We’ve talked a lot about the benefits of CAFM in this blog. Did we actually say what a CAFM system is, yet? Or at least, what we think it is?
There’s a lot of acronyms swirling around the sector. There’s also a lot of complexity clouding the fundamental purpose of FM software. So, let’s just keep things simple.
What is a CAFM system?
CAFM is a term coined in the 1960s and stands for Computer-Aided Facility Management. It was once used to define a whole range of FM software, but now typically refers to a platform that brings together all your digital FM functions in one place. A CAFM system helps you automate reactive maintenance and PPM strategies while extending digital control over contractor, compliance, property and asset management. It consolidates key FM data to help you drive insight, strategy and continual improvement.
What kind of features should a CAFM include?
CAFM systems typically come packaged with core functionality including:
Large and established CAFM offerings, depending on their sophistication, can also come with
- Space management tools (meeting room booking)
- Occupancy and space management tools
- Hardware offerings for IoT tracking
But how well a CAFM actually manages to do all this is another question and what sets certain CAFM solutions apart.
What support should you expect?
There's a huge range of CAFM platforms on the market, with different suppliers offering different levels of support.
At the bottom end of the market, smaller businesses can buy “Off the shelf”, DIY solutions which can be paid on a credit card and with little commitment. However, you’re often left to implement and configure the solution on your own with little guidance and need to work within the tight parameters of the system.
More enterprise based options will come with more comprehensive support and custom configuration options. But this support is often only forthcoming for the biggest clients. SME’s who sign up to these ‘best of breed’ solutions often find themselves neglected by their account managers, or charged extra fees for onboarding and customisation.
What will a CAFM do for you?
There are a lot of big claims made for CAFM solutions in terms of business benefits and simplicity of set up.
But the rate of failed projects is staggering. Research shows that 75% of FM software implementations don’t succeed and 80% of implemented solutions are not being used to their full potential. This tells a story of over-selling and under-delivery.
We know there are many businesses who bought a CAFM and due to its complexity and high maintenance requirements have simply let it slip into disuse.
So much for computer assisted facility management!
If the software you’ve bought isn’t actually assisting your FM, we’d question if you can really call it a CAFM at all!
What really makes a CAFM, then?
At a basic level what should a CAFM do for your business?
It should deliver ROI fast
A CAFM should get you started as quickly as you need.
Your business will have key business priorities when it buys a CAFM.
You will have urgent problems that you need to bring under control.
Will your chosen CAFM solution be able to match your required timeline? A phased approach is often wise in order to deliver a shorter time to value. It might be that you need to address the work order management of your reactive maintenance first before you move on to the likes of compliance, asset management, or building an asset register as a key priority.
Getting a working solution in place that everyone in the business knows how to use within a few weeks or a couple of months should be an achievable objective.
As you establish those crucial initial controls you can add functionality over time that brings yet more power and insight over your process.
It should control risk
A basic function of a CAFM is bringing areas of the greatest commercial and compliance risk under control. Whether it’s controlling the speed and reliability of the maintenance response to protect H&S, or ensuring compliance requirements are up-to-date and documented.
A lot of C-Suite anxieties are around H&S failures and regulator fines. Your supplier should help you improve workflow automation and communication to derisk your compliance process as much a possible..
Your CAFM system should help you implement failsafe maintenance procedures and control your compliance documentation to ensure future audits go without a hitch.
It should work everywhere
A CAFM should bring control and insight to your business wherever and whenever it needs it.
It should work seamlessly on any device, and give engineers a dedicated portal where they can:
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Load up their work orders
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Understand job requirements fast
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Log time and attendance easily
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Record activity accurately
It should help businesses record and manage their asset condition and lifecycle in real time with the mobile devices their engineers use every day.
An expertly designed experience makes CAFM part of the everyday tool kit of FM teams. It automates where possible and makes processes faster and more efficient.
It increases uptake of the solution and ongoing data collection, which in turn fuels its power as a ‘single source of truth’, data reporting and analysis tool.
It collects key business data
A CAFM needs to collect meaningful data for the business. Without data no really informed decisions can be made about strategy. You can’t see what’s been successful and what hasn’t. You can’t decide how to spend budget to best effect based on evidence.
Modern CAFM makes the data that normally would stay with contractors and suppliers available to the business on demand.
It can show you how long engineers took on a job, auto-invoice based on those hours and benchmark costs and performance against others. It can store data around the purchase, servicing and repair history of assets. It can aggregate this kind of engineer and asset performance data over time to bring the business a whole new level of strategic insight such as budget vs spend, levels of waste, future Capex requirements etc.
It should optimise business performance
But a CAFM needs to give you the power to change things as well as analyse them. The best CAFMs let you easily change workflows based on data to optimise performance. They give you control over contractor management that you could not achieve with a little black book:
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Controlling work order spend and budgets
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Recommending contractors based on performance
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Matching work with appropriately skilled resources
It should be part of a complete digital eco-system
A CAFM should be able to integrate with the digital eco-system around it. And it should do it easily and without costing you the earth. It needs to integrate with accounting software, so you can avoid double handling of data and administrative tasks. It needs to be able to pull data easily from BMS systems to ensure you keep pace and take advantage of new innovation and new insight.
So, what’s CAFM?
A CAFM system is FM software that can be used to help companies digitally manage various FM functions in a single digital space. They are designed to bring clarity and strategic insight to an FM team and their whole business. But whether or not they actually manage this will ultimately depend on their flexibility, usability and if they are actually used across an organisation.
The quality of the user experience and its relevance to those tasked with using it will make or break its fortunes. For this, every CAFM should be:
- Agnostic – able to integrate into a range of business systems, particularly accounting / ERP platforms
- Configurable – allowing for tailored and personalised experiences
- Modern – used seamlessly across any device
- Simple – to encourage user engagement and participation
Editor’s note: this post was originally published in July 2021, and updated in January 2025 for accuracy.
