Integration is a word that strikes fear in many information technology (IT) organizations. There is no question that integrating systems has created major havoc within enterprises, and gluing together disparate mission-critical business systems from multiple vendors that were never designed to work together is definitely a cause for IT concern.
For many organizations, the solution has been to avoid integrations altogether by selecting a single vendor's complete suite of enterprise applications. Although the intent is not to disparage enterprise applications, the reality is that while they offer application breadth, they may not offer sufficient application depth (depending on your specific needs). The result is a compromise in application functionality in order to satisfy the needs of the broadest number of users.
However, in asset-intensive organizations, this compromise may have dire consequences. All too often, the maintenance department is forgotten and left to use whatever functionality comes along with the rest of the enterprise suite and usually has little input into the selection process. This often results in resistance by the maintenance staff and ineffective use of the enterprise suite. In some situations, the maintenance department may even revert to using inefficient paper-based systems. Thus, these asset-intensive organizations should not ignore the needs of the maintenance department—especially when they're the ones responsible for maintaining the assets that produce the revenue stream.
Fortunately, technology has finally caught up with the needs of the enterprise, and integration is now becoming a business enabler instead of an obstruction. For asset-intensive organizations, this means that a functionally robust best-of-breed enterprise asset management (EAM) system can play a viable and strategic role within the maintenance department by helping to streamline critical business processes. It also means that IT departments do not have to spend 50 percent of their budget supporting complex application integrations, finance gets the information they need, and management has complete visibility across the enterprise.
For many organizations, the solution has been to avoid integrations altogether by selecting a single vendor's complete suite of enterprise applications. Although the intent is not to disparage enterprise applications, the reality is that while they offer application breadth, they may not offer sufficient application depth (depending on your specific needs). The result is a compromise in application functionality in order to satisfy the needs of the broadest number of users.
However, in asset-intensive organizations, this compromise may have dire consequences. All too often, the maintenance department is forgotten and left to use whatever functionality comes along with the rest of the enterprise suite and usually has little input into the selection process. This often results in resistance by the maintenance staff and ineffective use of the enterprise suite. In some situations, the maintenance department may even revert to using inefficient paper-based systems. Thus, these asset-intensive organizations should not ignore the needs of the maintenance department—especially when they're the ones responsible for maintaining the assets that produce the revenue stream.
Fortunately, technology has finally caught up with the needs of the enterprise, and integration is now becoming a business enabler instead of an obstruction. For asset-intensive organizations, this means that a functionally robust best-of-breed enterprise asset management (EAM) system can play a viable and strategic role within the maintenance department by helping to streamline critical business processes. It also means that IT departments do not have to spend 50 percent of their budget supporting complex application integrations, finance gets the information they need, and management has complete visibility across the enterprise.
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