Asset Management – An Anatomy

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Version 4, July 2024

Urgent and short-term matters can distract us from important activities that can deliver more value, especially long-term. Organisations are no different; made worse by the necessary division of responsibilities, which can easily create ‘silos’ and loss of alignment. Yet we know that strategic success comes from everyone consistently working towards the right goals: ‘together as one!’.

Stakeholder needs are sometimes seen differently by various departments. Short-term financial constraints can cause waste. There are also diverse perspectives of people and business units separated by geography, markets or professions. These can cause friction because their decisions and actions do not appear sensible to others. In this fragmented environment, priorities and performance metrics can conflict, causing the oppositve of effective teamwork!

In real life, despite good procedures: finance or commercial colleagues talk a different ‘language’ to operations, maintenance and engineering; hard data can be difficult to obtain (or confusion); there are too many ‘surprises’ or incidents requiring ‘fire-fighting’; risk management is inconsistent; investment is needed but there is no consensus about what is more valuable: in fact, there is no single, accurate source of ‘the truth’ anyway. Whether private or public sector, this can lead to reputation damage and inefficiencies, waste and lost opportunities.

If any of this sounds familiar, then reading our Anatomy is worthwhile use of your time.