5 Reasons Enterprises Need to Invest in EAM Software

Successful enterprises are powered by highly motivated and productive employees. These employees are typically spread across several office locations, working on a diverse set of duties. To help them succeed, you need to ensure they have access to the necessary tools, equipment, and software. This ranges from basic office necessities such as ergonomic furniture and workstations to IT equipment such as laptops equipped with licensed software.  

These items cumulatively make up your company’s physical assets. If you aren’t making sure that they’re accessible to employees throughout the day, you are not setting them up for success. 

Missing or faulty equipment means employees will waste time trying to arrange equipment. The result – expensive delays in projects.  For example, if urgent documents are needed and the printer breaks down at the last minute, your manager won’t be able to meet his deadline. This will have a trickle down effect on other functions. 

Eliminate these disruptions with enterprise asset management.

What is Enterprise Asset Management?

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) covers the processes and policies that govern how a company’s physical assets are managed. Transparency across the complete asset lifecycle, from procurement to retirement, helps companies track location, availability, demand, cost of ownership, and maintenance requirements.

Asset lifecycles are often extremely long and complex. Also, a wide variety of people interact with the assets as they transition from one phase of the lifecycle to another.  

Here’s a breakdown of some of the processes a standard projector at your office will go through:

1. A procurement order for 50 projectors is placed.
2. The shipment is received and stored in the inventory.
3. An employee checks out a single projector for a meeting.
4. The projector is checked back into storage after use. 
5. Every six months, a technician inspects the lens to make sure it’s functioning properly.
6. Seven years after procurement, the projector completes its 2000 hours and the bulb dies out. 
7. The projector is retired.

The higher the number of processes, the more the chances of  equipment getting lost. 

But this can be avoided. By documenting all of these activities and ensuring all employees update equipment logs, you can know the exact location of an item at all times. Extensive auditing also means that you’ll be able to streamline maintenance. Result — you optimize asset use by increasing their lifetime and ensuring top functionality. 

What is EAM software and how does it help?

Companies are rapidly transitioning to automation to boost productivity and increase profits. Corporations are investing in the latest software to enhance productivity, transparency, and security.

Enterprise Asset Management software (EAM software) enables companies to digitize their asset management. By migrating their entire asset database to one platform, they make real-time data accessible to every employee.

The software also logs all asset-related activities, such as checkouts, reservations, services, or disposals. It is designed specifically to tackle asset management challenges common to enterprises. 

Here’s how this helps:

1. Know asset availability and location at all times

With equipment changing hands often, keeping track of  individual assets can be cumbersome. Items may be moving across buildings and could get lost in transit. Or employees might forget to return the equipment after using it.

If you aren’t logging asset checkouts, you won’t be able to identify who was responsible for a missing item. This negligence oftens ends up costing companies in lost, damaged, or stolen assets. 

With EAM software, every interaction with an asset is recorded in the system. Employees update the database as they use an item or service it. These audit trails make it easy to track asset availability and location so employees can plan tasks accordingly. Also, reserve assets in advance or consult the availability calendar to make sure a particular item is available when required. 

2. Streamline and personalize maintenance

Every asset has unique maintenance requirements. It’s challenging to standardize maintenance when you are managing thousands of assets. They all typically require unique services and inspections.

Furthermore, if you aren’t tracking maintenance, you won’t be able to set up predictive maintenance. This can result in sudden equipment breakdowns which could’ve been avoided with timely maintenance and inspections.

EAM software enables companies to create personalized maintenance schedules for each item. You can customize service plans, repeat them, and monitor progress for each individual item. Companies are able to implement predictive maintenance that extends equipment lifetime and prevents sudden breakdowns.

3. Analyze reports and key metrics

Enterprises are dealing with an avalanche of data and don’t always know how to utilize it fully. Traditional asset management practices might allow you to record all your checkouts and services, but they don’t provide data analysis that could help companies improve forecasting and cost optimization. If you’re tracking equipment usage but aren’t able to track equipment demand, you need to automate your EAM.

EAM software provides you actionable and insightful KPIs. These will simplify tracking by providing a quick overview of your entire asset landscape. Learn which equipment is due for service and which equipment is overdue in a matter of seconds.

Moreover, EAM software uses your asset data to run critical reports such as asset utilization and asset costs. You’ll also be able to single out popular items so you can stock them adequately. If there are additional data points that you’d like to track, you can also create custom reports on various modules for personalized insights.

4. Gaining compliance and security

A major concern with maintaining data clusters is the need for tighter security. As more and more people interact with your asset information, it becomes susceptible to privacy breaches.

Handling critical sets of data and ensuring authorized use isn’t easy, especially for enterprises that have a multitude of teams. Digital solutions can simplify data protection. 

EAM software provides access control so only authorized personnel can access critical asset data. You can also restrict departments to particular sets of data relevant to their department. 

In addition to this, data transparency ensures regulatory compliance. Track your maintenance logs and any critical documents like warranties. Protect yourself from  non-compliance which can result in penalties or worse, a tarnished reputation.

5. Track assets on the go

Employees often work remotely and may require access to asset data. It is hard to pull up data logs when you’re away from your workstation. But it doesn’t have to be! 

Track all of your equipment from anywhere and at any time with EAM software. These solutions typically come with a mobile app that lets you access your asset information remotely. It enables employees to track their assets on the go with mobile apps. They can access real-time information at any time, from anywhere, making it easy to verify information.

EAM software mobile apps also double-up as handheld scanners so you can run quick label scans for your items to generate its information.

Invest in EAM software today to secure your tomorrow

Digitization is quickly transforming companies in all industries. It is strengthening their workflows by making them more reliable and efficient. In the changing climate, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve. Deploy EAM software to streamline operations  and watch employee productivity

EZOfficeInventory’s EAM solution enables enterprises to manage their entire inventory and its maintenance. Businesses all over the globe trust EZOfficeInventory to increase asset availability and minimize the total cost of ownership. In addition to this, you can manage items by groups, locations, users, and vendors. Sign up for your free 15-day trial, no credit card required!