Moving Beyond Legacy Limitations for SAP EAM Systems

The core SAP Enterprise Asset Management (SAP EAM) and SAP Plant Maintenance (SAP PM) system holds immense potential for many manufacturing organizations. However, tapping into that potential is often hindered by challenges that lead to plant teams struggling to extract useful, actionable data. Additionally, they are trapped by rising costs, stagnant technology, and solutions losing their SAP focus.

The Common Hurdles

During a recent webinar, SAP EAM mobile solutions provider Sigga drove home this issue with an example. One of their customers invested in a mobile work order or planning and scheduling solution years ago, perhaps as a capital project. Since then, they’ve faced significant price hikes – sometimes astronomical increases, like one customer’s jump from $200,000 to over $1 million annually. However, they were looking at unchanged user interfaces in five to seven years, with functionality lagging far behind the escalating costs.

Some vendors, once SAP-centric, have broadened their focus to non-SAP platforms. This dilution often leads to a shallower depth of functionality and reduced ability to configure solutions specifically for the nuances of an SAP environment. Some organizations also face forced migrations to SaaS models or find their current solution sunsetted due to acquisitions, leaving them feeling taken for granted.

The desire to switch is strong, but perceived barriers—new implementation costs, retraining personnel, and uncertain ROI—often prevent organizations from making a much-needed change.

The SAP-Focused Path to Modern EAM

However, Sigga, with over 20 years dedicated exclusively to the SAP EAM/PM space, understands these challenges intimately. They work across industries like oil & gas, mining, petrochemicals, and agriculture, helping SAP users optimize their maintenance processes.

Sigga provides two core solutions designed to maximize SAP EAM investments:

1. Mobile EAM (Empower): This is the first and only valid “no-code” mobile EAM solution for SAP. For instance, if a technician needs a safety form digitized, a manager can log into the Sigga platform, build that form, and deploy it to the technician’s mobile app by lunchtime. This flexibility allows organizations to rapidly adapt the mobile solution to capture the exact data their team needs from the field, whether online or offline. From creating detailed notifications with photo attachments to executing work orders, filling out custom checklists, confirming the time, and managing parts, Empower ensures rich and accurate data flows directly into SAP.
2. Advanced Planning & Scheduling: Sigga’s SAP Fiori-based Planning and scheduling platform, which is fully integrated with SAP, complements its mobile solution. It leverages AI and automation to give planners a real-time view of incoming notifications. It can seamlessly convert them into work orders using SAP Task Lists, manage resources effectively, and schedule work efficiently using intuitive Gantt or card views. This ensures the high-quality data captured in the field is used effectively for optimized planning and scheduling directly within the SAP context.

Recognizing the barriers to change, Sigga has introduced the “Safe Passage” program. It’s designed to be frictionless: migrate from an SAP user’s current planning/scheduling or mobile vendor to Sigga and cut their existing license costs by 50%. Crucially, Sigga charges no implementation fees, and organizations only pay once their Sigga solution goes live, even if there’s an overlap with their old contract. It’s a straightforward path to better technology and significant cost savings.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

Audit your current EAM solution’s true cost and SAP alignment. Don’t just accept the status quo of the current mobile EAM or planning/scheduling tool. Organizations must scrutinize renewal costs and benchmark these against the market and solutions offering transparent, potentially lower costs, like Sigga’s 50% reduction promise. They must also assess innovation lag that can potentially hinder user adoption and efficiency on the plant floor compared to modern, Fiori-based options and verify the vendor’s commitment to SAP solutions.

Demand demonstrable no-code flexibility for rapid plant floor adaptation. Recognize that manufacturing environments require agility. Therefore, when evaluating EAM mobile solutions, prioritize no-code over low-code and understand the difference between the two to select the right solution. Moreover, test specific scenarios with live demonstrations that easily adapt to evolving safety, quality, or operational procedures in manufacturing.

Map advanced mobile and planning features directly to your KPIs and require proof. Move beyond generic feature lists and focus on tangible outcomes for your manufacturing operations, such as identifying pain points, insist on demonstrations from potential vendors on how their tool directly solves those issues within an SAP context, and explore risk mitigation programs by investigating options like Sigga’s Safe Passage program to build a business case for technological improvements and cost savings.