FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
As the CEO of The Global Alliance of Facility Management Innovators asserts (www.fmj.co.uk/digital-empowerment/), the adoption of FMTech is set to shape how facilities are managed in the future. Here we ask two leading suppliers of digital tech, Over-C and Anders + Kern, on the practical advantages
At the end of 2020, the RICS’ Quarterly UK Facilities Management Survey reported a discernible increase in the levels of investment in digital technology within the FM sector. More recently it has predicted the impact of data and technology will only continue to grow across the built environment.
Within the operation context there are two key areas where FMTech has a significant impact; supporting front line operations and helping FMs manage the office workplace.
Mike Elliot is CEO of Over-C: a digital platform that uses location sensor data and other inputs to trigger tasks and workflows which help empower frontline workers through technology.
IN YOUR EXPERIENCE ARE TOO MANY FMS STILL RELYING ON PAPER-BASED SYSTEMS TO MANAGE FACILITIES?
Creating and developing standard operating procedures for organisations and their people often begins with something on paper, and likely focus on compliance and consistency. However, in attempting to communicate and engage with operational, frontline teams, tasks can easily become over-complicated, and with an ongoing use of paper an unnecessary burden. In such cases, and too frequently, the fundamentals of empowerment and productivity are sacrificed because “that is the way we have always done it”.
Shifting to digital, paperless processes is simple and straight-forward, if the approach is facilitated by a technology provider that understands the importance of genuine, transparent engagement of frontline teams.
The elimination of paper-based reporting frees up management time for value-added activities: by automating time-consuming administrative tasks, auditing and reporting becomes instant; time, effort, cost tracking and recording frontline activity is minimised. Also, a paper-less operation offers significant environmental benefits: supporting the sustainability programmes for operators and clients; reducing paper storage, enabling space efficiency.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN AREAS OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY FMS SHOULD CONSIDER ADOPTING?
The range of technologies available to FMs is vast: wide-ranging and potentially overwhelming. Pretty much anything can be monitored, recorded, analysed and reported upon. The appetite to seize advantage through digitisation is growing almost exponentially, especially when coupled with safety, sustainability and social value.
For many, the driver is efficiency and productivity: cutting cost, reducing (people) resources. There are certainly great opportunities to be enabled through technology, but failing to take people (colleagues and customers) on the journey is likely to have the opposite effect.
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 staff can feel undervalued, its often-outsourced nature weakens cohesion. Frontline workers achieve best results with the right technology in their hands – enabling them to communicate more effectively 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.
