Why now is the time to get maintenance and asset management software

Maintenance and asset management software is a great way to streamline business processes. You can use it to track everything from work orders to inventory and maintenance metrics. It’s also a good way for maintenance teams to overcome external challenges, such as recession or supply chain disruptions. In this blog, we’ll look at some of those challenges and explain why now is the time to get maintenance and asset management software.

Six reasons the time is right for asset management software

Manage aging infrastructure

Maintenance management software is useful for organizing, tracking, and optimizing increasingly complex systems in one place. But it’s also critical for taking care of some of the oldest assets and pieces of infrastructure, which are simpler technologically, but require greater and greater attention each year they’re in use.

Infrastructure—especially in asset-intensive industries like energy and manufacturing—is aging, and it is not always realistic to update. This means that more and more organizations need to figure out how to work with what they’ve got, and these organizations are increasingly looking to their maintenance departments for solutions.

This is where asset management software comes in. There are three key ways organizations can leverage a maintenance management solution to extend the lifecycle of aging assets:

1. The software helps organize and schedule maintenance. Maintenance gets more complicated as assets age, so keeping track of it is essential. Rather than having to deal with Excel sheets and Outlook calendars, your CMMS is a go-to source for an asset’s history.
2. It can act as a repository for manuals, schematics, and directions. As infrastructure ages, the likelihood of misplacing important documentation grows, so putting that info into a CMMS helps save valuable minutes when something goes down.
3. It can help you spot trends. If you make the same repair every other day, there may be a deeper problem. Maybe that asset has reached the end of its operational life, or the technician needs a quick training update. Either way, the asset management software gives you the oversight to see these issues before they evolve into a bigger problem.

Decrease downtime costs

The average cost of downtime is $9,000 per minute, according to a study by Gartner. For smaller businesses that number drops, but productivity demands continue to increase dramatically, with the cost of downtime increasing in tandem.

Maintenance is the biggest defense against these costs. Asset management software helps establish a preventive maintenance schedule and helps technicians stick to their scheduled PMs. This helps avoid unscheduled downtime and any loss of productivity.

Get better oversight with maintenance apps

A maintenance management app you can carry in the field is no longer optional. It lets you find and manage parts in an organized way, enter meter readings on the go, get access to instructions and manuals, and (most importantly) submit work requests and close work orders remotely. It also lets you:

• React faster when something goes down. An app sends notifications to the technician so they can start a repair ASAP (with all the necessary information at their fingertips).
• Spend less time logging work. Data entry isn’t your full-time job, and a maintenance management app enables you to update work orders as you go rather than dash back to a computer terminal to log work at the end of the day.
• Keep track of everything. Small tweaks and adjustments that your team does on the fly add up in the long run, both in terms of time and money. An app helps you get a clearer picture of all maintenance done in your facility.

Cut costs long-term during a recession

The current recession is the largest since the 1930s, and companies are focused on cost reduction to survive. Maintenance and asset management software can help them do this by giving them visibility into their assets and helping them keep track of maintenance costs. But to truly help your maintenance team, you not only need the software, but you also need to learn how to budget and forecast effectively for a recession.

Plan ahead of supply chain challenges

Supply chain challenges are expected, with many companies needing help to meet customer demands while staying within budget constraints. One example is when you need replacement parts for machines that perform critical functions in your plant or warehouse but don’t know where or who has them on hand. The software lets you have all this data and information available quickly to avoid delays.

Another example might be when there’s an unexpected spike in demand for a product that no one expected would sell so quickly. If you don’t have enough inventory already stored away somewhere (or worse yet: if it hasn’t been ordered yet), then things could get messy fast. This is another reason why having maintenance and asset management software is important.

Manage security risks

Security is a concern for many organizations, and the risks are increasing. Any software can always be hacked, resulting in equipment failure and even causing downtime. Maintenance and asset management software help mitigate these risks by adding security features. Most cloud software can cope with external threats better than on-prem software.

There are many reasons why it is a good time to get maintenance and asset management software

In addition to saving money on your business expenses, you can also reduce the risks of running an enterprise. By managing all aspects of your operations in one place, it will be easier for everyone involved to see how everything works together as one unit.