Why Moving to IBM MAS SaaS is the Smart Choice for Asset Management

For companies struggling with aging Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems, the biggest question is than just software selection. It's about streamlining implementation, hosting, and ongoing management. As IBM Maximo veterans, we have worked with many clients across multiple sectors. But with the change to IBM Maximo Application Suite, we know that MAS may seem more complicated, especially for smaller organizations. But, Nxt Era proposes a simplified approach, utilizing IBM MAS and IBM SaaS. 

Based on our team's many years of experience with Maximo, IBM MAS SaaS presents a great opportunity for smaller companies. It is now possible for these organizations to gain control over complex infrastructures, manage expenses effectively, and, most importantly, focus on optimizing asset management for improved business outcomes. The shift to SaaS makes more sense, especially for businesses seeking modernization without expanding their IT departments or budgets. 

Infrastructure Simplified: Say Goodbye to Container Orchestration Complexities  

No doubt you’ve heard quite a bit about containerized architectures, in which software resides in isolated environments called, well, containers. While this is very efficient, the software still must be managed. In these environments, the software can be scaled and managed independently. For example, IBM MAS is designed to run on Red Hat OpenShift, essentially a Kubernetes-based backbone for container orchestration. 

OpenShift, while powerful, demands specialized skills in DevOps, cloud infrastructure, and security. Configuring clusters, monitoring workloads, managing persistent storage, and troubleshooting networking can be a real handful. Consequently, many organizations, particularly those lacking dedicated cloud engineering teams, can find this to be a significant hurdle. 

The IBM MAS SaaS Approach 

IBM MAS SaaS effectively eliminates this complexity. Opting for SaaS hosting shifts the responsibility of the container orchestration layer to IBM. This includes provisioning and scaling infrastructure, vigilant system health and performance monitoring, timely patching and updates, ensuring high availability and disaster recovery, and stringent security and compliance protocols. 

Your internal team can then focus on what matters most: configuring Maximo to align seamlessly with your business processes, whether that is setting up workflows, diligently managing assets, or fine-tuning operations. 

Why This Matters 

This strategic shift empowers IT teams to become business strategy enablers rather than infrastructure caretakers. It's a transition from constant technical firefighting to generating strategic value. For organizations seeking modernization without building a full-fledged DevOps department, MAS SaaS offers a surprisingly practical solution. Generally speaking, MAS SaaS works better for companies with constrained resources. 

Financial Clarity: From CapEx to Predictable OpEx 

Traditional IT deployments are capital-intensive ventures. They entail procuring hardware, software licenses, and networking equipment and securing data center space. Don't forget the professional services, implementation, and ongoing maintenance costs. These expenses are considerable and, often, unpredictable. 

A server failure, a sudden surge in capacity demands, or a security breach can disrupt your budget. Since these expenses are capital expenditures (CapEx), they can be subject to lengthy approval processes and multi-year planning cycles. 

The SaaS Advantage 

IBM MAS SaaS replaces that model with a subscription-based approach. A predictable monthly or annual fee covers infrastructure, licensing, operational services, and Level 2 support from IBM’s Asset Lifecycle Management SRE Team. 

This converts asset management from a capital-intensive investment into a manageable operating expense (OpEx). You'll know precisely what you’re paying, when, and what you're getting in return. The shift to Consumption-Based Pricing models makes the software more affordable. With IBM MAS SaaS, pricing is consumption-based, so you only pay for what you use. Think of it like this: the number of applications installed, the capacity you actually need, and the services you consume all factor into the cost. This avoids the headache of paying for idle capacity or features you simply aren't using. Scaling up or down is easy, and your costs adjust accordingly, reflecting your true usage. 

For CFOs and IT directors, this is a real win. No more complex procurement cycles or justifying large upfront investments. Instead, you get predictable costs, which makes financial planning much easier and enables faster, more strategic resource allocation. For instance, one transportation agency was looking at a $1.2 million infrastructure upgrade just to keep their aging Maximo environment afloat. Switching to MAS SaaS eliminated that capital expense entirely, moving them to a predictable monthly subscription, which freed up funds for modernizing their fleet and driver training – investments that directly improved service quality. 

Security and Reduced Downtime 

Business continuity is absolutely crucial. Downtime, especially when managing public infrastructure, manufacturing lines, or critical facilities, can be incredibly costly, even dangerous. Traditionally, ensuring resilience meant secondary data centers, backup systems, replication tools, failover configurations, and, of course, regular testing and audits. These systems are not only expensive to build, but they also demand specialized expertise and constant vigilance. 

However, with SaaS hosting, IBM handles disaster recovery and redundancy for you. You benefit from automated backups, redundant systems across multiple availability zones, built-in disaster recovery protocols, and enterprise-grade SLAs for uptime and recovery. What this boils down to is your asset management system is always available, protected, and recoverable, without needing your own internal infrastructure or additional staffing. 

Security is also paramount. IBM's cloud infrastructure is designed for enterprise-grade security, incorporating role-based access control, encryption (both at rest and in transit), continuous monitoring and threat detection, and compliance with industry standards like ISO, SOC, and GDPR. This ensures both your data and operations are protected, and that you're compliant with regulatory requirements. 

This is transformative for IT leaders. Instead of spending time worrying about backup schedules, replication failures, or recovery time objectives, they can entrust those functions to IBM’s cloud operations team. This allows them to concentrate on strategic initiatives like data analytics, mobile enablement, and predictive maintenance. 

Retain full business control 

A common concern is the fear of losing control with SaaS hosting. Clients ask, "If IBM manages the infrastructure, what do we still own?" 

The answer is simple: you own everything that drives your business outcomes. 

With IBM MAS SaaS, you retain full control over your business strategy and asset management goals, application configuration and customization, user roles, permissions, and access control, as well as Level 1 support and user training. You define how Maximo works for your organization – how assets are tracked, workflows designed, and reports generated. IBM handles the technical plumbing; you handle the business logic. 

This model really empowers internal teams to focus on higher-value activities. Instead of firefighting with servers or managing patches, they can design asset hierarchies, configure preventive maintenance schedules, build dashboards and KPIs, and train users to drive adoption. It’s a transition from operational firefighting to strategic enablement. 

One of the most valuable parts of MAS SaaS is the support from IBM's Asset Lifecycle Management Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Team. These are the experts who keep your system running smoothly behind the scenes. Our SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) team? Think of them as the backstage crew for your Maximo Application Suite (MAS) on SaaS. 

They're the ones who: 

• Keep a close eye on the system, making sure everything's running smoothly. Think fine-tuning for peak performance. 

• Jump into action when things go wrong. They figure out what happened and why, so it doesn't happen again. 

• Handle the necessary, but sometimes tedious, tasks of keeping your system up to date with the latest patches and upgrades. 

• Make sure your infrastructure can handle whatever you throw at it – scaling up when needed and always looking for ways to make things more efficient. 
  

They act as a Level 2 support team, working with your internal folks to tackle the more complex issues and keep things running like a well-oiled machine. 

Dedicated Safety Net 

Having a dedicated SRE team is like having a safety net. You're not on your own. These are experts who really get Maximo, OpenShift, and all the cloud stuff – and their main gig is to keep your system healthy and secure. To me, that peace of mind is invaluable. 

Real-World Success Stories 

We’ve supported clients across asset-intensive sectors as they transition to IBM MAS SaaS. The following examples illustrate how this hosting model solves real operational challenges while enabling strategic improvements. 

Oil and Gas: Streamlining Compliance and Reducing Downtime 

A mid-sized upstream oil and gas company operating across North America faced persistent challenges with their on-prem Maximo deployment. Their infrastructure was aging, patching cycles were delayed, and compliance audits were increasingly difficult to manage due to fragmented data and inconsistent system availability. 

After migrating to IBM MAS SaaS, they achieved: 

• 99.9% system uptime, reducing unplanned outages during critical maintenance windows 

• Automated patching and updates, ensuring compliance with industry regulations such as API RP 754 and ISO 14224 

• Improved data integrity, enabling more reliable reporting for environmental and safety audits 

By offloading infrastructure management, their IT team was able to focus on configuring Maximo to support asset integrity workflows and mobile inspections. The move also helped them avoid a projected $800,000 in infrastructure refresh costs over three years. 

Utilities: Avoiding Infrastructure Overhead and Enabling Analytics 

A regional electric utility serving over 500,000 customers needed to modernize their asset management system but lacked internal expertise in OpenShift and container orchestration. Their legacy Maximo environment was hosted on-prem, and scaling to meet new regulatory and operational demands was proving difficult. 

With IBM MAS SaaS, they were able to: 

• Avoid hiring a dedicated DevOps team, saving an estimated $250,000 annually in staffing costs 

• Reduce infrastructure overhead by 35%, thanks to consumption-based pricing and elastic cloud capacity 

• Enable advanced analytics, using Maximo’s built-in capabilities to support predictive maintenance and outage forecasting 

The utility’s IT leadership cited the SaaS model as a key enabler for shifting their focus from system maintenance to strategic data initiatives, including integration with GIS and SCADA systems. 

Municipalities and Government: Stabilzed Costs and Improved Service Delivery

A large municipal government responsible for public works, fleet management, and facilities maintenance was facing a $1.2 million infrastructure upgrade to support their aging Maximo 7.6 environment. Budget constraints and procurement delays made the upgrade infeasible in the short term.  

By migrating to IBM MAS SaaS, they: 

• Eliminated the need for capital infrastructure investment, replacing it with a predictable monthly subscription 

• Improved system performance and reliability, enabling faster work order processing and better citizen service delivery 

• Reallocated funds to frontline services, including fleet modernization and staff training for mobile work management 

The city’s asset management team reported a 30% reduction in administrative overhead and a significant improvement in user adoption, especially among field technicians using mobile devices. 

Planning Your Move: What to Expect (and What We Do) 

Moving to MAS SaaS isn't something you can just do overnight. It takes some planning, coordination, and, let's be honest, some expertise. At Nxt Era, we help clients with: 

• Taking a good, hard look at their current Maximo setup. 

• Figuring out exactly what they need from the new system, both from a business and a technical standpoint. 

• Planning and carrying out the actual migration. 

• Setting up MAS to meet their specific goals. 

• Training users and getting them excited about the new system. 

We work with our clients, partnering with their IT and operations teams to make sure the move goes smoothly and that everything is set up correctly. 

A Collaborative Migration Approach 

We don't just parachute in and start changing things. We really believe in working alongside your existing teams—IT, operations, even the business folks—to make sure the move to MAS is smooth, that everything's set up the right way, and that we can measure the results. 

Here's what that process usually looks like: 

• Discovery and assessment: We dive deep into your current Maximo setup, figure out what depends on what, and get a clear picture of your business goals. 

• Migration planning: We create a roadmap with timelines, what resources you'll need, and how we'll handle any potential risks. 

• Configuration and optimization: We tailor MAS to fit your specific workflows, asset organization, and reporting needs. 

• Training and adoption: We help your teams get comfortable with the new environment, from understanding their roles to building cool dashboards. 

• Post-migration support We stick around to make sure everything's running well, troubleshoot any issues, and fine-tune things as needed. 

It's not a one-size-fits-all deal. Every organization is different, and we adjust our approach to match what's most important to you, what you're working with, and what your team can handle internally. 

What MAS SaaS Lets You Actually Do 

When you're not spending all your time managing infrastructure, your team can tackle the bigger, more important stuff. Here are just a few examples of what our clients have been able to do after switching to MAS SaaS: 

• Implementing mobile work management: Now that their infrastructure is stable, teams can roll out mobile apps for field techs, which means better data and less paperwork. 

• Launching predictive maintenance programs: With less time spent patching and monitoring, IT can support analytics projects that reduce downtime and extend the life of equipment. Asset management, at its core, is about more than just the technical aspects. It's about seeing those technical aspects translate into tangible business advantages. 

For example, regulatory compliance becomes far more manageable thanks to integrated security features and thorough audit trails, leading to quicker and more reliable reporting. 

Furthermore, relieving the burden of infrastructure management frees up time and resources that can be reinvested in improving the user experience through training, interface customization, and stronger support. 

These enhancements aren’t merely technical wins – they’re clear-cut advantages for the business, leading to improved service delivery, cost savings, and more informed decisions. 

Common Concerns  

Many clients naturally have questions when they’re thinking about MAS SaaS, and they are usually very insightful. Here are some of the recurring themes we address: 

What about control over our data? 

Rest assured, your organization maintains ownership of its data. While IBM provides the hosting and security, you define the access controls. This means your team decides who gets to see what, how the data is used, and how it integrates with your existing systems. 

Can IBM MAS SaaS still be tailored to our needs 

Absolutely. MAS SaaS is designed to be highly adaptable. You can customize workflows, screens, reports, and integrations to align with your particular business processes. The real difference is that you’re not burdened with managing the underlying infrastructure, which, in most cases, is a huge relief. 

How easy is it to scale as we grow? 

MAS SaaS offers true elasticity. You can easily increase capacity, add users, or introduce new applications as your needs evolve. The pricing automatically adjusts based on your consumption, eliminating the need for new hardware investments or complicated rearchitecting. 

How do software updates work? 

IBM manages updates seamlessly. You’ll automatically receive patches, security fixes, and feature enhancements without having to schedule any downtime or tie up internal resources. This keeps your system both current and secure. 

Take the Nxt (Era) Step Towards a Better Future 

Modern asset management is about aligning technology with your overall business strategy. IBM MAS SaaS provides a hosting model designed for flexibility, predictability, and resilience. It simplifies infrastructure, stabilizes costs, and frees your teams to focus on what truly matters. 

At Nxt Era, we’ve witnessed firsthand the transformative impact of this shift. It's not solely about reducing IT costs, but also about unlocking new opportunities. Whether you’re upgrading from an older Maximo version or embarking on a completely new asset initiative, MAS SaaS provides a solid platform for growth, innovation, and operational excellence. 

If your organization is ready to move beyond the complexities of infrastructure management and embrace strategic enablement, Nxt Era is here to help you make it happen.