Research Manager, Enterprise Asset Management and Smart Facilities for IDC
IDC Innovators are emerging vendors with revenue <$100 million that have demonstrated either a groundbreaking business model or an innovative new technology — or both. This IDC Innovators study profiles Fexa, KloudGin, MaintainX, and Smarten Spaces in the dynamic market of mobile enterprise asset management applications. These vendors support organizations that are turning to digital for answers with mobile-first software platforms and consumerlike user experience to support work from anywhere.
“Enterprise asset, maintenance, and facility management face increasing complexity, pressure to improve performance, and changing regulatory requirements,” says Juliana Beauvais, research manager, Enterprise Asset Management and Smart Facilities at IDC. “Today, organizations seek more functionality on intuitive, configurable mobile platforms without costly customizations, and emerging vendors are answering the call via innovative offerings.”
Smarten Spaces offers Jumpree 3.5, an integrated AI-based suite to help automate hybrid workplaces.
It enables flexible workplace experiences with configurable mobile applications and recommendations. Smarten Spaces’ capabilities include desk and meeting room booking, visitor management, facility service requests, and space management, as well as connected functionality from an extensive partner network.
Smarten Spaces enables space management and helps organizations measure workplace usage, document their needs, and make real estate portfolio decisions. It focuses on interoperability between physical workplace management and digital workspaces with over 35 microservices. Starting strong with partnerships like Microsoft Teams, Google Workplace, and Cisco Webex, Smarten Spaces is actively building an ecosystem of digital work experience technologies connected by a single platform.
Organizations need to undergo massive change management efforts to enable effective hybrid work models. Further, high demand for easily deployable workplace management software drove many new market entrants, particularly in room booking and space planning. In the long term, Smarten Spaces will need to educate enterprises on the new ways of working. It aims to overcome obstacles by partnering with adjacent players and building an interconnected platform, as opposed to one-point solution.
Many factors contribute to the shift toward mobile-first enterprise asset management (EAM) applications. Organizations expect maintenance professionals to function efficiently; improve performance; take on more responsibilities that direct impact occupants, employees, and customers; and comply with changing environmental, health, and safety regulation. Decision makers turn to digital for answers, exploring mobile work management software with consumerlike user experiences. The key is the ability to automate an organization’s workflows with configurable mobile processes as opposed to the organization changing to fit a vendor’s rigid mobile app, requiring ongoing customizations or expensive professional services. Mobile-native applications function more like platforms, each offering a differentiated combination of low-code/no-code workflow builders, easy configuration via a graphical user interface, or an API-driven architecture with a strong partner ecosystem. This study provides a comparison of four vendors in the space across the broader EAM category, including asset-intensive EAM, facility maintenance, and workplace management (see Figures 1–5).
Enterprise asset management (EAM) software automates the many aspects of managing an organization’s physical assets. EAM applications combine maintenance and asset life-cycle management, following assets from as built to as maintained and through to decommissioning and typically include some capabilities for capital planning and financial analysis. Many applications also have predictive maintenance, asset performance management, and field service management functionality. An organization’s assets may include manufacturing equipment, mining machinery, oil rigs, fleets, and linear assets (i.e., roads, rail, pipelines, power generation, transmission, and distribution lines). Asset management applications support asset record management, asset tracking and location, spare parts inventory management, maintenance procurement, and maintenance reporting.
EAM has two important application types. Computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) manage an organization’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) operations for its assets. CMMS often include work order management, preventative maintenance, inspections, spare parts inventory management, and warranty tracking. Facility management applications support the maintenance and operational profile of commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and related outdoor sites. The software enables day-to-day operations and long-range planning of buildings and workplaces, including maintenance, service delivery, sanitization, and vendor management. Other facility and workplace management applications provide functionality for space management, energy management, capital project management, and commercial real estate and lease administration.
An “IDC Innovators” document recognizes emerging vendors chosen by an IDC analyst because they offer an innovative new technology or a groundbreaking business model, or both, and were approved by the IDC Innovators Review Panel. It is not an exhaustive evaluation of all companies in a segment or a comparative ranking of the companies.
An IDC Innovators document highlights vendors that meet the following criteria:
In addition, vendors in the process of being acquired by a larger company may be included provided the acquisition is not finalized at the time of publication of the document. Vendors funded by venture capital firms may also be included even if the venture capital firm has a financial stake in the vendor’s company.