Is the Data Center CMMS Dead?

CMMS is not enough for Data Centers to keep their operations running smoothly in today's environment. You need an DCOP™ (Data Center Operation Platform) designed to manage and handle the nuanced nature of your mission critical facility.

I’ve spent over fourteen years working with some of the world's leading data center companies. My team and I had to maintain operational integrity and consistency across many touchpoints. This often meant bringing together data from multiple sources and systems to create a comprehensive overview of the overall operations. The information in your CMMS is a crucial element, but it’s important to understand that it’s a piece that helps create the bigger operational picture. 

What's Wrong with CMMS?

Facility operations and management teams are still heavily invested in traditional CMMS solutions. They do work functionally, but the majority on the market were built for another era and repeatedly fall short when it comes to supporting a comprehensive overview for several reasons:

• Designed for one tech and one task interaction stacked up to be completed over time as resources became available.
• Assumes structured data, making it difficult to address the ever growing list of data sources and workflows.
• Limits the scope of analytics, providing an incomplete picture.
• Lack of flexibility in scheduling for odd hours, business days, or custom cycles.
• Limited integration capabilities. 

This may have sufficed during the 2000s - the age of information. However since the 2010s we’ve been in the age of analytics, decision support, and the customer.

Managers and customers expect seamless visibility, clarity and efficiency in the delivery and execution of solutions and services. CMMS systems alone won't get you there (and neither will DCIM, EAM, or ERP or any of the rest of the acronym soup). Instead, companies will need to begin transitioning to an operations platform.

What is a Data Center Operations Platform?

A DCOP is the key to gaining clarity into your comprehensive operational big picture. It integrates the necessary elements that involve your workforce, including your CMMS. Both solutions will provide your scheduling, asset management, and workforce management, but there are two critical differences that highlight why your CMMS should be a feature within a DCOP vs. a standalone system:

All Users

CMMSs focus on technicians and their management, a DCOP broadens the view to incorporate all users, including outside vendor teams, change control teams, security teams, auditors, and most importantly, customers.

All Data

Instead of structured data collected manually or semi-manually, a DCOP works across multiple disciplines and turns data into information. With a mission critical oriented platform it’s essential to connect across the operations workflows, including:

• • Customer Portals
  • Digital Checklists (MOPs & SOPs)
  • Change Management
  • Incident Management
  • Document Management
  • Training and Qualifications
  • Inventory Management
  • Network Operations Center
  • Security
  • Alarms / BMS / EPMS integration

Most importantly, an operations platform is easy to navigate and a single pane of glass that serves as a window into the activity across the organization, portfolio, or assets. It includes seamless integration with other systems as needed to make the whole solution operate as a coordinated ecosystem that easily engages new users from field technicians to the C-level executives.

What About My Bottom Line?

The objective of an integrated, comprehensive platform is to refine the business such that operations are not only managed, but can anticipate in such a way as to reduce costs and increase visibility and awareness across all stakeholders.

Today’s Data Center operations are complex and your solution needs to support many different assets, teams, vendors, schedules, and digital processes across multiple stakeholders. 

Trying to manage this complexity is one thing, but providing meaningful metrics to help take action where needed and provide insights to management is a must of any solution today.

By limiting yourself to traditional CMMS systems and various segregated solutions across the organization, you’ll be just scratching the surface of what is possible with your resources, data and operational effectiveness.

In Summary…

The expectations of customers and management are ever increasing while the availability of quality, trained staff is decreasing. Your best steps forward include taking a hard look at how a platform that operates across teams and disciplines and further, understands your business, will benefit the whole organization.

Solutions like Chekhub, not only bring together the components that make up a robust operations management platform, but beyond that, the company philosophy is firmly rooted in helping mission critical organizations deliver real value to their customers. 

To learn more about Data Center Operations Platforms, contact our team: