How About A Little One To One For Your Toaster? Enter Device Relationship Management (DRM) by Jo Bennett

Just when you thought the alphabet soup of CRM terms couldn't possibly get any thicker, along comes a new flavor to add to the broth: Device Relationship Management. Coined by eMation Ltd. (recently acquired by PA-based Ravisent Technologies, a computer software and services company), DRM allows manufacturers to treat different equipment differently. Yep, you read it right: one to one for your equipment. By teaming up with eMation and its DRM technology, Ravisent hopes to get a leg up on its major competitors, which include ATI Technologies, National Semiconductor, and Zoran.

DRM relies on Intelligent software (200K to 1 megabyte in size), installed into the control system of any type of networked equipment, to capture information about the machine's performance. It then sends the data via the Internet to the manufacturer's database. The manufacturer can then monitor the status of its customers' machines through "customer portals," via Web browsers.

Remote monitoring, diagnostics, and repairs are all part of DRM. Imagine being able to diagnose your customers' equipment problems remotely -- even before they occur -- without sending expensive field technicians to the site; or having a real-time window into how customers actually use their equipment. Auto replenishment is yet another capability. A large supplier of medical equipment, for example, can now predict weeks in advance when a customer's vacuum pump will need to be replaced. In the past, replacing the pumps involved emergency service visits, at a minimum cost of $500. Using DRM, it's now a planned event, which results in marked cost savings.

Craig Resnick, a senior analyst at the consulting firm ARC, sees other solutions providers following in eMation's footsteps. "You could predict exactly when home appliances like washers and dryers and refrigerators really need to be serviced," he envisions. Imagine DRM in conjunction with the new and improved Web3D capabilities that we explored in the June 25th issue of INSIDE 1to1. We saw how a properly deployed Web3D application could help companies streamline supply-chains, or provide sales and repair personnel with the right product or information at just the right moment. The result: Getting the customer what she wants, how she wants it, and when she wants it.

With such capabilities, and the advent of DRM, your toaster's life may never be the same.