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When selecting facilities management software, one question you may have to ask yourself is whether you should buy an on-premise or cloud-based solution. With 93% of enterprise organizations using cloud-based software, more people are finding it to be the best solution with none of the tradeoffs of yesterday. Let’s explore four reasons for this!
1. Easier access to your site
Not all employees work on site or in the office all the time—instead, they may be in the field, on the road, or simply too busy to log into the facilities management system during regular working hours.
Cloud-based software allows your team to access the system from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. So, no more running back to the office to figure out what the next work order is or, interrupting daily activities to check the status of a request—your team has access to maintenance tasks at their fingertips with a cloud-based solution. In addition, facilities leaders have a bird’s eye view of all activities (in progress, scheduled, and completed) across multiple facilities, no matter what device they are using or where they might be with a cloud-based work order management system.
2. Low cost of entry and a lower total cost of ownership (TCO)
Cloud-based software is usually an operating expenditure (yearly cost the organization pays), whereas on-premise systems are usually a capital expenditure (one lump sum upfront). In addition, on-premise solutions require expensive hardware and people to maintain that hardware, which adds costs overtime. Therefore, the upfront cost of cloud-based software tends to be cheaper.
As time goes on, these costs tend to level out to around the same yearly cost. However, if you’re looking for a solution that doesn’t require a large fee to get up and running, cloud-based software is your answer. In addition, these costs are consistent over time so you are able to budget accordingly.
3. Short implementation times
Implementing on-premise applications can take upwards of 12-24 months and cost you tons of money with expensive consultants. As a facilities manager, you have deadlines to meet and you don’t have time to make sure everything that needs to happen with the implementation, happens. Comparing this with cloud-based software, the set-up time drastically improves. Some solutions can have your site up and running in as little as four weeks, which lets you focus all your time on managing your facilities, rather than implementing software.
4. Automatic system updates
Unlike on-premise applications, cloud-based software updates are made available to users automatically with no installations or application updates required, which can cost you large amounts of time. This results in a more seamless experience for users and reduces work for the local IT department.
How FMX can help
Here at FMX, we make using a cloud-based system even more efficient. Our development process is iterative and lean, which means we can get changes out very quickly with minimal bugs. In fact, over the past year we’ve released over 70 updates, averaging one every five days.
Because we have a web app, instead of a native app, these updates happen automatically and don’t require a manual update from users. This gives you and your team more time in your day to focus on the tasks at hand.
Explore more of the benefits of computer-aided facilities management (CAFM) software and how it can help your organization!
Written by
Alayna McCurry
VP, Marketing at FMX