Role of Technology in Facilities Management

1. Role of Technology in Facilities Management Like every other industry, technology has highly impacted the facility management sector and the ways we approach it. This development has been in particular to the growth of Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM) systems and how they have adapted to the growing importance of the mobile and cloud. The fact that the sector is moving away from its traditional ways of operating to a more technology based operations, stands a testimony to the fact that the sector is ready to embrace change. And this change is transforming the entire sector as a whole, for the good of course with emerging Facility Management Software. Objectives of Facility Managers Facility managers have a huge amount of responsibility on their shoulders. However, in order to understand which type of technologies are going to be important in the coming days, we need to understand the following key objectives of facility managers: To enhance and protect any asset value which includes keeping the admin and management costs low. To safeguard people within a facility and to keep the facility compliant with regulatory terms. Solutions like a Facilities management App that are technical or otherwise and that assist in these objectives are always likely to have

2. an added advantage to this sector compared to other solutions or technologies. How can technology help? Till today, facility managers largely depend on manual labour to execute their day to day management and maintenance jobs. These result in more investment of time and costs. It is needless investing your dollars and manpower in an operation that could be easily done with the help of technology. One such example is the use of a facility management app. The operation of managing and maintaining a facility involves a lot a paperwork and a facilities team often comprises of a lot of people running here and there to find the right information at the right time. One of the most common problems that facility managers face is the loss of information or data. Piles of paper getting stored year after year gets easily misplaced or manhandled. Imagine, there is an emergency at the facility and you do not have the required information with you at that time! It can lead to a disastrous chain of events. This is where technology comes to your rescue. A facility management software stores all your facilities information under one platform and you are able to access all the information about your facility like floor plan, emergency procedures, equipment, shut offs, As-Builts and any other crucial information in seconds, on your mobile device or tablet. These information can be accessed from any remote location without having to visit or be present at the location of the facility. This technology surely makes the lives of facility managers and facilities teams a lot easier.

3. May a times, equipment failure results in disruption to operations and neglecting maintenance leads to expensive remedial operations. Moreover, improper use of resources and duplication of effort leads to over staffing and all of these are examples that can lead to major financial loss and consequently result in diminishing asset value. In serious cases, equipment failure can lead to serious hazards like fire in the facility. Technology can go a long way to prevent these issues. For example, smart lighting systems will automatically turn themselves on or off depending on physical movement and this will reduce energy costs. In a similar fashion, facility managers can measure energy output from centralized locations with the help of automated controls that are set so that wastage can be reduced. These are the solutions that can harness the ability of technology to find, measure and analyse patterns in huge chunks of data. They then go on to either alert facility managers or apply automated solutions to fix the errors and verify different measures to find a probable solution to the problem. The future is already here!

4. Advanced technologies like artificial intelligence has already resulted in solutions becoming even more effective and has increased the range of technological applications. Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence and has been extremely useful in other areas like monitoring stock levels and identifying if spare parts are required to be ordered or recorded. There is another subset known as natural processing which is helpful in resulting in interactions with customers. This has had its implications in different call centre operations which also includes the use of chat bots. Robotics is another technology that has resulted in advances made in productivity. For example, drones can be used to monitor AC ducts remotely and different other HVAC elements that are responsible for remotely capturing accurate data, reducing staff costs and operational errors. As the landscape of facility management changes, there is a need to embrace new ways of doing things. While there is a whole suite of added value to be achieved from the use of new technologies, it is important for facility managers to correctly select and implement the suite of solutions aligned to the unique requirement of their clients.