Planning an EAM Migration: Asking the Right Questions

Planning is all about asking the right questions. Having the information you need at your disposal throughout a planning process is key in making smart, informed decisions that will likely lead to a successful outcome. When it comes to your Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system of choice, having a solid plan is absolutely necessary. As such, you’ll need to know the right questions to ask when researching and planning an EAM migration strategy. These systems will be the new carrier of all your asset and maintenance master data, serving as the foundation of your company – let’s make sure you pick the right one. We’ve listed some questions to ask EAM providers during your planning process before you make the switch to ensure that your company ends up happy and satisfied.

Ask the Right Questions

Is the provider credible and well-established? Ensuring that the provider you’re considering is credible and well-established is important for multiple reasons. Knowing the experience of previous and current customers is crucial in determining whether your asset and maintenance master data will be in good hands. Asking about partnerships and customer testimonials will be a good indicator of the provider’s credibility, but you need to make sure they’re also well-established. Having your provider go out of business while you’re using their services is far from ideal as you’ll be missing out on new features, bugfixes, and quality of life changes that affect how the system operates. Ensure that you ask questions that make you completely confident in the provider’s ability to administer what you need.

How often is the product updated? Having access to a consistently updated EAM will make operations much easier on you and your company. The system should always be up to date so you’re able to utilize the most efficient and effective tools available at that current time. If your system isn’t being frequently updated, you’ll be left with old and suboptimal functions that won’t benefit the work your employees are doing. When you can confidently say that the provider is updating their system frequently, you’re on the right track.

Are training and implementation services provided? An EAM provider should not only provide services for the technical side of things, but provide services for training and usability as well. If your team can’t properly operate the new EAM, then how is your company supposed to function properly? Ask about these kinds of services during your planning process, and if they’re not available, you should probably start looking for a different provider.

Is there technical support available? Complex systems like EAMs will inevitably run into some occasional issues. These issues may be caused by either the user or the service provider, but either way, there should always be reliable technical support available to fix the situation quickly. Ask about their technical support procedures, response times, and other relevant information pertaining to their methods of troubleshooting. If you’re stuck with a malfunctioning EAM for a prolonged period of time, lengthy downtime and serious threats to your asset and maintenance master data may occur.

How much does it cost? Accounting for the cost of any system is crucial to a company’s financial stability, so it needs to be considered when planning out an EAM migration. A provider’s prices should be explicitly stated and should be open to any questions regarding additional fees or other relevant information. Determining whether a particular EAM system is within your price range is another great indicator of whether it’s suitable for your company or not.

Does it meet the needs of my company? Finally (and most importantly), you need to come to a conclusion after all the necessary information has been gathered. You’ve done all the planning and it’s time to decide: is this EAM ideal for my company? If there are any doubts, more questions need to be asked throughout your planning process or another provider needs to be considered. Whatever the case, you should be fully confident in the decision you make.

We Make the Transition Seamless

These questions are great to ask throughout your entire EAM migration process. Make sure your plan is firm and your questions are informative. Once you’re ready to make the switch, we can help. NRX AssetHub provides the services you need to properly format and transfer your asset and maintenance data from your old to new EAM system. If you’re looking for reliable assistance while planning an EAM migration, make sure to reach out and book a demo.