A letter from Robin Martin, written in his official capacity as managing director UK & Ireland, MRO Software, an IBM company.

Dear Editor,

Organisations have invested heavily in solutions to mitigate business risk over the last few years; yet they seem content to leave the assets that represent a significant proportion of corporate value languishing in inappropriate maintenance systems that are actively undermining ability to comply with regulations. Isn’t it time business woke up to the significance of asset convergence?

The majority of organisations still persist in running two distinct asset management systems – one for ‘traditional’ assets such as lifts, pumps and track and another for IT equipment. Given the increasing convergence of such assets and the growing use of embedded technology within the traditional asset portfolio, such a distinction makes no commercial sense.

The number of assets with embedded technology grows daily. From the adoption of Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tagging to improved monitoring and control, smarter diagnostics and embedded failure prediction, asset capability is being transformed. And this technology is increasingly commonplace.

These assets with embedded technology are typically the most valuable within the business, costing up to 100 times more than the equivalent ‘unintelligent’ equipment. Their business value is significant – and failure could significantly jeopardise business reputation. Risking their operational performance by failing to effectively coordinate the maintenance programme is, quite frankly, madness.

By creating a single source of all asset information, organisations can begin to streamline processes to improve overall availability. Managing all assets within one system and by one team transforms effectiveness, reduces costs and removes instances of conflict or confusion. Asset ownership and responsibility is clear and, critically, the entire track history of every asset – from software upgrades to physical repairs – is available immediately, in one place.

Yours sincerely,
Robin Martin

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•Date: 25th January 2007 • Region: World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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