Our vision is to give people freedom to connect and thrive in a taller, faster, and a smarter world.

= Sebi Joseph

President, Otis India

Could you throw some light on the demand scenario for elevators and escalators and future outlook?

I believe a good portion of our demand stems from macro trends such as urbanization and digitalization.  Otis is well-positioned for sustained, long-term growth in an industry with strong fundamentals, backed by these macro trends.

When looking at urbanization specifically, I see it as continuing to be a key growth driver for the vertical transportation industry over the years.

The number of tall buildings and the height of structures has kept increasing. As urbanization continues, the need for housing grows and commercial space grows. Growth must be sustainable and the demand for technology that can aid such growth is influencing developments in the elevator and escalator industry.

What has been the impact of Covid and how Otis India is dealing with it?

The Covid pandemic is evolving constantly, so it is premature to comment on how things may change. First of all, there is nothing more important than the safety of our employees and the riding public. That said, we're delivering innovative solutions to help our customers and are seeing increased requests for touchless elevator access and sanitization procedures. In general, people are experiencing a lot of behavioural changes as part of Covid including Work From Home, focus on social distancing and hygiene. Which changes become 'normal' is still to be determined. 

How have you geared up to address these 'new normal'? 

Otis is helping customers around the world prepare for the safe reopening and continued maintenance of their buildings. Touchless technologies are especially attractive options in this current environment. One example of touchless technology is the Otis eCall™ app.

The app enables passengers to use their cell phone as their personal elevator call button and call an eCall-equipped elevator when approaching it. This helps minimize use of public access elevator buttons. The eCall app also gives building managers the flexibility to provide easy access for passengers. This will offer passengers a more seamless experience within their respective buildings.

In addition to our touchless technology offerings, we also offer elevator and escalator purification products and services for customers. Some examples of these include:

Elevator Purification fans: Elevators can be retrofitted with a fan technology that can inactivate microorganisms and filter dust within the cab. The fan integrates an ion generator and ultraviolet lamp to kill germs and filter dust within the cab.

Handrail Sanitizers: Fitted on handrails the module is designed to remove germs using ultraviolet light.

How the emphasis on embracing digitalization and technologies expected to propel the industry forward?

At Otis we were already amid a digital transformation. From my perspective, touchless technologies are especially attractive options in this current environment. One example of our touchless technology is the Bluetooth enabled Otis eCall™ app. Beyond eCall, Otis offers its CompassPlus® destination dispatching system. This can be used to replace standard two-directional call buttons and enables passengers to enter their specific floor in the Compass fixture. The system assigns passengers traveling to nearby floors to the same car. This minimizes the number of stops per trip, reduces car crowding and decreases travel times. CompassPlus can help limit the number of passengers assigned to each elevator, allowing for automatic operation to pre-defined floors.

The industry is also looking at remote maintenance. Remote service can improve elevator uptime by recommending proactive maintenance.  By keeping customers' elevators running, the possibility of overcrowding in elevators due to limited availability is reduced supporting social distancing efforts. Further, it can help reduce the number of visitors in a building by reducing the number of in-person service calls.

Could you throw some light on the next generation technology?

Our next generation methodology is more than just a new technology or single piece of equipment - it represents a commitment by the entire Otis team to help the world become taller, faster and smarter. Our efforts ultimately align with the outlook of the Smart Cities initiative.

To expand on the concept of speed, our engineers are working to develop the next generation of elevators. This new generation will strengthen connections between the manufacturing, installation, and service segments of our product lifecycles.

Further, we are transforming our service business on a global level to incorporate smarter, more connected technology that delivers proactive, quick and effective diagnostics and repair. The transformation is an investment in digital tools, mobility solutions, IoT-based technologies and operational excellence to enhance customer experience and accelerate business productivity.

We have built a powerful digital ecosystem that allows us to manage maintenance history, account details and other data in real time, so when customers ask about a support issue, we can confidently provide solutions that are transparent and accurate up to the minute.

For our field professionals, this information is tied to smartphone apps. Most Otis field professionals now use smart phones loaded with a suite of custom apps to help them perform their job more efficiently. These digital tools help employees to diagnosis and fix issues faster than before.

Regarding sensors and data, we are harnessing the power of data analytics, machine learning
and cloud computing to help predict and possible issues and prescribe service. With this we can analyze trends on our hundreds of thousands of connected elevators to create advanced algorithms that can predict performance trends.

What about the trends in remote monitoring and predictive analytics?

With remote monitoring and predictive analytics, we can concentrate resources on the elevators that most need attention. In the old days, we would send a field professional out to check an elevator for routine, scheduled maintenance. This meant we were checking a number of elevators that didn't necessarily require servicing. Now, instead of our customers having to call us about an equipment issue, we're able alert them before they're even aware of any potential problem.

Finally, our vision is to give people freedom to connect and thrive in a taller, faster, smarter world. We work towards this vision in every facet of our business and it steeped in our culture and values. We move two billion people a day and maintain more than two million customer units worldwide, the industry's largest maintenance portfolio. I am excited to be working at a company surrounded by a passionate community that is helping to move the world.

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