Employing the right Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution is imperative for gaining and maintaining competitive advantage… but beware – not all EAM software is created equal. When choosing an EAM solution, businesses should seek software that creates opportunities to bolster asset performance for effective and efficient maintenance.
“The right EAM solution will offer an organisation real benefits, such as improving efficiencies, reducing energy usage, and timeously identifying problem areas before they cause any real business disruption,” explains Paul Bouchier, Sales Director at iOCO within iOCO Software Distribution, a Gold Infor Partner. “It is important to ensure that the EAM software to be implemented is successful in optimising maintenance.”
When selecting EAM software, Bouchier recommends assessing whether the solution meets some vital criteria. The first thing to ask is whether the solution offers crucial key features. Some of these include: built-in protective features and notifications; advanced but easily manageable scheduling capabilities; checklists; access to the software through the contractor’s own portal; flexibility and scalability; an integrative platform that allows common workflow through a single interface; and effective native, platform-agnostic mobile capabilities.
“While these key features are very important, answering yes to all of these questions does not necessarily mean that it is the right EAM solution for your business. This is just the first step. The next consideration would be to establish whether the solution comes with hefty added costs. These hidden costs can sometimes arise in areas such as change orders and developmental frameworks – quickly transforming what seems to be an affordable solution into a costly burden,” continues Bouchier. “For increased profitability and success, it is pivotal that the EAM software is cost effective while effectively optimising maintenance performance.”
The next important question to ask is whether the solution offers best-in-class capabilities. This would mean that it effectively offers: support for reliability-centered maintenance; energy optimisation; checklist functionality; scheduling; an innovative contractor portal; and strong facilities management tools.
“The final consideration in separating advanced EAM from less-effective software would be to ask some fundamental questions regarding the solution and its providers. These questions include asking whether the software has received any recognition from analyst and industry experts. Is the software cloud based and, if so, through what platforms can it be accessed? Does the solution have the necessary support with continual investments in development?” concludes Bouchier.
When it comes to choosing the right EAM solutions it is imperative that the latter criteria are successfully met. With advanced EAM software, organisations are offered a higher level of functionality, ease of access, stability, and competitive advantage.
Issued by Perfect Word Consulting (Pty) Ltd
For more information, contact perfectword2@trinitas.co.za
