2022 has been an exciting and busy year at vHive. vHive has grown this year, and we’ve expanded our organization (and moved to bigger offices) to continue to meet the highest standards of customer service and product development that our client base expects.
vHive has attended tower and technology conferences all over the world this year, and we have seen trends in the Tower industry shift from our front row seats as service providers. We’ve added major new features and functionalities to the vHive platform as customers push forward on digitization and scale use of digital twin technology throughout the organization. As we look ahead to 2023, we reflect on some of the things we’ve learned and the things we’ve accomplished in 2022.
Major Trends in the Tower Industry
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Change is the Only Constant
In some regions of the world, M & A activity has been extraordinary this year. In others, M & A has slowed and the effects of major carve outs are now becoming felt. In either case, tower companies have learned that they must stay flexible, and find new ways to improve operations. With the 5G rollout well under way and the entire technology ecosystem evolving rapidly, companies know that they can’t stay still. Tower Cos. are looking for solutions that can offer new revenue opportunities, ways to improve relationships with existing customers, and operational efficiencies.
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Digitization, and Digital Twins
At every conference we’ve attended digitization, and digital twins have been important themes. Forward-looking tower companies and providers are thinking well beyond drone data and inspections and are introducing digital twin technology throughout the organization. Digital twin platforms can offer a single source of truth and a deep understanding of field assets that can be used in departments lead by management and including engineering, operations, maintenance, sales, and quality. Digital twins combined with AI-based analysis can identify new revenue opportunities and optimize the use of existing assets.
As the wrap up of Tower Xchange Europe pointed out:
“Digitization is ever more important as asset complexity and data volumes increase… In the 5G era and beyond, towers are moving from housing 2-3 MNO tenants to having potentially north of 10 tenants per tower…It is not possible to manage such assets, systems and data volumes with scanned documents and legacy engineering or asset management data. We need to move from analogue to digital ways of working…” ATC Asia Pacific says the number one takeaway from the most recent Tower Xchange Asia was “The push towards ‘Digitalization’ by G20 countries will provide a big boost to the tower and digital infrastructure industry globally.”
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Innovation and Future-Proofing
“There is a revolution underway in the mobile industry, and the ecosystem around TowerCos is changing,” says Tower Xchange. To stay successful, tower companies have to keep up with those changes. Whether it’s adoption of new technology or the ability to look ahead to new revenue opportunities and shifts in the business, innovation is the only way for tower cos to grow at this stage of the industry.
TowerCos are increasingly concerned with the need to “future-proof” the business: preparing for changes in revenue models as technology evolves. The need to identify new revenue streams, new ways of using existing physical assets, and new customers is at the forefront of business plans for the next few years.
The vHive Platform: New Features and New Capabilities in 2022
We’re always developing new tools for our customers, and this year we’ve delivered more than ever before. Here are some of the highlights:
- More capabilities: We’ve added more tools to the vHive platform this year, giving our customers more value from their digitization journey. The vHive Simulation Environment allow customers to run “what if” scenarios; the addition of ground-based data allows site walk-throughs, and a portfolio aggregation tool allows for top-down views of an entire business.
- More Insights: vHive’s offers many new business insights to add value throughout the organization. The vHive platform allows customers to sort and understand their assets based on an industry-leading number of criteria, so that customers can get accurate business information and immediately identify changes or new opportunities.
- Support of additional drones. vHive uses commercial, off the shelf drones for autonomous drone data collection. vHive supports numerous types of drones to expand your data acquisition options, providing the same level of autonomous user experience.
These are just some of the tools we’ve added this year – contact us for a demonstration to see the vHive platform in action! As we look forward to 2023, we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished and grateful to the many customers, and partners who have worked with us. We’re committed to delivering even more value in the coming months – and we’re excited to see what the next year brings.