Are you looking for preventive maintenance software – but don’t know which one’s right for you?
Preventive maintenance software can help you extend the lifetime of building assets by scheduling routine maintenance, keeping tabs on your equipment, and providing service history (to name a few). So, you can fix problems before they turn into costly issues.
But, there are so many choices when it comes to preventive maintenance software. It can be hard to know which one is the right choice for your building. And, you don’t want to pick the wrong preventive maintenance software – only to learn after buying and installing it that it doesn’t work for you.
How do you know which preventive maintenance software is best for you?
Usability is a key area that can differentiate preventive maintenance software.
While many options provide basic functions – like scheduling maintenance – many solutions are difficult to get started with. And, hard to use on a day to day basis. Preventive maintenance software that’s not user friendly is guaranteed to be the wrong option.
Wondering how Building Engines compares to the others in terms of ease of use? Read on to find out.
1. Modularity
One aspect that makes preventive maintenance software easy to use is modularity – where you only purchase the software you need.
Traditional building operations or property management software usually includes preventive maintenance features. However, to get those features, you have to buy the entire software suite. So, you have to spend money unnecessarily to get only 1-2 useful functions. This cost could outweigh any preventive maintenance equipment sayings from using the software.
Plus, non-modular preventive maintenance software might not be fully featured. Because the building operations software focuses on many functions for one price, each function – like preventive maintenance or building communications – isn’t fully featured.
So, many preventive maintenance features – like scheduling by asset type, equipment service history, and a dashboard overview – are missing from non-modular software. Not only do you have to pay more because you’re buying more software. You also don’t get the functionality you need in preventive maintenance software from non-modular solutions.
With modular preventive maintenance software – like Building Engines – each module is a stand-alone product. So, you can choose to pay for only preventive maintenance – or all available modules. That way, you can keep the costs down – while getting exactly what you need.
And, a preventive maintenance module is a full-fledge product that only has one focus – making preventive maintenance easier and more efficient. So, the module includes everything you need to make preventive maintenance a breeze. And, save money by extending the lifetime of your equipment.
Modularity is one characteristic of preventive maintenance software that makes it easy to use. You only pay for what you need – while getting more maintenance specific features.
2. Integration
The ability to integrate with existing software is another component of usability in preventive maintenance software.
Many preventive maintenance software solutions don’t integrate with other building operations or property management software. So, if you have existing software, traditional preventive maintenance solutions won’t communicate with it.
Any information you put in your preventive maintenance software will have to be re-input into any other platforms you have. This is needlessly time-consuming – potentially costing you hours every time you perform maintenance.
And, it increases the potential for equipment data to be incorrectly logged. So, you don’t know the state of your equipment. This makes it hard to keep your equipment in good shape – and avoid costly replacements of neglected equipment.
Preventive maintenance software that integrates – like Building Engines – can share data with software you already use. This makes it easy to add preventive maintenance software to existing property management platforms. So, you can gain the functionality of maintenance solutions – without having to relearn your entire tech stack.
Integration capabilities make preventive maintenance software easier to use. And, it can help you save time on frustrating manual processes – like data entry.
3. On-the-Go
Another key usability metric for preventive maintenance software is on-the-go capabilities. So, you can perform preventive maintenance from anywhere – instead of only from your desk.
Traditional preventive maintenance software requires you to be at your computer to use it. Without a mobile app, you’re unable to record and track maintenance throughout your building – when you’re most likely to spot issues.
With your team having to wait until they get to their desks to record maintenance issues, it’s easy for problems to slip through the cracks. If your team doesn’t record notes while they’re working throughout your building, these notes likely won’t get logged at all – leaving you with an incomplete equipment history.
Without an up-to-date equipment history, it’s hard to know what your equipment needs to continue running. This means your equipment is more likely to fail from preventable problems – leading to expensive replacements.
Maintenance software with on-the-go capabilities – like Building Engines – allows your team to record maintenance issues from anywhere (even offline). With mobile and desktop apps, on-the-go preventive maintenance software saves your team time by eliminating trips to and from their desks.
Plus, mobile preventive maintenance software allows your team and engineers to perform inspections, log maintenance issues, and create work orders offline. So, if you have equipment in areas without reception, your team can still use the maintenance software in real-time.
That way, any issues are recorded instantly – so you can address them with cost-effective fixes (instead of costly replacements).
On-the-go capabilities make preventive maintenance software more usable by allowing you to track and resolve issues wherever you are. This saves time for your team throughout their day. And, it helps you stay on top of equipment issues.
Wrapping It Up
With so many preventive maintenance software options out there, it’s difficult to tell which one will work for you. While most maintenance software offers the ability to schedule and track maintenance, many solutions aren’t user friendly. You can’t reap the benefits of preventive maintenance software when it’s difficult to use.
Maintenance solutions that are easy to use are modular – so you have exactly what you need. Preventive software that’s user-friendly is also able to integrate with existing software – so you don’t have to redo your tech stack when adding it. Plus, preventive maintenance solutions can be used on the go – so you can report and track issues from anywhere.
When evaluating preventive maintenance software, look for those 3 features that dramatically increase usability. That way, you’re sure to get value out of your maintenance solution.
Looking for preventive maintenance software with those usability features and more? Consider Prism’s preventive maintenance software. Prism’s maintenance module is modular, integrative, and mobile – so it’s exceptionally easy to get started with and use daily.
Get started with your free Prism preventive maintenance demo today.
