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How do CMMS compare?

How do CMMS compare?

Monday 27 april 2020

That's it! Management has entrusted you with the mission of finding the best CMMS for your company. In other words, a mission with a high degree of responsibility. Good thing you're in the right place to find out how to go about it. Here's a hint about the method we're going to present to you: would you ever think of evaluating wines without first tasting them?

> What's the best CMMS?

The solutions that you will encounter on the market are very diverse and their ability to enable your company to achieve its project objectives, such as efficiency gains, productivity gains or improved customer service quality, varies greatly from one solution to another. Don't worry, we're not going to list all CMMSs here to compare them. That would be long, tedious, academic and ultimately useless. We're going to do much better than that: we're going to explain to you the method that will allow you to make the comparison quickly and by yourself.

First of all, some a priori to avoid and mistakes to avoid:

  • Think that all CMMS are the same. This is not true, the differences are very significant and there are still some very dated solutions on the market
  • Thinking the best is the most expensive. It's even very often the opposite
  • Choose the CMMS editor whose name comes to mind first, because you've already heard of it
  • Choose a solution presented by a sales representative whose charming speech has managed to convince you
  • Launch without a preliminary study because it is necessary to set up a CMMS software at all costs and as quickly as possible
  • Choose a CMMS out of spite. On the contrary, the choice should be made out of enthusiasm!
  • Not to have tried the solution in real life, with the participation of 2 or 3 employees in the test team, before any decision is made

These mistakes can be very costly to your business, but as you are now warned you will not make them. A very good point. Let's continue the discovery...

Comparison through testing

You can of course make an Excel spreadsheet that lists as many features as possible, and maybe even some services that you will never use (if you don't fall into this little trap, you should know that others have already done so). Then, you send the Excel to the editors who will take care to check whether or not they offer the functionality. Making such a list is the first thing that comes to mind.

And yet, you will realize, when you discover the results of your survey, that you will get almost only positive answers. Not very discriminating, therefore, and of no interest. Especially since it is not the presence of the functionality that is important but the way it is thought and delivered by the solution: user experience, ease, completeness, emphasis on collaboration aspects, mobility, performance. And on these essential points, the questionnaire will not provide any details. Annoying, isn't it?

So how to proceed? Let's get back to wine. Tasting is the only way to discover your favourite wine. Well it's exactly the same for a CMMS. It's only by trying them out that you'll be fully able to compare CMMS solutions with each other and assess which one best suits your needs and expectations.

How do you roll out the method? First of all, before trying them all, which is unnecessary and difficult to do, use our 13 criteria grid to select only those CMMS that can bring you added value. To find this grid, go to the article: CMMS selection criteria.

After this screening, you won't have many candidates left. From now on, you will be able to try each solution, our advice being to launch several tests in parallel (no more than 3 solutions nevertheless). You should also be aware that you will have to spend several hours on each trial. Describe different use cases in which you will have taken care to include at least one stage in mobility and play these scenarios with the 2 or 3 solutions selected. Very quickly the differences will appear. 

The speed at which the editor implements the trial, the ease of use, the user experience, the support of the available online help, the organization and restitution of information, the approach of each tool in supporting the workflows you have built, all these answers will very quickly create differences and highlight the best CMMS for your company or department. 

This method of comparing a CMMS is by far the best. A few years ago, it was still complex to carry out: editors, because of the technologies used and the complexity of software installation, were only rarely able to offer tests. These difficulties are now a thing of the past, and it would be a real shame not to also modernize CMMS comparison methods. 

Nothing will replace direct contact with the application and your decision (or recommendation) will lead your company to the best choice of CMMS software. Moreover, having tried the application will then accelerate the launch thanks to the knowledge acquired during this phase, and to the first exchanges and interactions you will have had with the editor.

By the way, our ambition is to offer an unparalleled user experience. Check it out right away: try CMMS for free. Within 2 minutes, the time it takes to create your account, you'll discover what's newest in this category of software.

You can also benefit from a demonstration led by one of our consultants: book a videoconference

Good discovery and see you soon on Yuman.

 

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