Facilities Management (FM) is all about managing and maintaining assets, plant, equipment, and properties. FM is a fast-growing professional discipline that combines business processes, people, and technology to achieve a safe and efficient working and living environments. It's very hard to run a successful facilities management operation without a strong focus on computer-aided facilities management software (CAFM).
CAFM Software vs. Web CAFM
Traditional CAFM has been overtaken in recent years by Web CAFM, also known as "online CAFM", "hosted CAFM, and "on-demand CAFM." Today, more companies than ever are turning to the Web, and specifically to cloud computing, for business applications like CAFM.
Why? Because to steer your company through these turbulent times, it's more important than ever to be on top of every work order, every part, and every expense. Without a big up-front software investment that's expensive to install and maintain. With facilitycloud's pay-as-you-go model, the price of success is dramatically lower.
Web CAFM Promises Rapid Time to Value. Eliminating the need for a big up-front capital investment offers an immediate shortcut to CAFM success—and money in your pocket in the form of much quicker ROI than most CAFM software.
Web-Based CAFM Offers Quick Deployment. Hosted CAFM implementations usually happen in a matter of weeks or months—compared to 12 months or longer with traditional client/server CAFM software.
Hosted CAFM Makes Customization Much Easier. With online CAFM solutions like facilitycloud, basic customizations are easy, so even business users can make changes in minutes via a point-and-click interface.
On-Demand CAFM Provides Unlimited Scalability. facilitycloud uses a multitenant approach, so there's no single instance of the software and you can scale your implementation fast—without incurring high costs or waiting weeks or months.
Web CAFM Features Painless Upgrades. Because deployments of new CAFM features are virtually instantaneous, you're always on the latest version with web-based CAFM systems—so upgrades are painless. Going through an upgrade of facilitycloud is just like when your favorite consumer sites, like Web-based email or networking sites, upgrade… all of your "stuff" is there and working right away after the upgrade.
To Summarize:
On-Premise CAFM Software. The outdated, client/server model for on-premise CAFM software requires you to invest in an IT infrastructure, including networks and servers, to run the software. You also need to hire a team of IT professionals to install, deploy, and maintain the software as the vendor makes enhancements to features or functionality.
Web CAFM Solutions. Web-based CAFM, hosted CAFM, on-demand CAFM, software-as-a-service (SaaS) CAFM, or cloud computing CAFM—all these terms refer to the same thing: a new model for delivering CAFM over the Internet. With this popular type of CAFM offered by salesforce.com, there's no software or hardware to buy, install, maintain, or upgrade.
Cloud Computing & CAFM
Cloud computing has the IT world abuzz. But what exactly is it… and what does it mean for CAFM?
The bottom line is that traditional client/server CAFM software is a dying breed, especially for IT organizations that want to contribute to the bottom line. The cloud computing approach to CAFM software shifted the market from an ownership to a rental model, freeing businesses from the hassle and expense of software purchasing, deployment, and maintenance.
Cloud computing is another way to describe the much more compelling model of delivering business software over the Internet. With Web CAFM solutions, you can cut costs because you only pay to use the software instead of licensing it. A multitenant platform with a single, common infrastructure and code base that is centrally maintained—also known as cloud computing—makes this model possible.
