Keeping track of machinery and equipment remotely is getting a lot easier and cheaper. You don't even need to be able to plug everything in. Technologies such as GSM phones and Bluetooth connections that started out as devices for the mass market are making an impact in industry.

With prices dropping, almost any company can afford to track where assets are and what they're doing, replacing manual checks and the checks there was never time for. Making the most of that kind of real-time information can change the way a business works significantly.

Harlequins Rugby Club has a new information system - developed by Brulines and Box Telematics - which monitors everything from whether the beer behind the bar is at the right temperature to whether the cigarette machine needs refilling.

In one afternoon, the pub sells more beer than the average pub in four months, but there will be few customers until the next match day so keeping the beer in good condition is tricky. The developers chose Orange's GSM network for sending data because it's easier to set up the system quickly and move equipment around.

Water companies are also planning to use GSM modems to send information back from pumps at mountain reservoirs. Because the modems switch on and send data only once a week, the battery will last a few years.

Not only is remote monitoring cheap enough for smaller companies, but they don't need to be a mobile expert. Orange's M2M Connect telemetry platform simplifies things by providing an application program interface that checks and communicates with the modem.

It doesn't cost a lot to add GPS to a GSM module - around £50 per unit rather than £35 - and that means you can find out where something is as well as how it is performing. This is ideal for mobile assets. Train builder Bombardier Transportation is planning to include combined GPS GSM modules in carriages to make it easier to keep track of which carriage is where when it needs servicing.

Norwich Union is using GPS and GSM to track where cars go and how fast they're driven in its pilot Pay As You Drive project, again using the Orange network. Instead of an average premium based on their home post code, drivers can pay an individual premium based on how they drive and where they go.

GSM isn't the solution in every case, or, at least, not all of it. If the equipment you want to monitor is close enough, you can use Bluetooth, If you have a number of devices to monitor, they can share one GSM connection using Bluetooth without setting up a wireless network. Using Wi-Fi means every device has to have a network stack and an IP address. TDK's Bluetooth modules look just like a serial connection so they are simple to set up for equipment that already has a diagnostic output.

Instead of an ambulance crew relaying information about a patient and then transferring the records from equipment such as defibrillators, the information from all the equipment in the ambulance can be sent straight to the doctors as a fax or SMS, so staff are up to speed when the patient arrives.

Bluetooth is also useful for industrial locations where it is not safe to use a mobile phone, such as monitoring the pressure valves on gas pipes. Normally, engineers have to check the valves by hand: adding a Bluetooth module to the valve monitor is safe and it also means the engineer knows if there is a problem before he opens the door.

More prosaically, Bluetooth lets you cut the cost of remote monitoring because you only need one connection for all the equipment in one location and you can bundle the information up and make a single data call to send it back for analysis. Many games arcades share an ADSL line via Bluetooth among all the machines in the arcade: it is easy to upgrade them, track which games are the most profitable and move less popular machines next to them to encourage people waiting in the queue for big sellers to try them.

While it is now cost effective to monitor equipment, it is what you do with the information that is going to make a difference to your business.

Adding remote GSM monitoring to air conditioning units lets Mitsubishi find out how much heat the units have to deal with and how they perform over time. They could sell the information to service companies to help them with maintenance before the customers notice there's a problem, or offer customers advice on reducing electricity costs by pointing out where the units are having to deal with an unexpected amount of heat.

Remote monitoring can solve an immediate problem but really taking advantage of it means thinking simultaneously in real time and in the long term.