FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
For FM managers, hybrid and flexible working models pose a challenge. As building occupants’ usage of office spaces becomes more varied and unpredictable, their expectations for high levels of cleanliness and comfort continue to increase.
Adapting maintenance routines to provide a pleasant and healthy working environment to occupants in the face of inconsistent usage patterns requires an agile, data-driven approach. IoT sensors and footfall tracking technologies can be used to great effect to help provide the data to fuel smarter FM operations in flexi office space.
By building an understanding of how and when spaces are used, it’s possible to accurately predict usage patterns and align maintenance rotas as well as heating, lighting and air conditioning schedules around the times buildings are most likely to be in use, streamlining processes and cutting costs.
Data-driven FM efficiencies
MRI Software’s head UK offices at King Street in London is a great example of what’s possible with a strong data strategy. Spread over seven floors, the MRI office building operates on a range of different work patterns, including remote and hybrid working models.
In March 2023, the team at the MRI offices in London introduced the use of footfall analytics technology, MRI OnLocation. Using occupancy data insights to adjust cleaning schedules, the team was able to remove unused areas from rotas, as well as to adapt maintenance schedules to be usage-based rather than calendar-based for more streamlined and efficient maintenance.
Footfall data was also aligned with the building’s energy management solution, MRI Energy , allowing the team to compare data to build insights into energy and carbon emission per footfall and streamline usage to match occupancy levels, generating an impressive cost saving of £20,000 in less than 12 months.
Real-time CAFM integration
While even basic schedule-based insights like these can generate significant savings, facilities managers also have the opportunity to use footfall data to drive more complex real-time efficiencies. By integrating sensors into a building’s CAFM system, it’s possible to trigger alarms when buildings are empty and automatically raise tasks to turn off lighting or temperature control systems. This allows FM teams to control costs even when usage patterns are unpredictable, by automatically adjusting systems based on actual usage rather than on a schedule based around observed patterns.
By capturing footfall data and feeding this into MRI Energy, cleaning tasks can be raised once a defined level of throughput has been achieved, for example enabling a cleaning task for every 50 people entering a washroom facility. This removes the need for cleaning on a fixed frequency basis whilst maintaining high standards.
Combining footfall data with energy data can also help to identify abnormal usage levels, raising tasks in MRI Evolution when energy usage is disproportionate to the recorded footfall in an office and prompting teams to investigate.
Applying this type of footfall and energy analysis on a floor-by-floor basis has allowed MRI to identify and address energy consumption anomalies, with a view to making further savings.
Meet the challenge of the modern workplace
With the flexibility to integrate a range of different IoT sensors plus powerful reporting and analysis capabilities to make sense of thousands of data points, MRI’s suite of smart FM solutions offer all you need to efficiently and effectively maintain workspaces that meet the needs of flexible and hybrid workers.
Combining footfall analytics from MRI OnLocation, energy usage insights from MRI Energy and full visibility of FM operations in MRI Evolution you can streamline maintenance, drive down costs and speed progress towards sustainability goals.
To find out more about how your buildings could benefit, contact the MRI Software team today.
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