ABSTRACT
We are at an exciting point in the maturity stage of asset management. Asset management has been around as long as there has been infrastructure that needed to be repaired or maintained. However, developments in this area are accelerating at a rapid pace. Some of the key factors affecting this acceleration are newer technologies such as mobile asset management solutions; geographic information system (GIS) and other spatial solutions; radio-frequency identification (RFID) and sensors and actuators; the growing intelligence of assets; the convergence of asset classes that can include onboard information technology (IT) for assets and assets that have Internet Protocol (IP) addresses; and the convergence of asset management, product life-cycle management (PLM), and service life-cycle management (SLM). These new developments are adding new capability, flexibility, and new efficiencies but have changing organizational implications as well. It is helpful to review the past evolution of asset management solutions to better understand the future trends.
