Cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) can deliver the
high level of functionality required to improve performance
in both proactive and reactive maintenance activity, yet
doesn’t involve large, up-front licencing costs or massive
internal IT overheads. Karen Conneely, marketing manager
for Real Asset Management outlines the benefits

With the continued economic
travails affecting virtually every
sector, like many other
organisations, industrial plants are under
increasing pressure to maximise asset value.

Yet many are struggling to drive forward
improvements. Most are still reliant on
highly inefficient, paper-based processes or
at best, spreadsheets for information. With
no immediate or accurate insight into the
cost of maintenance, stock expenditure or
stock availability, asset
performance history or
trends in repairs, it is
impossible to establish more
efficient asset maintenance
processes. Without trusted,
accurate asset information,
how can any organisation
determine whether or not
asset life can be extended
without compromising
reliability and performance?
As a result, plants are actually incurring
more costs, through needing additional
personnel to record the information required
to meet health and safety and compliance
regulations. If companies are to respond to
the demands to maximise asset value, it is
essential to evolve beyond the realms of basic
maintenance solutions and processes.

New model
Of course, many have been looking to
embrace robust asset maintenance solutions
but have been constrained by the lack of
capital budget available. Not only have
budgets been slashed, but the time and red
tape associated with getting a new software
solution onto a network can be
disheartening. The reality today is that many
organisations simply cannot justify the
expenditure in new hardware, networking
infrastructure or IT expertise to implement
or upgrade a maintenance management
solution.

As a result, the growing availability of
cloud-based maintenance management
systems is compelling. The model can
provide low cost access to highly functional
software that can transform performance
and ensure that today’s mobile workforces
have full and real time access to asset
maintenance information.

Opting for a SaaS solution removes all IT
overheads, driving down costs while
delivering secure data storage and back up,
as well as automated software upgrades to
ensure the business always has access to the
latest functionality.

Asset insight
Cloud-based software as a service can be
deployed quickly and reliably, with minimal
investment, consequently providing
organisations with rapid access to the critical
asset information required to improve
performance in both proactive and reactive
maintenance activity. The web based model
transforms accessibility – from providing
mobile field engineers with real time access
to check asset history, request parts and
update maintenance activity. This anytime,
anywhere access, via tablet, phone or laptop
device is critical to improve the timeliness
and accuracy of asset information and
resource utilisation.

With detailed information about asset
history, stock utilisation and asset
performance, organisations can use in
depth analysis and reporting to determine
new maintenance strategies. Day-to-day
performance can be measured via
dashboards, enabling proactive
intervention to address problems and
minimise the risk of productivitydamaging
downtime.

Combining day-to-day performance
management with on-going strategic
analysis, industrial plants can now transform
the efficiency of maintenance work, improve
planning, stock and resource utilisation and
gain a return on investment typically within
12 months.

Conclusion
By removing the capex barrier, the cloud
model enables maintenance teams to make a
long overdue investment in technology.

Rapid, low cost access to fully functional
asset maintenance software will provide
organisations of every size with the asset
visibility required to transform performance.

Having access to in-depth, real time asset
history, performance, stock availability and
costs, maintenance departments can begin to
evolve and to embrace the proactive
maintenance strategies required to extend
asset life.