Rising Customer Appetite For A Single Platform To Manage Asset Maintenance And Operations Drives Convergence In The Industrial Asset Management Software Market

Rising Customer Appetite For A Single Platform To Manage Asset Maintenance And Operations Drives Convergence In The Industrial Asset Management Software Market

As digitization of asset management gathers pace, industrial firms are demanding platform solutions encompassing a broad set of functionalities to improve asset reliability, integrity, risk, safety and performance. This is driving convergence of capabilities offered by different software applications such as enterprise asset management (EAM), asset performance management (APM), asset investment planning (AIP) and predictive maintenance software.

Asset management software vendors are therefore entering into partnerships and undertaking M&As to enhance the breadth as well as depth of software offerings. For example, the Sweden headquartered global technology solutions provider Hexagon AB acquired Infor EAM in July 2021, PAS Global, a provider of operational technology (OT) integrity solutions in 2020 as well as operations management and permit to work software provider j5 International in 2019. Hexagon AB also has partnerships with AspenTech and Cenosco to leverage their APM and asset integrity management software offerings to provide industrial firms a one-stop-shop solution for all their operations and asset maintenance needs. Similarly, Baker Hughes acquired Australian-headquartered ARMS Reliability in April 2021 to offer firms a comprehensive asset strategy management and optimization software solution that combines capabilities of Baker Hughes’ condition monitoring and anomaly detection software with ARMS Reliability’s asset strategy management, asset reliability services, and consultancy experience, along with its OnePM software product.

The strong influx of funding and investments is another key factor reshaping the industrial asset management software landscape, especially for AI-based analytics software providers building out use cases for predictive maintenance and production optimization. Seeq, the IIoT analytics software provider raised $50 million in Series C funding led by Insight Partners following a successful Series B funding led by Altira Group in 2020, bringing the total amount of funding to $115 million. In January 2021, Henkel Adhesive Technologies to strengthen its MRO capabilities invested in Feelit, a sensor technology provider for predictive maintenance, while Alfa Laval acquired a stake in AMI Global to enhance its capabilities for remote and condition monitoring.

Given this changing landscape, what are some of the questions that buyers must ask before selecting their industrial asset management software provider? Key will be to understand how well the combined software application works and how intuitive as well as user friendly the interface is. Information on cost associated with upgrades and updates, sunsetting of certain modules and related timelines along with any changes to customer service and support are all important considerations. Finally, it is important for buyers to be aware of the software provider’s product roadmap and future product strategy, especially with innovation and availability of new technologies altering the industrial asset management software landscape at a rapid pace.

For more information register for the upcoming webinar: 6-Step Method To Shortlist The Best-Fit APM Software Vendors and read the following reports: Smart Innovators: Maintenance Analytics For Heavy Asset Industries, Market Overview Asset Management Software Landscape.