3 Big Small Business Challenges that a CMMS Solves Efficiently

Small businesses face big challenges every day while struggling to strike a balance between people, processes, and profits. Strapped for time and resources, SMBs have to keep their equipment running at peak efficiency even with limited finances which can be downright daunting in the absence of automation. According to Small Business Trends, a professional publication, the top 3 problems for every small-business owner are ensuring optimum utilization of money, time, and manpower – all of which are typically limited. Computerized maintenance management systems efficiently address small business challenges by making automation affordable. SMBs looking to save time, money, and human effort can leverage a fully-loaded CMMS to streamline their daily maintenance management operations and make them fast, efficient, and effective.

Having a computerized maintenance management system will ease your stress of the following 3 issues which maintenance managers face on a daily basis:

1. Time Constraints

   Time is money and so if maintenance managers can streamline and speed up their daily maintenance activities it will definitely make a big impact on the bottom line. Computerized maintenance management systems can boost the operational efficiency of a small business by:

   • Reducing the time spent on manual data entry by enabling facility managers to customize the fields and screens which in turn saves a ton of search time.
   • Eliminating the travel time for field technicians with mobile CMMS that offers instant access to maintenance data and inventory levels anytime, anywhere.
   • Facilitating faster troubleshooting with mobile CMMS that allows maintenance managers to assign emergency work orders instantly to technicians who are in close proximity to the asset, thereby reducing downtime.

2. A Tight Budget

   SMBs typically function on a tight budget and deploying preventive maintenance software delivers value by facilitating faster implementation and smooth integration. Since the data is stored offsite, the cost of hardware is eliminated along with the need for in-house IT support. With a CMMS, maintenance managers have access to real-time reports of historical data including asset performance, labor cost, repairs, maintenance and replacements. This level of real-time visibility empowers maintenance managers to reduce overtime, labor costs, and downtime in future while eliminating the need to rely on the recommendations of the equipment manufacturer. When managers are aware of trends, they can take better decisions and drive efficiency.

3. Lack of Accountability

   Managing employees efficiently is another big challenge facing maintenance managers in small companies where even one disgruntled employee can negatively impact the performance and efficiency of the whole batch. Having a CMMS can help small companies in the following ways:

   • Asset management software gives clear information on the individual performance of every maintenance technician.
   • Asset management software makes it easier for maintenance managers to know the work status in real-time and assign work orders accordingly.
   • Every time a maintenance manager retrieves information about any equipment, they can also see which technician has worked on it previously and when. When this feature is tied to report generation, managers can easily gauge the work efficiency of every employee and also hold them accountable for problems, delays, and discrepancies.
   • Accurate data also helps identify unproductive employees.
   • The software also pinpoints the need for training, enabling facility managers to get employees up to speed with their work.
   • It also brings a heightened level of awareness which positively impacts decision-making.

Small companies that are sceptical about deploying maintenance management software must understand that having feature-rich software in place will not only automate their routine maintenance schedules but also save a lot of time and money in the process. The only things that companies need to consider when finalizing a fully-loaded CMMS are customizable features, cloud deployment, prompt technical support, and the flexibility to implement applications in phases so that maintenance operations keep moving even as the system upgrades.

With NEXGEN’s Asset Management Software, maintenance managers can efficiently manage manpower, maintain assets, and monitor inventory levels at any time from any location to ensure that no equipment or machine suffers a sudden failure. In the process, they can also control maintenance costs, minimize downtime and maximize the utilization of available resources for better business outcomes.