by Peter Kimmel — August 21, 2013—In a July 2013 survey of 116 maintenance professionals by Software Advice, a software consulting firm, companies with computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) experienced much higher degrees of satisfaction than those without such systems.
Two-thirds of the respondents used “on-premises” software as opposed to cloud-based software, but it is expected that more and more users will migrate to cloud-based software, as has been the trend in other industries.
Half of the respondents have maintenance software that supports mobile devices. Interestingly, on a scale of 1 to 10, those with mobile device support gave an average score of 8.5 when asked how their software fit their needs, while those with only desktop support gave an average score of 5.4 (10.0 is the best score).
Most satisfaction (either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied”) came from preventive maintenance and work order management (nearly 80% of respondents). Close behind were asset management, inspections management and service requesting. Reporting and labor management also scored well.
Interestingly, the least satisfied respondents for preventive maintenance features were those that had custom software developed, with more than 60% either “dissatisfied” or “somewhat dissatisfied.” On the other hand, over 80% of the CMMS users said they were either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied.”
Respondents were polled on their satisfaction with their product’s and supplier’s attributes. Companies and their products were graded strongest on product stability/quality, ease of use and customer support. Lowest scores were for product enhancements, help and documentation, and training. These can become great differentiators when one is looking not only for CMMS software solutions, but most other software in the FM sector.
The three top benefits to CMMS systems, according to the survey, were recurring maintenance scheduling, work order assignment and work order request management. Reduced maintenance and repair costs also scored well. Interestingly, the lowest benefit of the 14 identified through the survey was that of reduced energy consumption, even though improved PM should lead to reduced and more efficient run-time of equipment.
CMMS systems scored much better than custom systems when it came to most of these benefits, especially repair costs, asset longevity and reduced asset downtime.
At the conclusion of the survey, respondents were asked to share their top priorities for 2013. Software Advice reported the 2013 goals revolving around three themes:
- Improve inventory tracking and organization in order to transition from corrective to preventive maintenance.
- Reduce asset downtime and increase overall reliability to bring down total costs.
- Better utilize mobile technology to improve worker communication and effectiveness.
The 116 respondents worked in a variety of industries. About one-third came from companies with over 500 employees, and another one-third in companies with 100-499 employees. Half were maintenance managers, and one-quarter were facilities managers.
The detailed survey results may be found on the Software Advice Web site.
Software Advice provides detailed reviews, comparisons and research to help organizations choose the right software. The company’s team of software analysts provides free telephone consultations to help each software buyer identify systems that best fit their needs. Software Advice is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
