FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
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 shift 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 shifts traditional processes to intelligent ones that discover new patterns in large, unstructured data-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 offered 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 one-team 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 officers and cleaners, for example, want tools that empower and streamline reporting, enabling quick communication. FM and guest service workers often 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; offering 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 data is stored ensuring GDPR compliance; CO2 sensors monitor COVID-19 transmission risk by analysing air quality.
In considering these opportunities, FMs can realise the efficiency of smarter ways of working to methodically identify what parts of the operation need digital process improvement and real-time application to strategise cost saving initiatives.
HOW CAN DATA ANALYTICS BE APPLIED TO HELP REAP THE BENEFITS OF EMPLOYING DIGITAL SOLUTIONS?
Customer feedback is vital to monitor performance. Digital solutions, for example social media sentiment tracking, can identify issues posted by customers in real time and convert the feedback into tasks to be resolved immediately.
In so doing, not only can resources be deployed more efficiently, but analysis and machine learning can be utilised to anticipate and predict service requirements and improvements moving forward, adding demonstrable value for clients and enhancing the customer journey experience for consumers.
