Information Engineering: CMMS/EAM industry directions at the National Plant Engineering Show

摘要

Some industries are recession proof. But the application software industry is definitely not one of them. A software vendor's sales-lead pipeline usually starts to dry up at the first hint of an economic downturn. Unfortunately, software vendors have little choice but to ride out a downturn. There is only so much belt-tightening a vendor can do and still hope to be in a competitive position when the economy emerges. Even so, vendors become more circumspect about their expenditures and prospects. One sure sign of economic emergence is when this caution turns into full throttle pursuit of new business. While 2001 had a hard ending for many CMMS/EAM vendors, according to all the proverbial indicators the economy is now on an upswing. So I expected an optimistic theme from CMMS/EAM vendors at this year's National Plant Engineering, MRO & Maintenance show. I wasn't disappointed. Even discounting the normal marketing and PR hype presented at these types of shows, I saw a competitive industry introducing new products and services. I saw genuine optimism about prospects for 2002 and beyond.