Ultimo Appoints Steven Elsham for AI-Powered EAM Advancement

Ultimo, an IFS company, energizes the financial resilience, regulatory compliance and operational excellence for manufacturing, logistics and healthcare organizations through its innovative software-as-a-service (SaaS) enterprise asset management (EAM) solutions.

Steven Elsham. Photo: IFS. Portal ERP South Africa. 

IFS, the leading provider of enterprise cloud and Industrial AI software, announced the appointment of Steven Elsham as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ultimo, an IFS company.

Formerly Area Vice President at Salesforce, Elsham led Sales for Marketing, Commerce, Service & Revenue Clouds, and Slack. He brings a proven track record of scaling enterprise software businesses and a visionary approach to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

At a time when Ultimo is seeing a surge in customer demand for AI capabilities, Elsham, with over 20 years of experience in cloud technology, digital transformation, and AI strategy, is poised to lead the company into a new era of intelligent asset maintenance. His mandate is clear: to position the company as the most innovative EAM provider in the industry, enabling customers to unlock unprecedented efficiencies and value from their asset operations, augmented by the power of AI.

Steven Elsham, Chief Executive Officer at Ultimo, said: “The future of asset management is predictive, is deeply infused with AI, and delivers unprecedented value for customers with complex industrial assets. As more organizations realize the transformational potential of AI – boosting efficiency, enhancing asset performance and driving smarter decision making – adoption continues to accelerate. I’m genuinely excited to join Ultimo at a pivotal moment when industrial organizations are reimagining how they manage critical assets. Together with our talented team, we will redefine what’s possible in EAM through cutting-edge AI and customer-first innovation.”

AI is already delivering measurable impact for Ultimo EAM users worldwide. By dramatically reducing mean time to repair (MTTR), organizations are boosting employee productivity and maximizing asset availability. In manufacturing alone, where downtime can exceed $100K per hour and 80 percent of MTTR is spent diagnosing issues, even small reductions translate to significant gains.

Beyond financial returns, AI is transforming the technician experience. Features like photo-based meter readings, auto-generated image captions, and multilanguage translation are simplifying workflows and empowering skilled labor - critical in an industry facing dramatic talent shortages.

Michael Ouissi, Group Chief Operating Officer at IFS, said: “Steven’s deep understanding of the challenges executive business leaders face, and his ability to scale businesses globally while inspiring people to deliver, made him the clear choice to lead Ultimo into its next chapter. The Company’s EAM platform is trusted by 2400+ customers worldwide across sectors including manufacturing, energy, logistics, and healthcare. With Elsham at the helm, the company will accelerate its investment in AI-enabled solutions that offer data-driven insights and intelligent automation.”