The financial world relies on the expertise of others to maintain the value of other assets - IT manages software and computers, marketing and legal manage brand image and goodwill, etc.  In the world of plant and equipment (physical) assets it's a hodge podge of functional managers - engineering looks after early life cycle decisions and activitiies such as design and build.  Operations and maintenance collaborate (or sometimes not) on the management of the operational phase of the life cycle.  They get together with engineering to a limited degree to manage upgrades and capacity enhancements.  Decommissioning and disposal is often completely forgotten. 

The assets that probably consume the most money are physical.  Yet they are managed in the most disjointed way.  It doesn't need to be that way.  There are smarter ways to work in order to deliver superior results.  Leaving asset management in the hands of technical people alone, is not working.  A change is needed.  We need a new breed of "Asset Managers".  They already exists elsewhere - the UK for example.  In the UK a specification arose, PAS 55, that describes what "Asset Management" is all about and it is pertinent to physical assets and their interfaces with all other types of assets.  It's an excellent spec. that is destined to become an ISO.  Soon enough it will become the gold standard (actually it already is, but few know it) and companies will all want ISO certification for their Asset Management Systems (and I don't mean IT systems here) so that they can put a banner on the company letterhead and outside the plants.  It will be a sign to the world that they are doing things the best way possible.

In a 2006 letter to UK network utilties, the main regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM), told network utility leadership that PAS 55 was the way to go.  They said, "OFGEM beleives that BSI-PAS 55 certification will help provide assurance as regards long term asset stewardship and establish greater clarity of the asset management policy and process that underpins the investment decisions of Network Companies."  The UK is way ahead of us here in North America when it comes to Asset Management.  They are showing the way.  While compliance to a specification like PAS 55 may seem onerous consider that it does what OFGEM described in that sentence.  Is that not of value to CFOs, to CEOs, to Boards of Directors? 

Asset Management is no longer a replacement term for Maintenance Management.  That began about 10 years ago for CMMS (yes software) vendors to make their products seem more "upscale" and "sexy".  The products didn't change much and still haven't.  It's only the name that got spiced up.  Those same vendors (at least those that still exist now) don't offer a lot more than they did back then - it's just packaged differently and running on newer technological platforms.  Functionality is still back in the past somewhere.  Only a couple of vendors are seriously looking at Asset Management as described in PAS 55. 

Become aware of this development.  It will shake your world in this domain that we reside.  We are the Asset Managers by default - not by design.  We've chosen to be relegated to bit parts in a major play.  It's time to take center stage with a leading role.  Asset Management is redefined - learn what it means and apply it.  Become conscious of your world as it is and as it will become.  Will you create value or be dragged along by those who would do it for you?  It's your choice.