¿Debería construir un CMMS o comprar uno?

A classic question for any business is whether to manage a solution in-house or purchase an out-of-the-box, third-party product. In some cases, the answer is clear. No company would consider designing its own office software suite or accounting solution these days as many affordable, quality products are on the market.

However, in other areas, the answer may not be quite as obvious. Some businesses might wonder whether they should build a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) in-house or purchase a third-party product. Both solutions are feasible and carry their own set of advantages and disadvantages, which we’ll outline below.

Building a CMMS

If a company chooses to build its own CMMS, it will require a fair amount of talent, resources, and time to do so. Although this can be a significant investment, having a completely customized CMMS in the end may be worth the effort if the organization has very specific information to collect, analyze, and process.

The average development time ranges between four to six months, which should be factored into the company’s overall plan. If a start-up is preparing to launch a business, this period should be added to the front end. If the custom CMMS will be implemented in an established organization, other processes should be in place to manage work orders and maintenance records in the meantime.

Pros

The advantages of building a CMMS revolve around customization and control. If your organization has very specific data to collect, unusual analytics requirements, or custom reporting needs, it may make sense to build your own CMMS. Although many out-of-the-box solutions offer some level of customization, the flexibility may not be quite enough for a very  unique company.

In addition, whenever you build something in-house, you maintain more control over its usage, updates, training, and application. As long as you have processes in place to document how the solution was created and what needs to be done when changes are required, you’ll have complete freedom in making future changes. You’re not at the mercy of the software company for patches, updates, and other feature additions.

Cons

The disadvantages of building your own CMMS are typically associated with time, expense, and talent. Since the primary mission of your business is not building CMMS solutions, you’ll need to employ software developers to create, manage, and maintain your custom CMMS. In today’s tight market, it can be difficult to find talent. Even if you successfully hire an individual or team of individuals, the likelihood those employees will stick around for the long run is low. You may incur additional expenses if a key developer leaves and you need to transfer the CMMS development to a new employee mid-stream.

In addition, your organization will be completely responsible for managing bugs, problems, and delays in development as well as ongoing troubleshooting from the users. This can become expensive, time-consuming, and resource-intensive. 

Best Practices: What to Keep in Mind

If you’re ready to embark on building your own CMMS, the first step is to ensure you have the buy-in of your top management. Be sure the executive team understands the required commitment as well as the ongoing challenges and expenses that will ensue. Have a champion at the top levels of your company to support and help manage issues that will inevitably arise.

The second step is to secure an adequate budget and timeline for the project. It’s a good idea to set up smaller milestones along the way as checkpoints for the larger project. These checkpoints will help keep everyone on the same page and show that short-range goals are being met throughout the process. Be sure to include time and money for unforeseen problems.

You’ll want to start the CMMS design process by clearly defining what you want your system to do. In software development, it’s easy to add so many nice-to-have features that distract from the need-to-have capabilities. Select a few primary goals and stay focused on getting those capabilities up and running from the beginning.

Don’t discount the quality of data. While the software is being developed, it’s important to establish a process for collecting quality data. Educating, training, and motivating employees to collect and enter this information will be critical to a successful CMMS solution in the end. 

Buying a CMMS

In today’s cloud-based, software-as-a-service world, it’s becoming more and more likely that buying a CMMS solution will be the default choice for the wide variety of businesses today. Although some customization and control is lost, much can be gained by relying on an experienced vendor whose sole focus is creating, updating, and managing CMMS solutions for its customers.

Just consider all the mammoth legacy systems in Fortune 500 companies that have become incredibly unwieldy and difficult to update today. The future will continue moving toward SaaS vendors who can deliver higher quality solutions faster than ever before.

Pros

Purchasing an off-the-shelf CMMS can be very advantageous, especially to smaller organizations without the bandwidth to employ an IT department. Many solutions today deliver what most organizations are seeking and offer some level of customization for other features.

Several third-party CMMS solutions allow you to purchase just what you require with a pricing structure based on users, access, or features available. As a result, you can choose the level and price that fits your organization best with the option of scaling up as you grow.

Since the CMMS vendor’s mission is to build its solution, you’ll likely get updates, patches, and new features in a timely manner. Although you may not have a direct say in which features are added and in what priority, chances are you’ll benefit in the long run.

Customer service is usually paramount for CMMS vendors, which means you’ll have regular access to an IT help desk well-versed in the product. No worrying about what happens if your key software developer quits, falls ill, or takes a vacation.

Cons

The biggest disadvantage is that purchasing a CMMS solution will tie you to that particular vendor. If you require a customization that’s not a priority for the vendor, you may need to create your own workaround or do without.

In some cases, the upfront cost may be higher than creating a custom CMMS solution; however, more than likely, you’ll save money in the long run. Some vendors operate on a subscription basis, and this regular ongoing expense may seem like a disadvantage. However, it’s important to remember that you’re avoiding all those troubleshooting and ongoing maintenance issues in-house.

Finally, you’ll have to rely on the vendor’s training and educational materials to get your team up and running. Depending on the vendor, this may vary in terms of quality and responsiveness.

Best Practices: What to Keep in Mind

If you decide to purchase an off-the-shelf CMMS, deciding which product to buy will be very important. Be sure to start by clearly defining what’s most important to your maintenance team in terms of key functionality. Then, when you begin reviewing your options, you’ll know exactly what you’re looking for.

Most CMMS vendors will allow a free trial period. Consider creating some typical scenarios and taking your top two or three contenders for a test drive. Confirm the CMMS vendors you consider work in your industry and have experience with your market space. Ask for references so you can learn from others before you commit.

Be sure to evaluate both the ongoing service agreement, what kind and how much support will be available, and how onboarding typically works. Having an experienced team member dedicated to your company regardless of its size and spending is a definite plus.

Before uploading data into your chosen CMMS solution, be sure you’re happy with the quality. Remember you won’t be able to generate accurate analytics and reports with bad data. This may require some upfront work on changing the culture of employees and technicians and building workflows that encourage and reward accurate information. 

Conclusion

In the end, if your organization is very specialized and already has a core competency of software development, building your own CMMS may be a viable option. Be sure to conduct a thorough cost and benefit analysis before embarking on such a project.

The majority of companies today, however, will be better off purchasing a CMMS off-the-shelf. Take the time to review the options that seem to fit best with your company’s goals, test and try it out before making a big commitment, and be sure your vendor will provide the support and training you need on an ongoing basis to be successful.