The State of APM In Industry

Table of Contents

• Executive Overview
• Key Takeaways from the Survey
• Conclusions
• Appendix

Executive Overview

Many in the industry expect asset performance management (APM) to emerge as the clear “killer app” for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in asset-intensive industries.  This seems logical, since rapidly maturing asset health monitoring technology and less costly Industrial IoT technologies provide the connectivity, analysis, and storage capabilities needed to put it all together to help improve the availability, reliability, and performance of industrial assets. 

As part of our ongoing research into this important area, ARC Advisory Group surveyed 93 asset performance management solution users in 2020 on the state of their organizations’ respective APM journeys.    The survey was created to get a snapshot of how organizations are keeping up with the changes in asset management.  And as the responses indicate, there are many different journeys under way.

APM Journeys Vary Widely

Many industrial organizations indicate strong interest in asset performance management, yet relatively few have achieved the ultimate goal of enterprise-wide adoption. The reasons are many, but innovations in interoperability are “moving the needle” in the right direction.  When queried about the current state of their APM initiatives, a wide disparity of responses emerged. Many maintenance and operations leaders clearly understand why APM is important to their asset-intensive organizations, but many are still assessing the “what, “when”, and “how” of crafting their organization’s IT, OT, and APM transformations.      

Key Takeaways from the Survey

The survey results show that most firms have a strong desire to better understand and implement best practices in APM.  However, progress in implementing APM initiatives is uneven, with just slightly more than one-third of respondents indicating that their APM program is mature with IoT devices and sensors in place and assets connected or connectable.

Overall, APM remains a work-in-process at many firms.  For example, almost four-in-ten survey respondents indicated that their APM strategies are still under development.  At this stage of APM maturity, it is surprising that so many asset-intensive organizations remain in the early stages of APM adoption.  The benefits of APM are well-documented and widely available.  For more APM-specific information, visit the ARC website.  ARC encourages end users to focus their attention on persistent asset-related problem in need of a solution.  Focus on the problem, not the technology.  Start small, prove the value, and build the confidence needed to expand. 

Once the organization has decided to move forward with APM initiatives, an APM strategy should be developed by a cross-functional team of appropriate stakeholders.  Understanding current and future organizational needs are key to developing an effective APM strategy.  Questions such as: “Who in the organization is responsible for APM strategy and execution?  How can we connect key IoT devices and sensors?” and “What is the timeframe for implementing an APM system?” are just a few that will need to be answered for the initiative to succeed. 

On the pages that follow, we provide key takeaways from some of the more noteworthy topics of the survey.  In addition, charts in the appendix at the end of this reports summarize the participants’ responses to all  the survey questions.

Current State of APM Initiatives

Key takeaways:

• Less than a quarter of respondents indicate that their strategy has been implemented 
• One-in-ten say that their strategy is developed, but not yet implemented 
• About four-in-ten respondents say that their strategy is still under development
• Almost 20 percent of respondents plan to develop an APM strategy in the future
• 8 percent have no plans to implement an APM strategy

How Strongly Respondents Associate Selected Opportunities and Benefits with APM

Key takeaways:

• Strong association (Over 3.5 on a 4-point scale): asset information management (AIM); improved asset reliability and availability; machine and equipment health  
• Moderately strong association (3.3 to 3.5): Balance of costs, opportunities, and risks; maintenance optimization; solutions utilizing data and analytics; visibility into costs, opportunities, and risks 
• Somewhat strong association (3.0 to 3.29): Optimal deployment of assets; EHS 
• Somewhat weak association (Below 3.0): Quality, other

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