Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FROM INSPIRATION TO
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Supported by
Over 500 professionals from asset owning and supporting organisations completed
the survey, providing insight into the current challenges being faced by the evolving
professional discipline. It is the breadth of organisations in both operations and scale
that allow us to draw meaningful conclusions from the results.
It can be the case that asset management is viewed as capital spending, but is
that really true? At the very least, if capital expenditure is deferred or changed by
operational expenditure and techniques that directly affects investment decisions.
This survey explores the approaches organisations are taking to investment where
capital funding is not necessarily available, or even the most efficient or effective
route to delivering value.
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Executive Summary
This report reviews the current state of infrastructure asset management with special focus on some
of the perceived challenges and top priorities for the year ahead. It also touches upon various critical
elements in asset management and provides insights on the benefits, drivers, ROI and challenges to
the deployment of a robust asset management strategy at corporate level.
Role
A Director/ Head of Asset Management/ Operations/ Engineering 18.0%
A Manager, Engineer, Project Manager 37.6%
An Industry Consultant and / or Analyst 27.8%
A Solution Provider 16.6%
Job function
Asset Management 43.8% Technology 2.0%
Asset Strategy & Performance 18.7% Investment Projects 3.0%
Operations 7.0% Risk Management 2.0%
Maintenance 9.5% Data Management 2.0%
Engineering 6.0% Other 6.0%
Sector*
Water Utilities 24.7% Manufacturing 2.0%
Gas Utilities 7.0% Automotive 0.7%
Electricity 21.7% Nuclear 2.7%
Oil and Gas 13.7% Wind Power 3.3%
Roads 14.4% Hydro Power 2.0%
Rail 9.4% Public Sector (Councils) 14.7%
Airports 4.3% Other 16.7%
Ports 2.7%
Region
Western/Northern Europe 54.8% South America 1.7%
Eastern Europe 2.4% Australasia and Asia Pacific 16.3%
Middle East 2.7% Africa 4.8%
North America 13.6% Other 3.7%
Employees
0 – 100 9.1%
100 – 1,000 30.4%
1,000 – 5,000 32.4%
5,000 – 10,000 12.2%
10,000+ 15.9%
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What are the top priorities in asset management?
Building a coordinated asset management strategy at corporate level is imperative and one of
the priorities that received the highest responses from both asset owners and solution providers.
Although from the result shown, data management and data quality improvement appear to be the
number one priority for organisations in 2015.
In contrast solution providers surveyed believe that their customers’ top priorities are (a) to build a
coordinated asset management strategy at corporate level and (b) prioritising and planning asset
investment.
28.6% Improving data management and data 29.6% Building a coordinated asset
quality management strategy at corporate level
26.6% Prioritising and planning asset 28.2% Prioritising and planning asset
investment investment
24.9% Building a coordinated asset 21.1% Improving data management and data
management strategy at corporate level quality
15.0% Improving risk assessment and 14.6% Improving risk assessment and
management management
5.0% Implementing new regulations and 6.6% Implementing new regulations and
standards standards
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Improving data management and data
quality
End Users
28.6% Why is this a priority?
This is one area where there seems to be a divergence of views most likely
due to the lack of maturity of the topic. It is important to highlight that the
majority (47.4%) of asset owners and the minority (25.6%) of vendors that
picked data management and data quality as the top priority believe that
current data management tools are not able to support business decisions.
On the contrary the majority of the vendors believe that current systems are
Vendors
21.1% not producing the type and quality of data required.
48.7%
47.4%
38.5%
25.6% 25.6%
14.1%
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Which investments will they be making in
the next 12 months to help improve data
management and data quality?*
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Prioritising and planning asset
investment
End Users
26.6% Why is this a priority?
Prioritising and planning asset investment has been selected by 26.6% of asset
owners and 28.2% of solution providers. Both agree that this is the second
biggest priority in asset management.
In response to this it is interesting that ‘asset investment planning’ comes
second to risk in the investment priorities on the next page. Implication is that
Vendors this view is often being driven by a risk mitigation strategy.
28.2%
58.2%
50.9%
26.9% 26.4%
22.6%
14.9%
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Which investments will they be making in
the next 12 months to help prioritise and
plan asset investment?*
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Building a coordinated asset
management strategy at corporate level
End Users
24.9% Why is this a priority?
Remarkably there is no agreement within the asset management community
as to why it is a priority to build a coordinated asset management strategy at
corporate level. The majority (46.2%) stated that silos between departments
still exist and this is the main hurdle preventing them from achieving the
implementation of asset management at corporate level. Instead 43.1% of
asset owners agreed with the majority of solution providers surveyed that the
Vendors
benefits of implementing a robust asset management strategy at corporate
29.6%
level are still not well understood across the organisation. On the contrary
only a few of the experts surveyed require more engagement and project
approval from C level.
46.8% 46.2%
43.1%
37.1%
16.1%
10.8%
0
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Which investments will asset owners
be making in the next 12 months to help
building a coordinated asset management
strategy at corporate level?*
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Improving risk assessment and
management
End Users
15.0% Why is this a priority?
Interestingly both asset owners and solution providers ranked this as the forth
priority when considering investments for the coming year. Uniformly they
believe that improving risk assessment and management is a requirement due
to the lack of a comprehensive and coherent view of risks across the whole
portfolio.
Vendors
14.6%
76.9%
55.6%
27.8%
16.7% 15.4%
7.7%
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Which investments will they be making in
the next 12 months to help improve risk
assessment and management?*
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Implementing new regulations and
standards
End Users
5.0% Why is this a priority?
This graph again shows that there is contrast between the responses of asset
owners and vendors. The results suggest asset owners feel constrained by
internal resource allocation, whereas consultants believe that if end users had
a better understanding they would be able to deliver more efficiently, rather
than requiring additional resources.
Vendors
6.6%
50.0%
45.5%
42.9%
36.4%
18.2%
7.1%
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Which investments will they be making
in the next 12 months to help implement
new regulations and standards?*
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Closing Summary
The results highlight Asset Management as a maturing discipline, with priorities spread across
a number of areas. While there may be individual organisations pioneering practice within the
constraints of their sector or geography there is clearly significant work being undertaken across the
whole of the AM world.
There is no doubt that experienced asset managers are beginning to realise the need to be more
‘savvy’ about what they spend on and gain from the data and information they own. This is a very
costly asset and whether or not they get value depends on understanding clearly what they want
to achieve and what decisions they need information to support and guide. It is interesting that
responses show a thirst to gather more data rather than discriminate about what data becomes
information. Perhaps the same approach needs to be taken to investment in information (and data)
that is taken to investment decisions about the operational assets?
Interestingly, although sometimes dismissed a ‘soft’ and ‘intangible’, the same causes choke off
decision making about investment as about information systems and decision making. Whose
interests are being served? So we return to the hazards of ‘silo mentality’, rather than cross
organisational consensus and communications, with the tendency to hoard information and data
and use it ‘against’ other functions and departments. So culture and leadership ought, perhaps, to
be recognised as a root cause that is still preventing asset owners make decisions that are good
holistically. To be fair, regulatory pressures are a potential distraction from long-term thinking and
management and, perhaps, the achievement of and recognition of good asset management by
regulators ought to be the target of both regulator and regulated?
Supported by
For more details about the Infrastructure Asset Management Exchange or to request your invitation
as a delegate, speaker or solution provider:
Email exchangeinfo@iqpc.com
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