FMJ.CO.UK DIGITAL WORKPLACE FOCUS
FEBRUARY 2022 39
sets, and make strategic predictions on
their own. It can take on highly repetitive
administration tasks.
FM technology enables system
consolidation and daily inspections of
facilities, with preventative maintenance
checks carried out on critical infrastructure
and assets. Checks are assigned, audits are
sent directly to a control room or supervisor
to validate in real time and digital forms
provide an audit trail.
The transparency and
engagement o ered by
digitisation overcome
the likelihood of issues
being overlooked or
misplaced through
human error.
Teams see and feel
the value of being
able to monitor
real-time collective
performance. They
have confidence in
data accuracy, they
support each other, and
promote a genuine oneteam
approach, irrespective of
who they are employed by.
ARE FM FRONT LINE OPERATIVES
COMFORTABLE WITH ADOPTING NEW
TECH, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE DURING
THE MOBILISATION STAGE TO MAKE THE
TRANSITION EASIER?
On-site super-users are essential
to help bridge the gap between the
implementation team and end-users.
Being responsible for the adoption of
the solution within their facility, these
tutoring champions are crucial throughout
mobilisation and business as usual phases
to ensure the system meets stakeholder
expectations and potential issues are
quickly identified and resolved. Super-users
empower others through learning and
engaging directly at the frontline, rather than
taking a remote or organisational top-down
approach.
Frontline workers want technology – in
a recent industry survey 64 per cent who
say they have access to mobile technology,
confirm it allows them to do their jobs
smarter. Workers with access to technology
are more satisfied with their job.
Security o icers and cleaners, for
example, want tools that empower and
streamline reporting, enabling quick
communication. FM and guest service
workers o en have the poorest tools
and greatest opportunity to save
(typically 10 per cent of hours) per
week. Paper processes only slow
them down.
Many leaders recognise success
depends upon digitally enabling
frontline workers through tools
that encourage employees to work
better together: frontline insights,
expertise and creativity can reshape work
cultures and unlock ideas; o ering potential
to reduce costs, promote growth, spark
innovation and accelerate success.
HOW CAN IOT BE BEST USED TO AFFORD
REAL-TIME MONITORING OF PREMISES?
During the pandemic lockdowns, the
challenge to monitor crowds at high footfall
venues, such as shopping centres, began
when queues formed outside key retailers.
IoT solutions were developed and designed
to monitor and report crowd numbers every
60 seconds, enabled by real-time reporting
thresholds on number breaches: low-cost
IoT crowd-flow sensors detect Wi-Fi and
Bluetooth signals, focusing on mobile
devices, estimating vicinity people numbers
with >90 per cent accuracy; no identifying
but failing to take people (colleagues and
customers) on the journey is likely to have
the opposite e ect.
The key is to consider what is important to
the client, the customer, other stakeholders
and the FM’s organisation: to get clarity on
these, and then consider how best to align
data outputs. Keep the technology relatable,
keep it simple, don’t overwhelm, ensure the
inputs are customer and employee focused,
enable the team to work smarter not harder,
promote balance and productivity.
HOW DO FRONTLINE COLLABORATION
TOOLS WORK TO ENABLE WORKERS TO
COMMUNICATE SAFELY?
In an industry where sta can feel
undervalued, its o en-outsourced nature
weakens cohesion. Frontline workers achieve
best results with the right technology in their
hands – enabling them to communicate
more e ectively with managers and each
other. This helps forge a common culture
upon which communities depend.
Accessible, digital technology in the hands
of frontline workers is a hugely empowering
tool. If it is transparent to all, straightforward
to use, convenient, enabling ease of doing
tasks, people will use it. In doing so the
technology becomes the connector between
the individuals in the team, and facilitates
working together, sharing information,
sharing challenges, sharing ideas for
improvement, all of which are the essence of
collaboration.
Soon the connecting technology is enabling
communication across an organisation,
flattening the structure, enabling lone
workers to engage, sharing near misses, and
learning from accidents and incidents to
mitigate recurrence.
CAN MOBILE-BASED FRONTLINE
MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE BE UTILISED
TO HELP MONITOR HEALTH, SAFETY AND
COMPLIANCE?
What we measure, we improve. If you can’t
measure something, you can’t understand it.
If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it.
If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.
Applications on mobile devices engage
employees and contractors from the start of
a shi or task, to the close out: from real-time
induction and COVID-19 checks, through
permits to work and more. Time, date,
image and location data prove actions and
presence.
Good data leads to good decisions.
Frontline workers need to know how to use
data and apply it…but it is not enough to be
data driven. The future is automation with
machine-learning.
Machine-learning shi s traditional
processes to intelligent ones that discover
new patterns in large, unstructured data-
Accessible, digital technology
in the hands of frontline workers
is a hugely empowering tool. If it is
transparent to all, straightforward to
use, convenient, enabling ease of
doing tasks, people will use it.”
– Mike Elliot