SiteAlert™ is a monitoring and analytics solution that collects vast amounts of data from multiple business locations, and sifts through it automatically to detect emerging problems long before they cause a crisis and lead to massive losses. SiteAlert protects perishable inventory highly sensitive to changes in temperature, humidity, and lighting, by monitoring mission-critical equipment such as commercial refrigerators and HVAC systems, and detecting conditions that are precursors to equipment problems.
According to Michael Leppitsch, CEO at Gridata, “We’re seeing great traction in cloud-based tools that put critical information into the hands of managers in real-time, enabling better, proactive decision-making. With the overall business intelligence software market expected to reach $10.5 billion this year, we see tremendous opportunity for our targeted solutions, and are optimistic about SiteAlert’s potential.”
The thresholds within which most commercial equipment must operate are tight. Every day presents risks that threaten business continuity. SiteAlert not only looks for crossing of thresholds and boundaries, but also mines past data to compare current performance against typical values. As soon as key indicators are reached and possible problems are detected, the system creates invaluable alerts, so managers can avert millions of dollars of losses, missed revenue, and lost customers.
SiteAlert is being piloted by regional grocery chain, New Leaf Community Markets located in the greater Bay Area of California — a regional specialty grocery chain focused on organic and natural foods, offering fresh organic fruits, vegetables, meat and seafood, frozen foods and pre-made meals. The diversity of store locations and configurations serve as the perfect testing ground for monitoring temperatures, energy usage, and other important measures. The data streams are automatically watched by software to detect threshold conditions, identify precursor conditions to equipment failures, and trigger alerts for facilities managers and equipment service contract providers.
According to Scott Roseman, Founder and Co-owner of New Leaf Community Markets, “Inventory in our stores at risk to equipment and service interruptions is worth millions. Our approach to managing risk to perishable inventory and the health of our community follows industry best practice, given the technology that has been available so far. Gridata’s next-generation technology promises to raise the quality of our offering, reduce costs and losses, and prevent costly crises through proactive activity.”
The SiteAlert system includes temperature sensors, energy sensors, and refrigeration monitoring devices to assemble a comprehensive operational picture of the store equipment in real time. The information is available to operations managers, giving them the ability to set alerts and review historical data. In the background the system performs statistical analyses to identify potential problems with the equipment, enabling preventive inspection and maintenance before the stores experience a crisis.
