Why it’s time for councils to move asset management to the cloud
From roads and playgrounds to libraries, stormwater and streetlights, community infrastructure underpins everyday life. Yet many councils are still managing these critical assets with systems not designed for today's pressures.
Across Australia, councils continue to navigate rising costs, tighter budgets, growing regulatory requirements, and increasing community expectations while using outdated systems. At the same time, asset portfolios are becoming larger, more complex and data-driven, fuelled by the digitalisation of almost everything – stretching databases to capacity.
Most councils are working to improve operational efficiency and the customer experience by rolling out digital transformation programs, with cloud technology at the centre of their strategies.
The cloud may be the answer for modernising organisations, but what about asset management? With everything that’s being thrown at councils, what can the cloud do to help manage aging infrastructure? Balance strained budgets? Or make the right investment decisions with so many competing priorities?
The answer is plenty. And it’s not just about benefits – the urgency to adopt cloud-based asset management is growing as cyber threats become more sophisticated and natural disasters place greater demands on asset resilience.
The gap between digital ambition and asset management reality
While the digital journey has begun for many, the reality is that many still rely on manual, paper-based processes to manage and maintain assets. In today’s environment – where reliability, transparency and accountability are critical – paper simply isn’t enough.
Others have added point solutions over time to address specific issues, but are now facing new challenges such as data silos, duplication, and inefficiencies that undermine confidence.
Some councils have invested in on-premise Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software to manage the entire asset lifecycle. While effective, internal IT teams are responsible for all system maintenance and security, soaking up much of their time. There’s another problem. As upgrades can be complex, expensive, and disruptive, they are often delayed or avoided altogether, leaving teams to make do with software that is sometimes years out of date.
Then there are those that try to bridge these gaps using a cloud-based ERP platform. While ERPs are essential for finance, payroll and procurement, asset management is rarely their strength – with asset teams often having to fall back on spreadsheets or standalone tools.
Why purpose-built cloud EAM is different
Purpose-built cloud EAM solutions are designed specifically for asset-intensive organisations like local government and are delivered in a way that supports modern ways of working. There are two key advantages:
- Purpose-built functionality
Best-of-breed EAM systems offer far deeper asset management capability than one-size-fits-all ERP platforms with basic templated bolt-on modules. With purpose-built EAM, councils can access much greater functionality, greater flexibility to customise or add fields to asset registers, and partner with AM specialists who understand local government. These systems are built on best practices, helping councils raise their data quality to industry-leading standards. Implementation is also typically faster, with go-lives measured in months rather than years. - Delivered in the cloud
Instead of hosting and maintaining software internally, councils access EAM securely via a browser or mobile app, while the vendor manages infrastructure, upgrades, security and support. This lightens the load on internal IT and delivers a smoother, faster user experience.
And yet, the benefits go well beyond IT. Here’s how best-of-breed cloud EAM can transform the way councils manage their assets:
- Always current: Updates happen continuously in the background, so teams get new functionality instantly – no costly upgrades or downtime. Strategic decisions can be implemented much faster, and councils can ensure they’re always compliant with changing regulations.
- Stronger security: Leading cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services invest heavily in cybersecurity, redundancy and disaster recovery. Data is also replicated across multiple locations, reducing the risk of data loss and downtime.
- Improved system performance: Councils can analyse huge volumes of data and uncover deeper insights with ultra-processing power.
- Built for the field: Purpose-built cloud EAM connects teams with data from any location at any moment from mobile devices or IoT sensors, improving efficiency and productivity.
- Scalable: As data volumes grow and needs change, cloud EAM scales easily without the need for new infrastructure. It’s much easier to roll out to new users, as all they need is a login – there’s no need for app building on a machine. This is especially handy when onboarding new business areas, where multiple users are joining at once.
- Easier integration: It integrates more easily with financial systems, document management systems, CRMs, GIS, predictive analytics and emerging technologies like AI-powered predictive maintenance (e.g. Siemens Senseye), creating opportunities that simply aren’t practical in legacy environments.
- More sustainable: Highly efficient cloud data centres generally have a lower carbon footprint than on-premises environments, supporting broader sustainability objectives.
Cloud vs on-premises cost
Moving asset management to the cloud isn’t just a technology decision; it’s a strategic one. With cloud EAM, local governments can unlock greater value from their assets, strengthen service delivery, and manage risk more effectively.
Sound expensive? It’s not. Along with continuous upgrades, powerful processing and top-tier cybersecurity, cloud EAM can cut costs by more than 40% compared with on-premise systems. The business case speaks for itself – the time to move is now.
