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Maximo / MAS research brief

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Maximo / MAS Research Brief for Max Connect

Date: 2026-06-10

Status: initial desk research brief

Source basis: Ant intake + public IBM/product/community/partner research. URLs spot-checked where noted.

1. Why this matters for Max Connect

Max Connect is being formed around a real Maximo user community, not an abstract software opportunity.

Known starting facts from Ant:

Immediate research goal:

> Understand Maximo/MAS deeply enough to explain the upgrade, pain points, market reaction, support ecosystem, and credible first offers for Max Connect.

2. What IBM Maximo is

IBM Maximo is IBM's enterprise asset management (EAM) / computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) family for asset-heavy organisations. It is used to manage assets, maintenance, work orders, inspections, reliability, inventory, field work, and operational asset performance.

Official product source:

Spot-check: HTTP 200 on 2026-06-10.

Plain-English explanation for buyers:

> Maximo is the system many asset-heavy companies use to decide what assets they own, what condition those assets are in, what maintenance needs doing, who should do it, what parts are needed, and how the organisation proves work was completed safely and efficiently.

Typical industries:

3. What MAS is

MAS = IBM Maximo Application Suite.

The practical relationship:

Official docs:

Spot-check: HTTP 200 on 2026-06-10.

Spot-check redirected to IBM docs and returned HTTP 200 on 2026-06-10.

4. What MAS/new Maximo appears to offer

Common MAS capability areas:

1. **Maximo Manage** — core EAM/CMMS/work management; closest successor to traditional Maximo Asset Management.

2. **Maximo Mobile** — mobile access for technicians and field workers.

3. **Maximo Monitor** — asset and operational monitoring.

4. **Maximo Health** — asset health scoring and condition insights.

5. **Maximo Predict** — predictive maintenance / failure prediction.

6. **Maximo Visual Inspection** — image/video AI inspection.

7. **Maximo Assist / AI support capabilities** — technician knowledge/help use cases where available.

8. Suite-level platform capabilities around analytics, IoT data, AI, and operational reliability.

Buyer translation:

> The upgrade is not just “new screens.” IBM is trying to move Maximo customers from work-order management into a broader asset-performance platform: monitor assets, predict problems, inspect visually, mobilise technicians, and make reliability decisions from data.

5. Why the upgrade is confusing

The market confusion is structural:

5.1 It is not a simple version bump

Legacy Maximo to MAS can involve:

5.2 OpenShift/containerisation is a major shift

IBM MAS installation/admin docs are built around modern containerised deployment patterns, commonly involving Red Hat OpenShift.

Practical implication:

> A Maximo admin who understands legacy Maximo may not automatically understand MAS platform operations. Smaller customers may not have Kubernetes/OpenShift capability in-house.

5.3 Licensing/pricing is opaque

IBM's public product page does not present a simple SMB-style price list. MAS licensing/entitlement is handled through IBM mechanisms and can involve AppPoints/entitlements, application mix, users, deployment model, support, and services.

Relevant IBM licensing docs:

Spot-check redirected to IBM docs and returned HTTP 200 on 2026-06-10.

Buyer implication:

> Finance/procurement may struggle to approve a MAS move because the cost model is hard to understand before scoping usage, apps, infrastructure, implementation, and ongoing support.

5.4 The business case is not obvious to non-technical stakeholders

For technical users, MAS may mean platform, upgrade path, and product capabilities.

For finance/procurement, the question is different:

This is a strong Max Connect wedge.

6. Pain points MAS is trying to solve

MAS appears to target pains in legacy asset-management environments:

1. **Reactive maintenance** — moving toward predictive/condition-based maintenance.

2. **Poor asset visibility** — better health/monitoring/analytics.

3. **Disconnected maintenance processes** — linking work management, assets, inventory, inspections, and mobile work.

4. **Limited mobile enablement** — improving field technician workflows.

5. **Manual inspections** — visual inspection and AI-assisted workflows.

6. **Data underuse** — applying analytics/AI/IoT to maintenance and reliability.

7. **Fragmented tooling** — suite/platform approach rather than isolated modules.

8. **Legacy support and modernisation pressure** — getting customers onto IBM's current roadmap.

But customer pain around the migration is different:

1. **How do we move safely?**

2. **What will break?**

3. **What customisations/integrations do we have?**

4. **What does MAS cost?**

5. **Do we need OpenShift or SaaS?**

6. **What benefits justify this?**

7. **Who can explain this without just selling us a huge implementation?**

7. Market / user reaction themes

Initial synthesis from public IBM community entry points, Reddit/community surfaces, and partner content:

Useful community starting points:

Caution: community sentiment needs post-level verification before quoting in external material.

8. Competitive/support landscape

The Maximo/MAS services market is active but fragmented. Most organisations are either:

8.1 IBM

8.2 Specialist Maximo/MAS firms

High-priority competitors/partners to monitor:

1. Cohesive — https://cohesivegroup.com/

Note: Python URL check hit HTTP 403 on 2026-06-10, likely bot protection; still a known public site.

2. Projetech — https://www.projetech.com/

Spot-check: HTTP 200.

3. Interloc Solutions — https://www.interlocsolutions.com/

Spot-check: HTTP 200.

4. BPD Zenith / Naviam — https://www.bpdzenith.com/

Spot-check: HTTP 200 with redirect to naviam.io.

5. Aquitas Solutions — https://www.aquitas-solutions.com/

Spot-check: HTTP 200.

6. Starboard Consulting — https://starboard-consulting.com/

7. Vetasi — https://www.vetasi.com/

8. Ontracks — https://www.ontracks.com/

9. Maven Asset Management — https://www.mavenasset.com/

10. JFC & Associates — https://www.jfc-associates.com/

11. Total Resource Management / TRM — https://www.trmnet.com/

12. EAM360 — https://www.eam360.com/

Common offers:

8.3 Large systems integrators

Likely relevant for larger enterprise transformations:

Max Connect likely should not start by competing directly with these. The stronger wedge is pre-procurement readiness, education, business-case clarity, and trusted community access for organisations too small or early for a major SI-led programme.

8.4 Communities and events

Important community/event surfaces:

Spot-check: HTTP 200 with Cvent redirect on 2026-06-10.

Spot-check: HTTP 200.

Spot-check: HTTP 200.

Ant mentioned a larger Vegas/global event. Candidates to verify with Rich:

9. Gaps Max Connect can exploit

Gap A — independent readiness layer

Many vendors sell implementation. Fewer lead with independent, practical, non-technical readiness education.

Potential positioning:

> Max Connect helps IBM Maximo customers understand, prepare for, and confidently execute their transition to IBM Maximo Application Suite.

Gap B — finance/procurement business-case translation

Finance/procurement may need:

Gap C — self-serve MAS readiness survey

A public tool could ask about:

Output:

Gap D — public repository / knowledge hub

Useful assets:

Gap E — community + expert office hours

Rich's credibility/events can become a structured funnel:

10. Recommended first Max Connect offer shape

Offer 1 — MAS Readiness Audit

Fixed-scope consultative package.

Possible contents:

1. Current-state Maximo review.

2. Version/deployment/support status check.

3. Customisation and integration inventory.

4. Data/reporting review.

5. Infrastructure/cloud/OpenShift readiness.

6. Licensing/business-case questions.

7. Process and user-adoption maturity review.

8. Risk register.

9. Migration options.

10. Executive roadmap presentation.

Offer 2 — Executive MAS Briefing / Workshop

For non-technical leadership, finance, procurement, and operations.

Agenda:

1. What Maximo is today.

2. What MAS changes.

3. Why this is not just a version upgrade.

4. What value MAS could unlock.

5. What it may cost and why pricing is hard.

6. Key risks and decisions.

7. What to do next.

Offer 3 — Self-Serve Readiness Survey

Lightweight website asset that educates and qualifies leads.

Offer 4 — MAS Upgrade Roadmap Package

More detailed than a workshop, lighter than full implementation.

Output:

11. Questions to ask Rich next

1. What exact Maximo versions are represented in the community?

2. What do they call the upgrade: MAS, Maximo Manage, Maximo Application Suite, v8, SaaS, “new Maximo,” or something else?

3. What is forcing the conversation now: IBM support lifecycle, cloud strategy, security, event content, leadership pressure, licensing changes, vendor pressure?

4. What are the most common questions companies ask Rich?

5. Which people attend Rich's events: technical admins, engineers, maintenance leaders, finance/procurement, IT, executives?

6. What industries are most represented?

7. What company size range is typical?

8. What support do these companies fail to get from IBM or large partners?

9. Who has budget and what evidence do they need to release it?

10. Are any companies willing to be pilots for a readiness audit/workshop?

11. What Vegas/global event is relevant?

12. Who is the other leader/expert and what do they bring?

12. Next research tasks

1. Build a deeper IBM/MAS terminology map.

2. Build a competitor matrix with services, geography, target customer, content quality, and lead magnets.

3. Pull specific examples of MAS migration/readiness language from partner sites.

4. Verify Maximo support lifecycle / end-of-support pressure for common legacy versions.

5. Research AppPoints/licensing explainers.

6. Research actual community/forum complaints with directly quotable examples.

7. Design the first Max Connect readiness survey.

8. Draft the first website structure / knowledge hub IA.

13. Working thesis

Max Connect's strongest initial wedge is not “we implement MAS.” That market already has IBM partners and SIs.

The stronger wedge is:

> A trusted, community-led MAS readiness and education layer for smaller Maximo-dependent organisations that need to understand the upgrade, make the business case, de-risk the decision, and choose the right execution path.

This uses Rich's existing trust and community access while avoiding immediate head-to-head competition with large implementers. It can still lead into consulting, workshops, roadmaps, execution support, partner referrals, and ongoing advisory retainers.