Maintenance as a Competitive Advantage
Cloud enterprise asset management (EAM) software helps teams achieve better maintenance and customer service outcomes. Organizations have told IDC that adopting a formal, modern EAM system helped them achieve the following metrics:
- 15–20% improvement in workforce productivity
- 20–30% reduction in spare part inventory stock
- Efficiency gains of 5-10 percentage points in equipment and mechanical system performance
Maintenance is a competitive advantage when organizations shift the focus from just minimizing overhead to effectively delivering customer, employee, and operational value.
Assets are on the front line, serving customers and constituents, making products, and helping teams do their jobs. Manufacturers need assets and equipment to perform at their best to meet commitments to partners and customers, building trust and long-term relationships. Utilities depend on their assets to provide reliable, consistent “always on” service. In healthcare, properly maintaining equipment has a direct impact on patient outcomes. Organizations in all industries face pressure to deliver more personalized and on-demand experiences. Well-maintained assets are crucial to realizing positive customer experiences.
Businesses, institutions, and agencies are investing resources into digitally transforming their maintenance operations as extending asset lifecycles becomes a higher strategic priority. Cloud software provides the agility, resiliency, and scalability that organizations need to gain greater data visibility and shift IT responsibilities so they can focus on maintenance strategy. IDC’s 2019 SaaSPath Surveyshows that more than two-thirds of on-premises EAM application users plan to move to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model within the next three years. Several key issues propelling EAM forward to the cloud are:
- Data-driven decisions. Organizations risk losing competitive advantage to those that have better data, accessible information, and clear reports to make business decisions.
- Legacy systems. Enterprises still using legacy systems, spreadsheets, and clipboards for critical EAM functions are missing out on productivity, transparency, and insights.
- Complexity. As the assets themselves and the systems around them become increasingly complex, it will be harder to manage assets without some level of technology-enabled automation and intelligence.
- Convergence. The level of collaboration and the merging of asset management and field service management (FSM) have been picking up momentum due to the increased complexity of assets and the importance of ensuring these assets sustain high levels of performance.