Alright, let’s take an honest look at a common reality.
Many industrial companies continue to rely on SAP for Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) because it feels familiar, stable, and low risk. However, beneath that comfort, there are growing costs, subtly hidden inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and slower responsiveness to innovation and change.
Here’s something you might not expect. This isn’t fundamentally a technology issue. It’s a business model issue.
For years, the formula was clear: consolidate systems, standardize processes, and keep the ERP at the center. That worked when stability and predictability were the main priorities.
Today, the landscape has shifted. Agility and ability to innovate now matter more than standardization. Speed, adaptability, and AI-enabled / data-driven execution are critical. Systems primarily built for control can limit the flexibility businesses need to stay competitive.
Like sailors ‘read’ winds out at sea, we’ve seen this coming for quite some time in many industrial realities and now, this plays out every day. Operational teams struggle to pivot when they need to. Maintenance is still buried in spreadsheets. Executives work with data that’s weeks out of date. And when it’s time to launch a new revenue stream or respond to a market disruption, execution stalls, even when the strategy is sound.
If you’re leading an industrial business in utilities, energy, manufacturing, or construction: you’re not just managing a back office. You’re managing assets. And those assets are the core of your business.
Relying on aggregation of general ERP modules as your EAM ‘virtual solution’ will no longer provide you with what you need.
Let me be clear here, SAP still plays a valuable role. It’s a dependable system for core financials workflows. EAM is different though. It’s not just another box to tick. It’s the operational engine of your business.
Treating it as an add-on is like asking a software engineer to design your house. They’ve got the right skills, but it’s not their domain.
Modern EAM isn’t about piling on more features. It’s about being purpose-built, enabling real-time decisions, predictive maintenance, and intelligent asset strategies. It’s about aligning technology with how your operations work today, and what they’ll need tomorrow.
The game plan for industrial companies lays on a modular, pragmatic approach. They aren’t ripping out their ERP platforms. They’re enhancing them adding specialized EAM solutions where they’re needed most. And real results are there to see:
- Improved asset performance
- Faster response to regulatory change
- Reduced reliance on costly workarounds
Some organizations are still evaluating this path. Fair. Transformation should be deliberate, not rushed. However, we shouldn’t discount the growing risk in continuing to apply old tools to new challenges – including that of leaner and more adaptive competitors gaining ground; not because they have more resources, but because they’ve embraced smarter, more agile systems.
This shift isn’t about technology alone. It’s about mindset.
Continuing to treat ERP as a one-size-fits-all solution might feel like caution. But in practice, it will limit innovation and stall growth. We know how it will play out, remember CRM and HCM, where specialized platforms have become the new standard? EAM is next, and it’s well on its way.
McKinsey reports that advanced EAM practices (including AI, predictive analytics, and real-time data) help companies seeing up to 20% increases in profitability. These aren’t theoretical gains. They come from:
- Fewer unplanned failures
- Faster maintenance response
- More precise capital planning
This is the new playbook. And it’s already in motion.
At IFS, we work with industrial businesses that are ready to evolve. They’re not starting from scratch, they’re building on what already works and integrating what’s needed next. It’s about using best-in-class technologies in the right places, for the right reasons.
From family-owned companies to global enterprises, we see a clear pattern:
The most successful organizations recognize when it’s time to shift. They stop hoping legacy systems will eventually catch up. And they act, balancing today’s performance with tomorrow’s potential.
So ask yourself: Is your current EAM strategy driving future value or just preserving familiarity? Because in a world where change is constant, standing still can be the bigger risk.
