Scrapping Your Legacy CMMS For a New One? Think Again

Lately, I've seen a lot of talk going around legacy CMMS being inadequate and holding back the ability of asset owners and facilities management companies to?take on the future of building operations and maintenance.

If you’re still using one, you may have come?across all this pressure to upgrade to a new, modern CMMS software. But I don't think it's really worth it.

In this article, I intended to present a more lateral viewpoint on how the CMMS strategy may be successfully implemented. I will discuss CMMS, CAFM, and other ERPs, as well as the whole software stack used by Facility Management companies and O&M teams. To be clear, I’m using these terms interchangeably in the context of facilities management and the O&M function.

I believe that there's nothing wrong with your legacy CMMS. If you're looking to switch from legacy CMMS to new-age CMMS software, keep in mind that it almost never justifies the increased cost,?training, and implementation challenges.

So before you make the move, here’s what you need to?know to help you make the right decision.

Taking the example of FSI, IBM Maximo, JD Edwards, Ramco, and a few others that have been used in the Middle East, and some other CMMS that have been employed in India as well.

• These are regarded as excellent relational databases. Their purpose is to store data about maintenance operations and other critical information related to your organization's maintenance responsibilities.
• It's not appropriate to abruptly change it and rearrange everything because it's not an end-all and be-all solution.
• Modern CMMS vendors blame legacy CMMS for poor workforce efficiency. But your team’s old maintenance ‘habits’ can diminish even the impact of a new CMMS. CMMS can automate and manage a host of maintenance functions, but what it can’t do is change your maintenance culture.?? ? ? ? ? ?
• A ‘better’ CMMS will not improve asset performance. Unfortunately, there is no explanation on how a ‘better’ CMMS will reduce downtime, improve asset performance, or result in lower maintenance costs – outside of implementing the CMMS. In the end, It depends more on maintenance strategy than the software itself.
• Given the substantial risks and investments involved, these are not the easiest decisions to make. Also, if you are not involved in multi-year contracts with huge profit margins, it becomes even more difficult to make such changes.?

Another factor to think about before making a decision is what you want to achieve with your tech stack. Then consider whether you can truly change everything in terms of your CMMS. If your company lacks a stable CMMS, you have some serious thinking to do. However, you can learn from the mistakes that others have made along the way.

Through numerous interactions with progressive FM leaders around the world, I've concluded that simply upgrading to a better CMMS will not fix the problem. It's a situation in which you don't just have to think outside the box - rather, throw the entire box away.

Four key areas you need to consider before getting a new CMMS

1. The interface is the first thing that needs to be taken into consideration, which means how the blue-collar workforce or the operations and maintenance engineers are able to input data into the system. The interface should be accessible through any device, not just the PDA that you hand over. It should also be convenient and simple to use. Finally, it should not appear to be more effort for your workforce. Today's interface requires such specifics, and it is possible to give such an interface if you do not want a particularly big interface.
2. The second most important factor is data quality, and how can you ensure that the consistency of the data that is being entered is of the best possible quality? We've all heard the phrase "garbage in, garbage out" while we were in our early school days and taking our computer classes. And the same thing is happening with CMMS data. Another aspect to think about is the economic impact, which I will explore later in this article.
3. When attempting to solve for data quality, one of the most significant considerations is that it should not cause any inconvenience or additional work for the O&M team. This is critical since adding an extra step of work for them invites behavioural and management change, which is usually tough to manage.
4. Data democratization and democracy are broad concepts, but how do they relate to interface? How can data from your CMMS or CAFM be distributed to all relevant teams on demand? It is simple to understand, use, and integrate with various work processes. Again, this does not have to occur on the same software or platform. Another part of data democratization is determining how to go beyond scale inquiries. If you require a report or something specific, you must contact the CAFM management team. The concern is about the time versus the cost.

If you can think these through, you'll be in a much better position to determine whether you need to change your CMMS or your strategy around it. If you've been using IBM Maximo, FSI, JD Edwards, Aramco, or any of the legacy CMMS, you'll see that they're all upgrading their stack, including forward and backward integrations. The need to modify them all at once must be carefully considered.

Combining legacy CMMS with new innovative products and technology is the way forward

1. Five-six digit cost savings

You can save thousands of dollars on data quality exercises required to clear and clean your data every 4 to 5 years. Many companies that have used these technologies implement data consistency or a data quality exercise. To clear and clean the data, several data engineers, teams, and subject matter experts are involved. Eventually, it's a hefty expenditure that, more often than not, leads nowhere.

2. Automated QA/QC Process

You will be able to have an automated QA/QC process. It can be directly delivered to your end customers to solve the transparency issue. You may demonstrate how your PPM duties were completed, the level of quality that was maintained, and the cost that was avoided. However, the QA/QC procedure is currently quite manual, depending on the level of QA/QC that you have. It is a disadvantage to not have a QA/QC process. But if you have one, you already know what kind of workforce you need to put in place.

3. Productivity Improvements

Productivity improvement is crucial. You can achieve a 50% improvement in productivity by avoiding unnecessary changes to your current system. For this, you must consider how Operations and Maintenance teams interact with data or information throughout the asset life cycle. All of this will help in cost reduction, and margins will improve as a result.

4. Using tech you've always wanted to (but aren't)

The best part is that you will have the ability to use technology that you have always wanted to use, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and so on. That is not possible with the existing data. The reason is that data may not be present in the correct format or in the finest quality, and no technology will assist you if you are unable to clean it up. And it’s only possible if you don’t empty your pockets on a ‘new and better’ CMMS.

If you are an FM leader or a service provider, I would love to hear from you. How do you assist your customers in thinking beyond the CMMS landscape? Are you planning to take on the dinosaurs or have you already made the necessary investments??

Having the right conversations and knowing what your O&M team needs will put you in the right position to recognize what your organization needs. Changing your CMMS won’t solve the problem but looking beyond it and bringing in a new solution to pair with your CMMS definitely will.

At Xempla - Decision Support System for Enterprise Asset Management, we take value addition very seriously and our core values have helped us build a product that's now helping companies create a massive difference across FM, Asset Operations, and Maintenance.

Ping me on LinkedIn to start the conversation (transformation) or Visit the website to know more.

That's it for this article. Stay tuned for more!

If you found this article helpful, join 1.9k+ forward thinkers and doers who have subscribed to the Forever Forward Newsletter, and get notified of more such insights and strategic intelligence. Break free from the status quo and help shape a future that's more inclusive and sustainable for everyone in facilities management, operations, and maintenance.