Today, there’s technology to aid in just about everything you do. Facility maintenance and asset management are no exception. Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) have some people confused about how to use each.

As with most pieces of technology, each one has its benefits and primary use cases. Understanding these uses can help you decide what software you need to get the job done. Here’s a look at the difference between CMMS and EAM.

What is CMMS?

A CMMS helps the maintenance team monitor an equipment’s status and future need for updates. This system can help organizations learn trends within their maintenance needs and adapt their maintenance schedules to anticipate these needs. Anticipating needs can lead to less downtime for equipment and improved efficiency.

Plus, a CMMS enables an organization to take support tickets and assign them to an appropriate maintenance technician to get the job done faster to avoid costly breakdowns. A CMMS helps an organization focus more on preventative maintenance and less on the emergency business of responding to breakdowns.

Another role of CMMS is inventory management. It helps ensure that when something goes wrong with the equipment, you have the necessary parts to fix it and get it back up and running again. 

What is EAM?

EAM focuses on extending the lifecycle of an asset. This system monitors a company’s assets and helps you track your maintenance activities. Within the system, you can see where an asset is located, who uses it regularly, when to expect to service the asset, etc.

The objective of EAM is to reduce costs through added utilization of an asset and keeping maintenance expenses low. Another function of EAM is locating low-performing assets to replace or upgrade them to improve efficiency.

Differences between EAM and CMMS

The largest difference between EAM and CMMS is that that EAM is inclusive of many business functions, while CMMS focuses on equipment and facility maintenance. For example, an EAM might include fleet management functionality to monitor when the vehicle was obtained, how many miles are on it and ways to extend the life of the vehicle.

So while some functions might sound similar between these software tools, at their roots, they’re actually quite distinct and serve different purposes.

However, as each type of software continues to develop, the lines are becoming more and more blurry. CMMS came before EAM and once EAM hit the market, many CMMS companies launched new functionality to make the software more robust and add features that used to be exclusive to EAM.

Choosing between a CMMS and EAM

The best way to decide between a CMMS and EAM for your organization is to map out your requirements. Once you know what functions are essential to your organization based on the size and assets that you manage, you can begin talking with some of the leading CMMS and EAM providers to learn more.

Choosing a CMMS or EAM means considering your needs down the road while balancing cost restrictions. Generally speaking, CMMS is better for small- to medium-sized organizations with less than 100 maintenance professionals and limited office locations. EAM is designed for large enterprises with many locations, more than 100 maintenance professionals to manage, and many assets.

Eagle CMMS offers organizations data insights into their maintenance practices, work order management, and inventory management. Call Eagle at 262-241-3845, or send us an email or schedule a demo to learn more about our technology and how we can help your organization.