We live in an era of change. These words have been uttered many times before – no doubt during the first, second and third industrial revolutions. However, now we’re living in the fourth era of breakneck-speed transformation, in a world that blurs the line between cyber and physical systems, and FMs cannot help but ponder the future as we marvel at how drastically things have changed in the last few years.

As an industry, facility management is very good at marveling at and pondering the megatrends that continue to shape our private and professional lives. It is not, however, very good at responding at a comparably breakneck speed. Unlike the tech market that exists to cater to every single need and desire for an “easy life,” the built environment has some work to do in this regard.

Think about the tech that we have access to in our personal lives. How many people don’t yet carry a smartphone? These pocket-sized portals triple as entertainment systems and personal assistants that can connect us to anyone, anywhere, at any time. What’s more, these devices are arming us with the most powerful gift – knowledge. Thanks to a new technological renaissance, we are all capable of knowing absolutely everything in a heartbeat.

At home, we have access to voice-enabled virtual assistants that can answer any question we throw their way; wireless speakers that fill every room with immersive sound; and motion presence sensors that not only have the power to control our homes, but can actually teach our homes new tricks by telling them what to do when we’re asleep, awake, away and back home again.

To remain competitive in the fourth industrial revolution, brands from across the sector spectrum are experimenting with the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to not only get top talent to buy into their business, but also to improve the experience of anyone who interacts with their brand. Companies like Toyota, Volvo, MasterCard, Experian, Coca Cola, Heineken, BP, Netflix, Walmart, Disney – and the list goes on – are using big data, AI, advanced analytics and robots to streamline and improve operations, products and services. For these brands, the user experience is paramount. To that end, they are using data and tech to offer better experiences to employees and customers. By doing so, they are driving overall business performance.

In the face of relentless technological advancements and soaring expectations, there is an argument that every business should be a digital business. Go to any FM conference and tech will dominate the agenda. In the UK, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Commercial Property conference in December 2018 championed the tech conversation. Every speaker argued that the built environment industry needs to figure out how to blend technology with human behavior. In the United States, IFMA’s World Workplace® in 2018 also had as its big message that tech is now considered part of the workplace ecosystem.

FMs now work in partnership with HR, FM and CRE to deliver and enhance the employee experience. When IFMA’s World Workplace Europe® took center stage in Amsterdam in March, thought leaders emphasized the importance of collaboration between all stakeholders within the built environment – and technology is the glue that binds them. In an increasingly globalized economy, facility and workplace professionals cannot collaborate without it.

The FM industry has to ride the tidal wave of technology that’s crashing down on the market. If it lets itself get swept along with the tide, it will eventually drown. We’ve had enough tech talk. The time has come for action.

Uncharted waters

Facility managers increasingly find themselves needing to be braver and more exploratory in their approach to finding tech-led FM solutions and consultants.

There are various benefits in using tech-led FM solutions. Tech-savvy service providers focus on how to be better at what they do. That involves looking at all of the systems and processes within a business with a view to transform the digital and virtual platforms, so they better support the organizational needs. Once that’s been achieved, companies can crank it up a gear and use the same methodology to help customers understand their buildings better – specifically how people interact with the spaces provided. That, in turn, will arm customers with the data they need to become more efficient themselves. If it’s done right, everyone’s a winner.

Every time an organization completes an acquisition, it ends up with another platform. This leads to a process of consolidating systems into one unique tech platform that streamlines processes and enables shared learning. As part of the integration process, FMs look for the best technology within the group – and what will help everybody improve performance and become more efficient in terms of what they’re doing and how to deliver value to the customer. Tech-led vendors spend a lot of time and effort identifying ways of being more efficient and structuring the business in a way that allows customers to collect and formulate data.

Despite the fact this is an ongoing process, technical solutions are constantly evolving to meet FM service needs. For example, distribution centers use technology to improve the efficiency of goods coming in and going out of the facility. Thanks to the real-time data capture of new tech, FMs can account for everything from people movement to spillages. Another example is in the health care realm where technology is used to improve the patient experience.

It’s not about developing capabilities based on overarching megatrends that the world is bearing witness to; nor is it about starting from scratch or “tech for tech’s sake.” It’s about developing situational awareness skills inside the business to map technologies for market needs. The name of the game is to drive efficiency of service, and that all-important element of experience, by first understanding how people interact with their physical, virtual and social infrastructures; then by using that understanding to build tomorrow’s facilities using today’s technology.

Smooth sailing

Let’s face it, when it comes to tech, the FM industry is still finding its footing on what it considers to be a plank, so diving into the deep end won’t feel particularly comfortable. Nor will it happen anytime soon, not without a fair bit of pressure anyway. Aside from a case of nerves, there are a number of other wobbles to set straight.

The industry still very much operates in thick silos. The functions that naturally interact with the tech provision do not always talk to each other. Facilities, property, digital and people services departments tend to operate as individual entities as opposed to a collective. This poses a problem when it comes to ownership. Who’s responsible for getting things rolling? Is it the FM, the head of commercial real estate, the CTO or the HRD?

Do we need to create a new role — a hybrid of these functions? If future leaders are to merge and manage the worlds of the physical, the social and the virtual, they will need a richer, more diverse set of skills. This requires an element of talent engineering, something the industry might struggle with because it is still learning the tech language. When it comes to achieving fluency in this new language, we have to remember who we’re learning it for, and who we will be using it to speak to.

Architect Cecil Price once pondered, “If technology is the answer, what was the question?” The question for FM hasn’t changed. It still concerns how we can best “facilitate” business and employee needs. If we use technology to better support those relationships, so that we understand what our customers are thinking even if they are not giving us direct feedback, then our level of service will increase, as will our value. Value-add will come from the combination of engineering talent and boosting operational excellence, and tech offers the foundation for that much-needed unity.

The world has always been subject to change; but in 2019, it is the pace of this change that is truly setting our potential as a species, and as an industry, alight. Future facility management will be massively technology driven. It will be a tech-led business function that provides combinations of people-based, robotic-based and algorithm-based services. The companies that are going to succeed are the ones that realize power comes from coalescing smaller groups of highly skilled people who understand the industry and can use tech to support the people function. People are still at the heart of FM, after all. The robots will just give us the time and freedom to be even more human.