Thursday, November 16, 2006

Enterprise Asset Management

Asset management involves not only the management of the capital and physical assets of the company, but also the management of its back office system. This, simply put, means effective management of all processes of a set-up—manufacturing, logistics, distribution, inventory, and shipping. It is obvious that enterprise asset management deals will all processes involved within the company. It does not take into account its customers and sellers. Therefore enterprise asset management is called the back office system.

Utilizing automated software to keep a track, manage, and analyze all these processes is an answer that can manage all assets in the enterprise. Aptly called the Enterprise Asset Management software, people can get it implemented directly through software vendors or third party consulting companies.

Any business activity involves the processes of procuring assets and investing capital. Once this is done, there is the hiring of human resources who then use the infrastructure to produce goods and services. This done, there are additional activities including sales, deliveries, billing, and inventory management. All these processes can be controlled with the help of EAM. An effective implementation results in the optimum utilization of resources, cutting down on waste or unnecessary investments, thereby resulting in maximum returns.

Given the wide scope of its activities, an enterprise asset management system consists of the largest bodies of software ever written. This, in turn means that implementing such a system will take up a lot of the company’s resources and time. This said, the advantages of the software are many and in due time the returns justify the cost of its implementation.

Also, given the complex nature of the software, it is better to seek professional advice both at the business and technical level. This is very important because if there is a mismatch between the software chosen and the organizational needs, adverse consequences will result. Some of the benefits of the enterprise asset management software include lower inventory costs, lower ordering costs and lower products and transportation costs.

EAM software has a vide range of application and is beneficial for service sectors like banks, hospitals as also manufacturing industries and government departments like defense.