Why CMMS Alone Isn’t Enough

A Strong Foundation—But Not the Whole Story

Most facility teams rely on a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) to manage preventive maintenance, assets, and work orders. It checks essential boxes—yet everyday frustrations persist:

• Chasing down updated floor plans or shutoff locations
• Scrambling for emergency docs
• Wasting time on scattered or outdated information
• Relying on tribal knowledge from long-tenured staff
• Onboarding new or rotating technicians becomes a bottleneck

The issue isn’t the CMMS—it’s that these platforms weren’t designed for rapid, field-level building info access.

What CMMS Software Excels At

CMMS platforms provide vital structure for maintenance workflows:

• Scheduling preventive maintenance
• Tracking work orders and labor hours
• Recording service history and compliance
• Managing asset data and lifecycles

But they rarely integrate mobile-friendly visual building layouts, emergency procedures, or as-built documentation at the technician’s fingertips.

The Information Access Gap: A Hidden Drain

When teams lack instant access to critical building intelligence, operational friction increases:

• No visual mobile floor plans or shutoff maps
• Emergency protocols and equipment manuals aren’t field-accessible
• O&M manuals, renovation records, and as-builts are siloed
• Institutional knowledge remains undocumented

Leadership Impact

These gaps slow response time, extend downtime, heighten safety risks, and erode team efficiency.

Why Leadership Should Care

1. Preventing Knowledge Loss

   Over 50% of facility professionals will retire in the next 5–10 years (International Facility Management Association). If their institutional knowledge disappears, you’re left guessing during emergencies or routine tasks—driving up liability, delays, and reactive costs.

2. Aging Infrastructure Costs

   Roughly 70% of U.S. commercial buildings are over 20 years old (U.S. EIA, 2018). Aging assets are more failure-prone and costly. Without accessible documentation, minor issues can escalate into major failures or compliance violations.

3. Emergency Response & Continuity

   From 2020–2022, the U.S. experienced 60 billion-dollar disasters (FEMA, 2023). Delayed responses in floods, wildfires, or power outages threaten safety, service continuity, and financial stability.

4. Hidden Labor Costs
   • 80% of service techs spend 30 min–2 hrs/day searching for technical info; ~10% spend over 2 hours/day (Field Service News, 2023).
   • Only 18–30% of a tech’s day is wrench time—the rest is travel, waiting, or searching (U.S. DOE).
   • 45% of maintenance pros spend significant time retrieving paper docs (Service Council, IFS, 2022).

These hidden inefficiencies siphon productivity and drive up labor costs—across the team, that means thousands of dollars lost each week.

Bridging Maintenance and Building Intelligence

CMMS is powerful—but only one piece of the puzzle. Paired with mobile-first access to building layouts, emergency details, and legacy knowledge, it becomes a game-changer. This combo equips teams to:

• Locate equipment fast – cut response times and reduce emergency downtime
• Understand system connections – predict cascading failures before they happen
• Work with current drawings – avoid rework, compliance violations, or safety issues
• Follow emergency protocols – ensure quick, structured responses when it matters most

This isn’t just convenience—it’s essential in hospitals, schools, airports, stadiums—anywhere every second counts.

Final Take

CMMS tools cover maintenance workflow—but not the full reality of facility operations. The missing ingredient? Instant visibility into building documentation and institutional knowledge when you need it most.

If your team still struggles with locating shutoffs, accessing manuals in the field, or efficiently onboarding staff, it’s time to ask:

Do we have the information systems to support safe, efficient, and resilient facility operations?