To the Max

In an industry historically bogged down with paperwork and manual tracking, facility managers were ill-equipped to streamline operations, make data-driven decisions, and report on performance in a timely and effective manner. However, technology has expanded in the last decade, and recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) present new opportunities to streamline and automate operational workflows for not only improved performance but also increased visibility. As facility management teams evaluate their current needs, technology that supports digitization – such as AI and Internet of Things (IoT), as well as process management software – is vital to drastically enhance operational capabilities and can impact virtually every aspect of the business.

Digitize FM

When engaging in outdated practices such as manual data entry or paperwork filing, FMs lose countless hours to labor, hindering efficiency and exposing themselves to avoidable risks. The time taken to manually file paperwork or track data pulls team members and management away from more pressing needs and often delays timely insights and information. Delays in data capture and inaccuracies can make it nearly impossible to identify issues and respond appropriately. The ripple effect results in delays that expose facilities to unnecessary risks that can harm a facility’s output or quality standards and ultimately hurt clients or customers in the process.

To mitigate the risks associated with delayed or inaccurate manual data tracking, entry and management, FMs must embrace a more digitized approach to operations. Every facility has countless unstructured data that is inaccessible or unusable until integrated with tools like AI. Once integrated with a facility’s existing IoT system, siloed data can become structured, helping FMs visualize and garner bigger picture insights from their data as a collective whole. This can provide strategic guidance, support data-driven decision making and even automate response tasks in real time via process management software. By leveraging technology for a more digitized approach, FMs can streamline workflows, boost compliance protocols and drastically increase visibility for more effective operations management.

Streamline operations

Integration is key to streamlining facility operations. By integrating systems and data from across a facility, management can have a holistic view of operations, allowing their data to work harder for them. With the implementation of AI and a process management app, FMs can integrate traditionally inaccessible and siloed data to generate visual representations of performance, as well as automated alerts and workflows. This level of integration removes the need for manual data entry and task assignments, automating each piece of the process to work together seamlessly. In practice, basic operational tasks can be quickly streamlined and monitored.

For example, in an office building that features hybrid and in-office companies, room usage can change daily, making it challenging for FMs to react appropriately to important elements like temperature, while also reducing costs and remaining energy efficient. IoT sensors, which measure environmental inputs like temperature or movement, can proactively track door openings to monitor room usage metrics, providing real-time insights. This data is then funneled through AI into a process management app, which analyzes the data collected over time to automate necessary alerts, such as temperature management, triggered by a certain level of room usage. This automated workflow removes the need for ongoing manual management of these types of operations, saving costs in labor, resources and more. It also provides key insights for FMs regarding room usage trends and energy efficiency for a proactive approach to managing operations.

Minimize risk – boost compliance

Maintaining continuous compliance can be challenging. Compliance audits can happen at any time and are often tedious, requiring FMs to manually dig into a variety of reports and data to provide evidence. With a digitized and data-driven approach to operations, FMs can save time and resources that would typically be spent trying to evidence against compliance. Through a customizable process management app with AI for processing data, FMs can easily access the latest insights needed for any compliance audits. In addition, FMs can implement automated compliance checks through specific workflows to ensure compliance is maintained throughout every step in a process, meeting regulatory standards at all times. With effective compliance management, FMs can reduce operational risk, while improving performance and output.

Enhance reporting & visibility

With manual reporting often delaying or preventing accurate data capture, operational visibility has previously been very limited. Whenever manual reports were compiled, they were often delayed or restricted, minimizing the different types of insights available for management and the corresponding decisions from those learnings. AI combined with process management software, enhanced reporting and real-time visibility are now available at the touch of a button, putting those with a digitized approach to operations ahead of the curve.

As operations span people, technology and the facilities themselves, accessibility to key data points and status updates on each element of operations can fundamentally improve FM. With updated data consistently funneling through dashboards, FMs can have a visual understanding of operational performance with the ability to quickly identify highest trouble spots or potential threats and noticeable trends. In addition to increased visibility and insights, when coupling this data with a process management system, FMs can seamlessly automate necessary tasks, workflows and alerts, tracking completion data as each actionable step is executed. This level of enhanced visibility not only improves real-time operations, but it also provides an opportunity for more strategic planning for future operations. Similarly, with trend analysis, FMs can analyze and predict performance trends to further optimize operations and identify additional opportunities to streamline workflows.

ROI Impact

As technology such as AI allows FM teams to take a more digitized approach to operations, it can create a domino effect across the entire business, allowing the facility to reap the benefits of increased ROI, cost savings and revenue. With increased data collection, it can inform status updates, such as lifespan or conditions of certain assets, that may not require immediate notification or support, but can inform planned preventive maintenance to reduce potential costs and forestall bigger issues further down the line. Real-time data also ensures that FMs can more effectively utilize resources to increase ROI. FMs can adjust and test certain thresholds, such as door openings to trigger cleanings, to identify the most effective threshold to maintain standards while also maximizing resource usage. And finally, FMs can experience ROI through improved performance for clients and customers who reap the benefits from more streamlined and effective operations long-term. From managing crowd control to reducing product loss or disruptions, FMs can ensure outputs are maintained and standards are upheld at all times.

As FMs audit their operational processes and solutions, it is important to consider the following:

• How much time is the team spending on reporting, tracking and management?
• How often is the team delayed or unable to locate the necessary information or data?
• How much visibility does the team really have of ongoing operations?

By questioning the traditional status quo and moving away from tedious manual processes, FMs can improve virtually every aspect of their business, while expanding into new opportunities. With technology such as AI that is constantly evolving, coupled with a customizable project management app, FMs can quickly onboard and integrate their facility’s existing systems to adapt processes accordingly and upgrade their performance seamlessly.