In the utilities and energy sector, efficient maintenance management and asset tracking are critical to ensuring uptime, reducing costs, and maintaining compliance. UpKeep is a popular platform designed to help organisations manage maintenance requests, work orders, and asset lifecycle data. While it’s a powerful tool, its standardised approach may not always meet the specific requirements of more complex or diverse utility operations.
In this article, we explore what UpKeep offers, where it may fall short, and why a bespoke software solution might be the better fit for your business.
What Is UpKeep?
UpKeep is a mobile-first maintenance management platform that helps businesses optimise their asset and work order management. It’s commonly used across industries such as utilities, manufacturing, and facilities management to track work orders, schedule maintenance tasks, and monitor asset health.
Key features of UpKeep include:
- Work order management – Streamline the creation, assignment, and tracking of maintenance work orders, ensuring quick response times.
- Preventative maintenance – Automate routine inspections and maintenance tasks to prevent downtime and reduce costly repairs.
- Asset management – Track asset history, maintenance schedules, and performance, helping you make informed decisions about replacements or upgrades.
- Mobile access – Field workers can access and update information in real time using the UpKeep mobile app, making it easy to keep operations running smoothly.
- Inventory management – Track parts, tools, and materials to ensure you always have the necessary supplies on hand.
UpKeep’s simplicity and ease of use make it a good option for many businesses, particularly those looking to digitise their maintenance processes quickly.
Where UpKeep May Fall Short
While UpKeep offers a solid, mobile-friendly maintenance management solution, it’s not a one-size-fits-all tool. For utilities and energy businesses with more complex workflows, asset types, or integration needs, UpKeep can quickly become too rigid and insufficiently customisable.
- Limited customisation – UpKeep’s features, while comprehensive, are fairly standard and can’t always be tailored to the specific needs of your assets or workflows.
- Scalability issues – As your business grows or your asset management needs become more sophisticated, UpKeep may struggle to scale without significant workarounds.
- Integration limitations – Integrating UpKeep with other tools, such as SCADA, GIS, or ERP systems, may not be seamless and could require additional third-party tools.
- Basic reporting – While UpKeep offers reporting functionality, the analytics can be basic, limiting your ability to gain deeper insights into asset performance or maintenance trends.
- Not suited for complex asset types – For utilities with diverse or large-scale infrastructure, UpKeep may not provide the depth needed for managing fixed or specialised assets.
Why a Custom-Built Solution Could Be the Answer
If UpKeep’s limitations have started to feel like barriers to your business efficiency, a bespoke software solution could offer the flexibility, scalability, and advanced features your operations require.
Here’s how a custom solution can better serve your needs:
- Tailored maintenance workflows – Create maintenance scheduling, approval processes, and work order flows that reflect the specific way your teams operate.
- Advanced asset tracking and management – Build an asset management platform that accounts for the full lifecycle of complex utility assets, from installation through to decommissioning.
- Seamless integrations – Connect your custom software with other platforms you use, from GIS and SCADA systems to ERP and inventory management tools, ensuring smooth data flow across the business.
- In-depth reporting and analytics – Create custom dashboards and reports that provide actionable insights on asset performance, maintenance trends, and operational efficiency.
- Scalable and adaptable – As your utility or energy business grows, your custom solution can evolve with you, adding new features, systems, and integrations without the constraints of off-the-shelf software.
Shoothill: Your Custom Solution for Maintenance and Asset Management
At Shoothill, we help utilities and energy companies like yours create bespoke software solutions that perfectly match your unique requirements. If UpKeep has started to feel too limiting or rigid for your operations, we’re here to develop a platform that fits exactly what you need—without unnecessary complexity or cost.
Whether you need sophisticated asset tracking, custom work order management, or seamless system integration, we’ll work with you to build a solution that scales with your business and optimises your operations.
Get in touch with Shoothill today and discover how a custom-built maintenance and asset management platform can drive your business forward.
