How has Planon evolved to meet the changing needs of facility management?

Facility management today touches cost control, workplace experience, sustainability, compliance, resilience, and business performance. Planon has evolved to support each of these.

Our platform has moved beyond traditional IWMS functionality to become a connected foundation for smart, sustainable building management. Planon now supports both internal FM teams and external service providers with dedicated solutions. It brings together real estate management, space and workplace services, asset and maintenance management, and energy and sustainability management into one integrated environment. That matters because FM teams can no longer afford to manage these domains in isolation. Decisions about rented or owned space, maintenance, energy and service delivery are increasingly interconnected.

The evolution of Planon is also about openness. The platform supports agnostic integrations with enterprise systems, smart building technologies, IoT data sources and partner applications, helping organizations connect their building operations with the wider business.

This shift has enabled Planon to evolve from a leading IWMS solution towards a connected digital platform for smarter sustainable buildings, with stronger IoT integration capabilities, partner ecosystem expansion, and connected solutions across customer segments.

How can FM teams move from simply collecting data to making smarter, data-driven decisions?

Most FM teams already have more data than they realize. The challenge is that much of it sits across disconnected systems such as service desks, spreadsheets, ERP platforms, energy tools, workplace applications and supplier systems. When data is fragmented, teams may be rich in information, but poor in insight.

Planon helps to change that by connecting operational data to the processes where decisions are actually made. The value is not simply about collecting more data, it is about turning data into action. For example, building data can be used to trigger maintenance work orders, identify comfort or safety issues, support predictive maintenance, provide auditable reporting data and enable portfolio level decision-making.

With the unified Planon platform, FM teams can turn building data into actionable workflows. Planon creates a more consistent, reliable data foundation across real estate, workplace, maintenance and sustainability processes. This gives FM leaders a clearer operational picture and helps them shift from reactive reporting to proactive decision-making.

How do Planon partnerships with SAP & Schneider Electric strengthen its customer proposition?

Planon partnerships with SAP and Schneider Electric strengthen its customer proposition because they connect facility management to two critical enterprise worlds: business operations and smart building technologies.

The SAP partnership helps organizations connect real estate and facilities processes with enterprise functions such as finance, procurement and ERP. This integration connects buildings, people and processes with smart technology data that flows into ERP processes. The outcome is an integration of Planon real estate and workplace management solutions with SAP ERP and their Business Technology Platform.

The Schneider Electric partnership strengthens the operational technology side. This partnership combines smart building capabilities with smart operations by using Schneider Electric data sources to support use cases for space optimization, occupant comfort, condition and predictive driven maintenance, workflow automation and asset health diagnostics.

These partnerships are important for facilities teams because Planon is no longer positioned as an isolated FM system, but as part of a broader enterprise and smart building ecosystem that connects business data, building data and operational workflows.

What role should AI play in FM & what misconceptions do organizations need to avoid?

AI has an important role to play in facility management, but only when it is grounded in trusted operational data, clear business context and well-designed processes. The biggest misconception is that AI is a shortcut. AI does not fix poor data, fragmented systems or outdated workflows. It amplifies the quality of the foundation beneath it.

A meaningful AI strategy requires a robust data strategy and appropriate operational context. At Planon, our AI-enabled platform relies on three layers of input: operational data stored in the platform, customer configuration and authorizations and real-time or near real-time building system data. Together, these provide the foundation, context and real-time signals needed to build trustworthy AI use cases. This is especially relevant in FM because buildings are complex environments where assets, spaces, people, services, energy use and compliance obligations are all connected.

AI can support many FM use cases such as summarizing contract terms, handling facility requests, detecting underused spaces, identifying assets at risk of failure and optimizing lighting or HVAC based on occupancy patterns. The key is to treat AI as a practical decision-support and automation solution, not as a standalone technology project. The goal is to enable safer, faster and more informed action.

What separates a successful implementation from a failed one?

A failed implementation usually has less to do with the software and more to do with the way the program is approached. Common warning signs include unclear objectives, poor data quality, fragmented workflows, over-customization, and limited user adoption. If an organization simply digitizes broken processes, it often ends up with a more expensive version of the same problem.

A successful implementation starts with identifying the appropriate business outcomes. What does the organization need to improve: cost control, compliance, asset performance, space utilization, sustainability reporting, service quality or portfolio visibility? From there, the focus should be on standardizing and improving processes before automating them.

Planon supports this through an integrated platform, configurable workflows, role-based interfaces, integration capabilities and best practice process support. FM teams can use Planon to improve data quality through a “single source of truth,” reduce IT complexity through system consolidation, standardize processes, support cross functional workflows and enable process automation.

Successful implementation programs combine technology with governance, data readiness, change management and continuous alignment between business domains. Planon supports successful projects with implementation services aimed at helping customers to mobilize and realize the value of its one platform for real estate, workplace, maintenance, and sustainability processes. This reduces FM silos and creates a stronger foundation for long-term value.