Organizations use multiple types of software for different purposes. But what works for one department might not be the right fit for another.
While managers may lean towards finding a solution that works for multiple purposes, integrating best of breed solutions instead can improve productivity for everyone.
What’s “Best of Breed” Software?
Best of breed software refers to the top application for a specific purpose or niche. It performs specialized functions better than an integrated system. However it’s also limited by its specialty area.
For example, your finance or accounting department needs software that provides features like billing, invoicing, time keeping, payroll, purchase orders, etc. Other departments, like maintenance, don’t need these functions. Instead, they’ll need their own special software to get their work done.
However, financial data and maintenance data are closely linked. As a result, integrating two best of breed systems offers the advantages of both.
Why Do I Want a “Best of Breed” System for Maintenance?
Using a best of breed system helps you complete maintenance tasks as efficiently as possible. CMMS software contains many features the maintenance team will need—such as links to manuals and vendor websites, work order history, inventory information, asset details, etc. As a result, It will perform maintenance-related functions better than an integrated system.
CMMS software can help you make better decisions based on maintenance data and answer business-critical questions. For example, you’ll know exactly how much money each work order or asset type costs your business in maintenance for a specified timeframe, and certain questions can be quickly answered:
- What type of maintenance do I spend the most on?
- How does the cost of preventive maintenance compare to repair costs?
- If I run this report for a different time period, like last year, are there significant changes by category?
Beyond general questions, you can formulate precise questions that’ll lead to a more informed decision-making process.
- Why are my machining maintenance costs so high?
- What new equipment needs to be purchased, if any?
- How much will the new equipment cost compared to the current maintenance expense?
- Will I save money over time by purchasing new equipment? How much?
Why Shouldn’t I Use an ERP?
If your organization uses enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, some stakeholders may tell you it can handle your maintenance needs too.
ERP software is a system of integrated applications to manage and automate many functions related to accounting, human resources, sales, planning, and inventory. But it often performs poorly as a tool for managing other functions—like maintenance.
Many organizations discover that their ERP doesn’t provide easy-to-use tools to get all jobs done—like maintenance management—without excessive system overhead, user antagonism, time, and cost.
That’s a big problem for the maintenance department, where the tools you use directly affect your efficiency and productivity. When you aren’t using the right tool, it takes longer to do the job—and sometimes it’s even impossible.
What If I Need Departments to Work Together?
More and more companies are realizing that syncing best of breed systems offers the added bonuses of better user tools, as well as cheaper and significantly easier implementation.
For example, many of our MPulse customers have an ERP in place, and the maintenance team uses MPulse as their best of breed software. A CMMS helps you see accurate, complete data, and this data can be applied directly to purchasing or other important organizational decisions through systems integration.
As a result, the executive team gets the data they want, and the maintenance department uses the best tool for their jobs. Everyone’s happy.
Data integration offers organizations benefits like…
- Fewer errors due to manual data entry
- Reduced data input redundancy
- Faster response times to maintenance problems
- Near real-time monitoring of critical data
- The ability to grow with your organization’s changing technologies.
In our modern world, efficiency is everything. Integrating best of breed systems can improve productivity for everyone.
Have questions? Contact us. We can help.
