Easy and Affordable Remote Maintenance Management For Small Businesses

Negosentro| Easy and Affordable Remote Maintenance Management For Small Businesses |Small business owners are very important to our economy.  They face the same maintenance struggles as mid-size to large corporations.  The only exceptions are limited budgets and resources.  With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses have an even bigger challenge to face in trying to manage their maintenance operations remotely. In the early stages, maintenance management was done with pencil and paper or spreadsheets.  Today, some smaller organizations are still using this technique, but with the pandemic, they are forced to look for other alternatives.   With the introduction of the Internet and the growth of technology, Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) software has been increasingly adopted as the maintenance-management solution for companies of all sizes, representing a wide range of industry, service, and corporate sectors. In the beginning, a CMMS was primarily used by large corporations.  But today’s CMMSs are now affordable, scalable, and can even save businesses time and money by automating daily maintenance tasks.

What is a CMMS?

Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) is software, also known as Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software empowers businesses with the tools to organize and manage their maintenance operations and company assets.

What Can CMMS Do For Small Businesses?

Every maintenance department has some type of system to manage their maintenance operations.  Some small organizations use spreadsheets, a paper calendar, or little slips of paper to manage their work orders and maintain their assets.  This may have worked fine in the past, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and now businesses were forced to operate remotely.  Then the struggle began on how to get work orders to technicians, respond to service requests and manage assets while practicing social distancing?  These are just some of the issues that businesses are facing.  Wouldn’t it nice to at least have your maintenance operations under control so that you can concentrate on other business issues? CMMS software has made a lot of progress since the beginning of time.  All companies, from the small business owner to the large business enterprise, can benefit from maintenance management software.  With the extensive list of features to choose from, small businesses now have options to help them effectively manage their maintenance operations without breaking the bank.

Facing Today’s Remote Working Challenges

No matter what location an employee works from, maintenance still needs to be done on equipment, buildings, and assets.  Everyone has the same concerns while doing their job, to effectively keep equipment running at peak performance, trying to keep the environment sanitized, clean and safe for their employees, and minimize the spread of viruses.  COVID-19 has put a bigger burden on business owners today, working remotely.  With this new way of working, businesses have new responsibilities and concerns.  How do they keep everything organized, manage resources, maintain their assets/equipment, get real-time status on maintenance  tasks, all while trying to keep their businesses operating as smoothly as possible. A CMMS gives technicians the ability to manage and access all of their information from a computer, smartphone or mobile device.  Technicians can receive and send all the information they need about a work order in real time. They can edit tasks, upload photos, send additional work orders and see the current orders, no matter where they are located. With social distancing technicians are able to use their CMMS on the go to access their work orders immediately and no longer have to go to a physical location to get information, check inventory, access asset/equipment history or manage their work orders.  The communications between the maintenance department and managers is greatly improved with access and management of real-time information. For customers that are on lockdown and can’t get to their job site, now is a great time to get started in implementing a CMMS.  Not all CMMS providers offer the same features and functions, but eWorkOrders for over 25 years has always done setup and training for new customers remotely via web conference.  Once a customer is ready, setup can be done within a day.  We manage all of the IT, hosting, security, backups for the system, and the software is updated automatically, so you’re always using the latest and most secure version.  No software to install, no hardware to purchase, access your CMMS anytime, anywhere.  Upgrades & tech support are included.   You need to check your vendor, CMMS vendors differ in how they package and sell their features, functionality and implementation.

Features of CMMS Software 

A CMMS brings businesses of all sizes the tools to help them manage their maintenance operations more efficiently.   Below is a list of some of the features within a CMMS, along with a description, to give you a better understating when considering a CMMS.  Vendor features and pricing will differ. Don’t be overwhelmed.  Your CMMS vendor will work with you in choosing the right solution for your business.

• Service Request Interface:  Customers can enter and initiate service requests and monitor the progress of their requests as workers complete repairs. This interface helps teams communicate with requesters as well as automates progress updates as work and repairs are being completed.
• Work Orders:  A work order is a request for maintenance, repair or operations work that needs to be completed.
• Asset/Equipment Management:  CMMS Asset Management centralizes all the information and resources to track company assets.  Such as equipment, purchase information, pricing information, warranty, location and serial numbers.  
• Preventive Maintenance:  CMMS software gives you the ability to define, monitor and assign scheduled preventive maintenance on equipment that is still working.  This will reduce costs and downtime, due to unexpected equipment failures.
• Predictive Maintenance:  This is a condition-based maintenance program where assets are monitored with sensor devices that supply the data about the asset’s state.
• Spare Parts Inventory and Stock Room Management:  The CMMS Inventory/Stock Room Management feature provides more efficient management of parts inventory and control of inventory expenses.
• Meter Readings:  CMMS software lets you track all your meter readings, eliminating the need of mechanics wandering from station to station with spreadsheets, etc.
• Dashboards and Key Performance Indicators:  Dashboards provides you with a quick and easy way to view all of your systems.  Incorporate KPI (key performance indicators) data into your dashboard and get a quick graphical view of important KPI information.
• Reporting:  Reporting tools give you the power to assemble the data you have been collecting within your CMMS and transform it into reports that are meaningful to you and others in your organization.
• Mobile Accessibility:  Provides access to the CMMS platform through a computer, Smartphone or tablet.

Enterprise Features for Large Enterprise Businesses

• Application Programming Interface (API):  An API is an interface that allows unrelated software programs to communicate with one another. They act as bridges between two applications, allowing data to flow regardless of how each application was originally designed.
• GIS Mapping:  Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, which can be used to track assets and work orders. This is beneficial when you have to manage a high volume of work and responding to a crisis that relies on the geographic information system that can efficiently gather, store, share, manage, analyze, and deliver data on-demand for a streamlined workflow.
• Signature Capture:  Allows you to set up different types of electronic sign-offs.
• Single Sign-on:  Allows users to log into their computer once in the morning and they have immediate access to all of their information in their CMMS.

Benefits of CMMS

All companies have the same facilities and maintenance operations objectives to lower costs and increase productivity. Below are a few of the many benefits that businesses can achieve from implementing a CMMS.

• Web-Based Software

The provider manages all of the IT, hosting, security, backups for the system, and the software is updated automatically, so you’re always using the latest and most secure version.

• Lower Maintenance Costs

CMMS software allows organizations to easily track all maintenance, labor, and inventory costs, giving you insight on how much time and money is being spent for each maintenance request.

• Complete Work Orders Quickly and Efficiently

Streamline all of your maintenance processes and reduce work order response and completion times.

• Work Order Management and  Tracking

Managers can manage and track work orders from start until finish.

• Task Management 

A CMMS helps organizes task and maintenance scheduling and sends reminders to the assigned employee.

• Increase Productivity

Keep equipment and assets running at peak performance with the scheduling of routine maintenance.

• Extend the lifespan of Assets/Equipment

Prolong the lifespan of assets and equipment and improve asset/equipment effectiveness.

• Simplify Maintenance and Safety Audits

A CMMS maintains a complete digital record of maintenance tasks and repairs and the tools you need to help you maintain and meet compliance and safety standards.

• Dashboard Reporting simplifies Tracking and Project Status

Always know the status of your maintenance organization.  Dashboards and reports give you the ability to transform your stored CMMS data into meaningful insights.

• Manage Maintenance Operations from Anywhere

With mobile, access you can manage your maintenance operations from anywhere.  Manage work orders, asset tracking, inventory, checklists, and more. Pricing CMMS vendors generally price their software based on deployment method, number of users and level of features. Just remember you get what you pay for. A few things to consider:

• Will the features meet all of your organization’s current needs?
• Is this system flexible enough to meet your future needs?
• Choose a vendor that has a good customer service reputation.

Summary

The COVID pandemic has definitely changed business operations for everyone.  With the advance in mobile technology and web-based CMMS software users can manage their facilities and maintenance operations from anywhere at any time.  Your business needs your time and energy to focus on the tasks to help you grow, don’t let your maintenance operations slow down your progress.  If you would like to learn more about CMMS or get a free demo, contact eWorkOrders 888-333-4517 or  https://eworkorders.com/schedule-a-free-demo-or-contact-us/.