By Michael Mills, Technical Solutions Manager at Fluke Reliability
Updated: July 16, 2025 • Originally Posted: 2021 • 10 min read
A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) provides comprehensive oversight of what matters most to maintenance teams. The best CMMS software includes features for managing an array of preventive maintenance tasks. It should help you manage work orders and parts inventory, automate predictive maintenance activities, enable proactive maintenance strategies, document maintenance activities for regulatory compliance, and much more.
Investing in the best CMMS software for your organization can not only keep your maintenance program running smoothly but also help you optimize your efficiency and productivity. However, it’s important to keep in mind that choosing the ideal software isn’t just about the features and benefits — it’s about finding a solution and a vendor that works for you and your team.
Choosing the right CMMS solution can be a difficult process. An estimated 80% of CMMS implementations fail to meet expectations due to a lack of training and support after the sale. A trusted CMMS partner that provides the post-sale support you need can help you avoid common pitfalls and reap the full benefits of a robust CMMS solution.
Here’s how to choose the best CMMS software for your business needs.
7 Key Features to Look For in a CMMS
In Industry 4.0, the purpose of a CMMS is to help drive your business forward, bringing your maintenance team to new levels of efficiency and productivity while reducing unexpected maintenance costs and equipment downtime. While there are many critical features that support these objectives, there are seven must-haves for CMMS software implementation:
Best CMMS Feature No. 1: Configurability
There’s no one way to manage your maintenance operations. Every industry, company, and maintenance team has individualized needsfor maintenance management. From preventive maintenance processes to emergency maintenance processes, work requests, reporting, and much more, you need a computerized maintenance management system that simplifies your operations. That’s why the best CMMS software for you is one that’s sufficiently flexible to meet your unique requirements and scale with you over time.
Your CMMS provider should be well-versed in industry-specific configurations, giving you a robust custom solution that includes preventive maintenance procedures and complex workflows.
Best CMMS Feature No. 2: Comprehensive Integrations
Your entire maintenance management system — tools, software, and maintenance data — should all come together in your CMMS. Otherwise, you’re missing out on maximum ROI.
With a CMMS like eMaint, you can connect data across all your business systems. Integrate Fluke tools and sensors with AI recommendations, ERPs, SCADA, Bis, and more. Learn how eMaint Power BI integration helped Asahi Kasei achieve 97% PM completion.
Best CMMS Feature No. 3: Valuable Data and Reporting Features
Your maintenance data isn’t useful if you can’t draw real insights from it. Choose a provider with advanced CMMS reporting and analytics, including custom reports. Your CMMS software should provide a user-friendly interface for reporting and analytics, displaying the real-time and historical maintenance data you need to make informed decisions.
Best CMMS Feature No. 4: Training and Ongoing Support
As mentioned previously, lacking the right training and support is the #1 reason CMMS implementations fail. Choosing a robust and flexible CMMS solution for your exact business needs is ultimately meaningless if the implementation can’t get off the ground and the solution isn’t used to its potential.
Find a partner that will provide the support you need both before and after the sale with training, implementation support, and long-term professional services to keep your maintenance operations moving in the right direction.
Best CMMS Feature No. 5: Ease of Use
For any maintenance software, ease of use is key, especially for software meant to make your job easier. Navigation should be user-friendly, simple, and intuitive, requiring minimal keystrokes. Whether for inventory management, maintenance tasks, or regulatory compliance, it should be easy to enter data into the system and extract meaningful insights from it.
Best CMMS Feature No. 6: Mobile CMMS / Work Order Software App
Maintenance operations are now driven by instant access to real-time, actionable insights. The only way to capitalize on this is with a solution that brings these insights to your team’s fingertips, regardless of their location. The best CMMS software has strong mobile functionality, including a best-in-class work order software app that works with mobile devices to enable offline work in the field.
Best CMMS Feature No. 7: Proven Partner With Global Experience
The right CMMS provider should have decades of experience — not just in simple implementation, but global, multi-site CMMS implementation that drives real results in uptime, OEE, and maintenance efficiency.
At eMaint, we create scalable maintenance infrastructure that’s built to last. From new startups to legacy enterprise orgs, we’ll work with you to design the best CMMS solution for your needs. You’ll get everything you need, and nothing you don’t.
How to Choose the Best CMMS Software
Whether you’re looking for CMMS software for a small operation or a large enterprise, it’s important to choose a CMMS solution that is flexible and scalable to your needs. Let’s discuss exactly how to do that.
First, Articulate Your CMMS Goals and Priorities
When assessing the best CMMS software for your maintenance operations, you first need to articulate your maintenance goals and priorities to determine whether a CMMS is right for your team. For example, consider the following questions:
- What are the short and long-term goals for your maintenance team?
- What is your biggest challenge or hurdle keeping you from achieving these goals?
- What key performance indicators (KPIs) matter most to your team?
- What preventive maintenance strategy and other maintenance strategies are you currently using, and how do you hope to evolve your maintenance strategies in the future?
- What’s working well and what’s not working well in your current maintenance strategy? Consider maintenance requests, inventory management, asset management, and more.
- If you have maintenance software already, why isn’t it the best CMMS system for your team?
- What training and implementation resources will you need?
- Do you also need professional services from your CMMS vendor? If yes, what kind of services?
A 2020 study found that facility management software (in the form of a CMMS) can improve maintenance planning through critical data insights. As with computer-aided facility management, choosing the best CMMS software for your specific needs will maximize your insights.
Second, Know the Different Types of CMMS Providers
It might surprise you to learn that 60-75% of CMMS implementations are unsuccessful. One reason is that not all CMMS providers offer the same services and support. So, when choosing the best CMMS software for your maintenance personnel, you need to know how different types of providers stack up.
Over the past decade, a surge of new CMMS and enterprise asset management software (EAMs) has entered the market. These providers may be eager, but they lack sufficient real-world expertise. Without ample experience in maintenance, CMMS technology, and global implementation, they may not be able to meet your needs — both now and as you scale.
On the other hand, you’ll also see many legacy EAM providers. Familiar names may feel reliable, but these providers may be too large and inflexible to provide two key resources: support and configurability. From implementation and onboarding to everyday use, you may feel frustrated by slow response times and impersonal messages. It may also be difficult to get the personalized solution you need, leaving you settling for a CMMS system with too few or too many features.
Many maintenance departments try to use ERPs as maintenance software — but this is a mistake. CMMS software is highly specialized for maintenance management, while ERPs offer limited work request, work order, and asset management capabilities. Instead of dealing with inefficiencies and developing workarounds, adopt a true CMS that integrates with your ERP.
And that brings us to experienced, world-class CMMS & EAM Systems. These are CMMS software providers with decades of experience in successful implementation at a global scale. We may be biased, but we know that experienced CMMS software providers like eMaint deliver what our customers need to succeed: real-world maintenance experience, technological expertise, and a personalized approach to ongoing support.
Finally, Evaluate Which CMMS Is Best for Your Team
For large, multi-site operations, your maintenance team may be in search of a sophisticated and configurable system that can handle a high level of complexity and that can integrate seamlessly with a complex infrastructure of existing systems, from enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. You may also need broad multi-language capabilities and localization features.
Meanwhile, smaller teams may require a simpler maintenance management system with a priority on software that’s easy to use and quick to get off the ground. And if your company plans to expand, you want a CMMS that can accommodate that growth.
Ultimately, the best CMMS software for you is one that can be configured to fit your unique requirements now – and grow with you into the future.
Here are some key questions to ask as you decide:
- Is it configurable and scalable enough to meet your business requirements now and in the future?
- Does the vendor specialize in serving your industry and maintenance needs?
- Does the CMMS software provide the seven must-have capabilities described above?
- Does the vendor provide the support that you need to be successful in the long run?
To learn more, see 10 Considerations Before Selecting a CMMS.
The 3 Secrets to Seamless CMMS Implementation
Once you’ve chosen the right maintenance management software for your team, how can you ensure successful implementation? Here are our three secrets to success:
- Get leadership buy-in. Case studies can help justify the need and demonstrate value, like how Johns Hopkins achieved 92% uptime with eMaint.
- Get your organization ready. With the right CMMS software, your maintenance team can move away from run-to-failure and towards proactive maintenance. Gather ample records of your team, assets, parts, and work orders to make implementation easier.
- Invest in training early and often. Early adoption and continuous improvement are essential to long-term ROI from your maintenance management software.
Curious how eMaint CMMS meets your maintenance management needs? Explore eMaint today with a free trial.
About the Author
Michael Mills is a Technical Solutions Manager at Fluke Reliability, leading a team of solutions engineers dedicated to innovation and excellence in applying maintenance, reliability, and operations (MRO) strategies to CMMS and EAM implementation. With over a decade of experience in Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM), and Integrated Condition Monitoring (ICM), Mills is an authoritative thought leader in the realms of asset management, mobile CMMS deployment, and IIoT monitoring.