Driving the Introduction of Digital Technologies to Enhance the Maintenance Management Process and Framework

The adoption of new digital technologies must be done to facilitate the decision-making processes in the organization’s asset management. These technologies should promote more objective and effective decision-making in asset management, help to recognize risks and uncertainties, focus management on assets, and ultimately, increase the competitiveness of the organization. However, managers must be very careful. Technology should never take precedence over maintenance processes but should be used to facilitate their implementation and to improve their effectiveness and efficiency in maintenance and asset management. Managers must design their digital transition in maintenance by looking at the key management areas that can now be better supported, selecting the tools that may be appropriate to improve these areas, and implementing new technologies accordingly. Without a proper management framework standardization, despite the introduction of digital technologies, managers could misalign with the company objectives, deriving on tailor-made managerial behaviors for each area and conditions. In addition, consensus among these area managers, for instance about budget decisions, could be difficult to reach.