The Evolution of FM Software | Facilities Unfiltered | Episode 28

FM software has been around a lot longer than most of us think—nearly 60 years—starting with preventive maintenance schedules on mainframes and punch cards. In this episode, Josh and Nic trace the surprising evolution from early CMMS roots through CAFM, EAM, and IWMS, and into today’s world of BIM, digital twins, IoT, and AI. Along the way, they unpack why the industry’s “alphabet soup” can be both genuinely useful and, at times, pure marketing noise—and why many tools still feel like work-order spreadsheets with extras bolted on. They dig into why CMMS implementations so often stall out (people/process, change management, and unrealistic expectations like “inventory management will just happen”), how bad asset records create PM backlogs and misleading performance metrics, and why a visual, contextual source of truth can change the game. If you’re wrestling with software fatigue, debating best-in-class integrations vs. “all-in-one,” or wondering what AI will actually do with messy facilities data, this conversation will hit home. Chapters (00:00:07) - Facilities Unfiltered: How Long Has FM Software Been Around(00:08:17) - Work Order Management: Overlooking the Issues(00:12:13) - Inventory Management Systems(00:16:40) - Familiar Issues with CMMS(00:22:34) - Rallying Around Data-driven Facilities