Straight answers on IBM Maximo, EAM and AI agents.
Each article answers one question first, in plain language, then gives you the detail. Written by the engineers who do the work.
Maximo 7.6 end of support and end of life: what are your options?
Read the answerIBM ended base support for Maximo Asset Management 7.6.1.x on 30 September 2025. The optional one-year extended support ran to 30 September 2026, so only sustained support, with no new fixes, remains. Your realistic options are to upgrade to Maximo Application Suite 9, move to third-party support while you plan, or replace Maximo with a different EAM.
How do you migrate or upgrade IBM Maximo 7.6 to MAS 9?
A Maximo 7.6 to MAS 9 migration has five stages: discovery of customisations, integrations and data; platform preparation on Red Hat OpenShift; data clean-up and validation; migration and regression testing in a non-production environment; and a rehearsed cutover with user training. Customisations and data quality decide the timeline more than the number of assets.
Read the answerWhat is an AI agent for IBM Maximo?
An AI agent for IBM Maximo is software that reads Maximo data such as meters, work history and failure codes, reasons about what should happen next, and prepares the action inside Maximo: for example, a drafted work order with a job plan, crew and reserved parts. Well-governed agents need a person to approve each action and record every decision in an audit trail.
Read the answerHow to clean Maximo asset data and failure codes for AI
Start with the data AI depends on most: a consistent asset hierarchy, classifications on critical assets, and valid problem, cause and remedy codes on closed work orders. Measure the share of closed work orders with valid codes, fix the failure-code hierarchy, back-fill high-value history, and make the codes mandatory at close-out so the data stays clean.
Read the answerCMMS vs EAM: what is the difference?
A CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) runs maintenance: work orders, preventive maintenance, spare parts and maintenance history. EAM (enterprise asset management) software includes that work and extends it across the full life of each asset, adding wider areas such as procurement, contracts, asset cost and enterprise-wide visibility. A CMMS usually suits simpler estates. EAM suits organizations where multiple sites, complex assets or regulation make the wider picture matter.
Read the answerIBM Maximo alternatives: how to compare your options
Common IBM Maximo alternatives include enterprise EAM suites such as IFS Cloud and HxGN EAM, asset management inside ERP suites from SAP and Oracle, lighter CMMS tools such as Fiix, UpKeep and Limble, and newer AI-native platforms such as Nexaform EAM. The right choice depends on how complex your estate is, how customized your Maximo is and what you need that it does not give you. For many organizations, upgrading to MAS or adding AI to the current system is still the better answer.
Read the answerWhat is IBM Maximo used for?
IBM Maximo is enterprise asset management software that asset-intensive organizations use to manage physical assets and the work to maintain them: asset registers, work orders, preventive maintenance, spare parts, inspections and reporting. Its current form is IBM Maximo Application Suite (MAS), which combines the core Manage application with add-ons for monitoring, asset health, failure prediction, visual inspection and mobile work.
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