Alias launches AI-driven software platform

A screenshot of the Piko platform. Photo: Alias

Italy-based rental technology firm Alias has launched Piko, an AI-driven software platform designed to manage documents related to equipment.

The web-based platform utilises AI to automate reading, classification and management of documents such as operating manuals, insurances and certificates of conformity.

The company, which gave IRN an exclusive preview of the platform, said it could potentially save thousands of hours of work, enabling companies to improve productivity and efficiency by providing immediate access to documents.

Alias added that it can improve accuracy of work by reducing errors and eliminating manual uploading and folder creation.

QR codes can also be generated and placed on each machine and tool, which, when scanned, will display all documents.

Private documents such as insurance details can also be accessed by verified users via a log-in on the Piko website.

Piko, which is currently available in eight languages and is available as a as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription model, is described by the company as an “agnostic platform from a language point of view”  that is capable of reading documents in any language. 

Alias CEO Gian Luca Benci said, “There are a lot of tools around AI, and this is a concrete application of AI for the rental industry. 

“It’s capable of doing the work that people in the fleet office are doing daily by reading documents and associating them to the right equipment.” 

Francesco Marini, project manager, added, “It has been estimated that it takes around 30 minutes read and classify documents for one single machine. Imagine you are a rental company and you have a fleet of 20,000 machines. It means you have years of work if you are one person doing that. 

“When I, as a rental company, rent out a machine, I am obliged to give my customer documentation, and this is very difficult to do in the practical world as those papers get lost or can get damaged.”

Jörg Bachmann, who joined the company last year as head of global marketing and sales, said the platform can also support documents unique to the company.