What is computer-aided facility management (CAFM)?

CAFM systems help businesses increase operational sustainability and efficiencies and make data-driven decisions around asset management, space management and maintenance operations.

Before CAFM, facility management was largely manual, with teams relying on reactive maintenance, the practice of allowing physical assets to fail before fixing them. In the 1990s and 2000s, with the rise of network infrastructure, CAFM systems became popular, in part because of their reliance on rapidly expanding digital technology. Today, CAFM software has become key to digital transformation efforts—strategic initiatives to incorporate digital tools into every aspect of an organization.

Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning (ML) and generative AI (gen AI), CAFM systems have become complex, largely autonomous tools that can take on increasingly complex tasks.

Modern CAFM software dashboards give organizations real-time visibility into asset energy consumption, space usage, physical condition and more, helping stakeholders make more strategic, cost-effective decisions about their most valuable assets.

Computer-aided facility management (CAFM) software systems constantly gather data in real-time, leveraging IoT technology and displaying information about asset health on a single, centralized dashboard.

CAFM software helps facility operations teams monitor their physical assets with detailed visualizations and automate functions like maintenance scheduling, inventory control and space management that used to require manual input.

CAFM platforms are built out of modular features, which are independent software components responsible for different aspects of facility operations and management. Here are the five most popular modules in CAFM systems:

• Property management: In CAFM systems, property management modules help teams coordinate and gather data on how their physical spaces are being used and automate processes. For example, in an office building, the space planning module of a CAFM system helps optimize floorplans, manage occupancy levels and room reservations, and identify areas for improvement.
• Asset tracking and management: CAFM systems help extend the lifecycles of physical assets like desks, audiovisual devices and IT components by storing important data about each asset so they can be properly cared for. Examples of the kinds of asset information CAFM stores include location, physical description, warranty, cost and maintenance history. Carefully tracking these metrics helps schedule maintenance and avoid unexpected equipment failures that can result in costly downtime.
• Predictive and preventive maintenance: CAFM software gathers and analyzes real-time data about facilities, helping streamline maintenance processes and prevent breakdowns. Leveraging data about facility performance and maintenance, CAFM systems enable predictive and preventive maintenance processes that can extend asset life.
• Work order management: Today’s advanced CAFM systems automate the issuing and resolution of work orders, an otherwise manual, time-consuming process. CAFM software platforms create, assign and track work orders to completion based on the real-time data they are gathering about asset performance.
• Reporting and analytics: CAFM platforms collect and analyze volumes of asset data that can help managers and IT teams optimize asset performance and reduce maintenance costs. Dashboards display detailed reports that help managers gain insights into how their most valuable assets are performing over their lifecycles and plan and budget accordingly.

While computer-aided facility management (CAFM) systems are rising in popularity due to their ability to swiftly integrate new technologies to increase efficiencies, they aren’t the only facilities management software enterprises use. Here’s a look at two other kinds of facilities management software that perform similarly.

Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS)

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), is a software system that centralizes and optimizes maintenance operations pertaining to individual assets.

A CMMS is typically more focused and technical than CAFM, which can track information relating to resource allocation, real estate management and other, non-technical asset-related areas.

Integrated workplace management system (IWMS)

An integrated workplace management system (IWMS) is the opposite of a CMMS in terms of the relationship to CAFM in that it tracks even broader metrics than CAFM typically handle.

Enterprises often combine CAFM and CMMS capabilities to give project management teams a holistic view of asset performance and how it relates to overall business conditions.

An IWMS is typically used by large organizations that want to extend CAFM capabilities into areas like lease management, cash flow and sustainability through a single, easy-to-use dashboard.

From enabling broad, strategic initiatives like digital transformation to providing granular, real-time glimpses into asset functionality, modern computer-aided facility management (CAFM) systems have many benefits. According to a recent report, the global market for CAFM software is expected to more than double over the next decade, rising from USD 3.8 billion in 2024 to USD 9.6 billion by 2033.¹

Here’s a look at some of its most popular benefits.

CAFM systems help organizations improve their core operational efficiencies in several important ways. By leveraging AI, IoT and ML capabilities, modern CAFM platforms automate some manual tasks like work order creation and maintenance scheduling.

Intelligent CAFM automation helps maintenance teams reallocate human resources to tasks that are more suited to their expertise, save time and create efficiencies.

By helping teams monitor and maintain their assets with real-time information, CAFM software ensures that every asset in operation has a detailed performance history so teams can make strategic decisions about its operation.

Detailed performance metrics help facility managers decide what kinds of maintenance an asset needs and how best to schedule repairs. Also, tracking asset performance through a CAFM system helps keep maintenance costs down while ensuring each asset is performing at its highest capacity.

CAFM platforms help extend asset lifecycles by automating aspects of preventive and predictive maintenance and providing accurate and detailed data so managers know when to replace critical components.

By ensuring assets are serviced in this way, CAFM helps teams shift from reactive to proactive maintenance processes, lessening the likelihood of assets suffering a breakdown. Proactive maintenance, when practiced over an extended period, prevents minor issues with an asset from developing into something larger and extends its overall length-of-use, or lifecycle.

Using assets longer and more closely tracking and attending to their repair needs over time helps organizations reduce the overall costs of owning and operating them.

By improving operational efficiency and helping teams more closely track maintenance activities, CAFM directly contributes to overall cost savings for enterprises. Newer CAFM systems even integrate lease management and real estate monitoring modules to provide visibility into the long-term costs of physical assets.

Modern CAFM platforms not only gather volumes of data from IoT sensors affixed to assets, but they also perform big data analytics to help organizations uncover trends and make more strategic decisions.

CAFM analytics tools provide visibility into key aspects of facilities and asset management like energy consumption, maintenance costs and space usage that can reduce costs and increase efficiencies.

Modern organizations use computer-aided facility management (CAFM) solutions for a wide range of tasks that help make their core business processes more adaptive, efficient and resilient. Here’s a look at some of the ways CAFM systems are being applied at an enterprise level.

Real estate can be one of the most expensive assets to acquire and maintain. CAFM software provides a centralized hub organizations can rely on to track the length and terms of leases, optimize office layouts and store information on tenants.

CAFM systems optimize real estate management at an enterprise level by giving stakeholders a real-time view into space usage practices, helping them make smarter, more strategic decisions.

Advanced CAFM property management modules can be integrated with financial data, ensuring that properties are managed in a way that meets budget requirements.

CAFM systems integrate with CMMS software to automate repetitive tasks that are critical to maintenance operations but have been performed manually for years. Examples include assigning work orders, tracking maintenance costs and analyzing asset performance metrics.

IoT sensors trigger automated processes that schedule maintenance and repairs when an asset performance metric dips below a set threshold. For example, when a component with an IoT sensor approaches failure, CAFM software can automatically schedule its replacement. In the past, the same component might have had to wear down and break, causing unnecessary downtime, before it was replaced.

Setting and meeting sustainability goals requires methodical data gathering and analysis, processes CAFM systems can automate and streamline.

CAFM platforms can be set up to monitor energy consumption and environmental impact and alert stakeholders when goals aren’t being achieved. CAFM software also helps streamline and enhance procurement, ensuring only vendors that meet certain environmental standards are used.

CAFM systems help make workers and workplaces safer through rigorous data analysis, improved maintenance procedures and automated compliance capabilities.

CAFM platforms equipped with ML algorithms can monitor large volumes of system data, ensuring that the equipment is safe to use. For large, global enterprise, CAFM software can automate compliance practices, ensuring that business processes don’t breach the regulations of a territory they are operating in. Finally, CAFM solutions can be set up to maintain a long audit trail so when an issue arises with safety or compliance, it’s easy to spot and fix.

CAFM software rigorously monitors asset performance and maintenance, ensuring they last as long as possible. Through the detailed tracking of timelines, maintenance records, budgets and resource allocations, CAFM platforms help teams manage assets from procurement through disposal—the entire asset lifecycle.

Using CAFM to manage assets this way helps enterprises ensure that investments in equipment and facilities meet their own rigorous standards and that all maintenance activity is documented.

Since its beginnings in the 1980s and 1990s, computer-aided facility management solutions have been closely tied to digital technologies, helping them evolve to meet customer needs as new digital tools were developed.

This trend is unlikely to change in the future, putting CAFM solutions in a strong position to grow. Here’s a look at some trends driving development and innovation in CAFM systems right now:

• Integration with smart buildings: CAFM software solutions have already integrated some smart building tools and are poised to go further. Today, CAFM systems automate aspects of facilities management like lighting, HVAC and security. As IoT technology grows, expect these systems to become more sophisticated, especially in AI-driven decision-making.
• Blending with IWMS: Currently, CAFM and IWMS are kept separate in most facility operations environments, with CAFM providing more detailed, asset-specific metrics and IWMS platforms relied on for broader tasks. But as AI-driven capabilities increase, they are likely to become more entwined. For example, CAFM platforms that stream real-time data are taking on more tasks that traditionally belonged to IWMS. It’s possible that in the future these platforms can converge into a single unified environment that relies on AI to provide analytics, forecasting and optimization at whatever level the user needs.
• Greater autonomy: With the rise of AI, CAFM systems are becoming more autonomous by the day, shifting from automation to predictive, proactive and self-regulating tasks. For example, the first AI automation tools in CAFM reduced manual labor associated with work order management and data analysis. However, the new ones go beyond with the incorporation of digital-twin technology and robotics. Soon, advancements in CAFM can likely make fully autonomous, “self-managing” facilities operations units a reality.