-prone, so these organizations are turning to digital workflow tools to better manage these digital datasets.

Finally, some organizations simply recognize that their operations could be improved by a digital software platform that manages their end-to-end inspection workflows. Streamlining processes and reducing administrative overhead will not only reduce the costs and imperfections of existing business processes, but also open the door for additional opportunities to grow their business.

Digital Solution Characteristics

There are many options available to NDT organizations looking to digitally transform their business. For some, simply creating digital reports is the top priority, and for others, using a digital workflow and capturing operational metrics is key. When looking at various options, there are some basic solution characteristics that, based on your own priorities, can help find the right solution for your business.

• Cloud versus On-Premises: Products that are Software as a Service (SaaS) or Cloud-based, run on an external cloud architecture and are accessed through the Internet, generally via a web browser. The advantage of Cloud-based products is that you do not have to have your own servers installed in your environment with an IT person or staff to secure them and operate them. The SaaS provider manages all of that, which is generally more efficient and cost-effective, relieving you of needing to own the IT support. The opposite of SaaS is an On-Premises solution. An On-Premises solution is installed in your environment, typically on a Server, and your end-users will login through your local network. The advantage of an On-Premises solution is that there are no external components and you are in complete control of the software, the data, and access to it. The disadvantage of an On-Premises solution is that you are responsible for building and supporting the IT infrastructure required for the product, including its security and access-control. This can be overwhelming for organizations like NDT Service Organizations that generally do not have a large IT staff or the infrastructure in place to handle On-Premises applications.
• Point Solutions versus End-to-End Platforms: Software products that are described as “Point Solutions” focus on solving one very specific problem without considering the context where it is being used. An NDT service organization might have one point solution for managing schedules of technicians, another point solution for generating professional reports, and yet another point solution for building quotes. The challenge with point solutions is figuring out how to make them work together. Sometimes the solutions can be automatically integrated, but sometimes integration is difficult or not possible. End-to-end platforms, on the other hand, look to solve a specific workflow from start to finish and are designed to have most of the functionality needed to manage that entire workflow. If an organization already has a good end-to-end platform or process and just needs to enhance one part of it, getting a specific point solution is a good strategy, particularly one that can be integrated into their existing end-to-end process. For organizations that want a cohesive process and can adopt all or most of the components in an end-to-end platform, that is usually the best choice.
• Buy versus Build: When looking at software platforms and products, you may sometimes consider the alternative of building your own software versus buying an existing product. This might be the right option if none of the available products meets your most pressing requirements and you have the software development acumen and resources to do the work. Oftentimes, we (even software developers) greatly underestimate the amount of time and effort it takes to build a software product. And, when estimating the cost of building, it is important to take into account the ongoing maintenance and support costs in addition to the initial build. Overall, it will almost certainly cost more and take more time to build a solution than buy one. So, buying is going to be the better route to take unless you have the software development expertise, you don’t have a sense of timeline urgency, and you really want full control of the end-product’s features and capabilities.
• Specific versus General: If you have chosen to look for an existing end-to-end platform, you will find that there are still many options to choose from. Some of these options will be general workflow platforms that can “do everything”, while others seem to be very specific to an industry or process. Deciding the best option for you will come down to how close each product matches your specific needs and how much flexibility you want. The more general the platform is, the more work you need to do to get it to work the way you want. The more specific the platform is, the more limited your ability is to go outside the product’s standard behaviors. The right choice is usually the most specific platform you can find that matches as closely as possible to your own desired end-to-end workflow. And, if you need additional functionality, you can look at point solutions that can be integrated in.

Based on all these considerations, we believe that Floodlight Software is the best digitalization fit for most NDT Service companies. Floodlight is a cloud-based, end-to-end workflow platform that is specific to testing and inspection processes. The rest of this paper takes a deeper dive into how Floodlight works and describes some of the platform’s major features and capabilities.

Floodlight Software Highlight

Many NDT companies struggle with reducing administrative overhead to become more efficient and competitive, and to effectively take on new business. When opportunities arise, you want to be able to confidently acquire new contracts and deliver exceptional value to your customers without needing to hire additional resources or increase the error-prone administrative headaches that naturally go along with services growth. Floodlight Software has been designed to address these challenges to encourage better, more, and safer inspections across the entire industrial inspections industry. Read on to learn more about this innovative software platform and how you can up your game within a few short months.

Running on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Floodlight is a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) platform built specifically for managing NDT and other industrial inspection work. You purchase Floodlight on an annual subscription and access your system via a web browser or Floodlight’s mobile app. All the IT infrastructure required to host and run the product is managed by the software experts at Floodlight, so that you do not need to purchase or manage any additional IT hardware.

What you receive is a dedicated instance of Floodlight with digital workflow to track your inspection jobs from quote to cash, and easily accessible modules to organize data about your customers, your technicians, your equipment, your billing rates, and your organization. As a Floodlight user, you will gain visibility into job metrics such as labor hours, job costs and profitability.