Enterprise asset management (EAM) software enables businesses across multiple industries to acquire, manage, and analyze physical assets. Using a holistic approach helps optimize management strategies by tracking the lifecycle of all company-owned assets. The goal of EAM software is to control and measure asset performance, maintenance costs, and usage across the company. This software type is most beneficial to companies from asset-intensive industries such as manufacturing, construction, energy, and utilities. The primary users of EAM software are maintenance teams who leverage the software to identify issues and perform inspections or repairs.
Enterprise asset management tools have similar functionality to products in the computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) category. In addition to preventative maintenance and inventory scheduling, work order management, and asset tracking, EAM software offers a more robust, analytical system for managing assets. It includes lifecycle planning tools, workflow analysis, multiple predictive maintenance methods, and advanced metrics to determine an asset’s future state and continued reliability.
All asset activity and financial information tracked by enterprise asset management solutions needs to be transferred to ERP systems and accounting software, so integrating with these systems is critical. The best EAM software also needs to integrate with other types of software for maintenance such as facility management software, fleet management software, and aviation MRO software. Manufacturers also benefit from integration with industrial IoT software, which allows them to monitor assets across geographical locations.
To qualify for inclusion in the Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) category, a product must:
- Include maintenance methods such as preventive and corrective
- Manage maintenance for complex assets such as plants or linear assets
- Monitor assets through their lifecycle, from acquisition to disposition
- Provide customizable workflows for inspections and maintenance operations
- Track the inventory of assets and spare parts across multiple locations
- Manage the procurement of assets, parts, tools, and consumables
- Define and monitor asset performance key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Include depreciation methods such as straight line and accelerated
- Track all costs associated with fixed assets and their maintenance
