Feature
Why installing In-Building Mobile Coverage should be one of your New Year’s Resolutions By Mick Goulding, Head of Business Development, Vilicom
The roles of facilities management (FM) professionals are only getting tougher, with new workplace designs, digital disruption and smart technology constantly impacting the demands of clients. These trends have significantly changed the role of FM from concentrating on assets and building- centred activity to a focus on end-users and outcomes. Increasingly, people want a place to work
that delivers more services and amenities than ever before – shared workspaces, co-working at organisations such as incubators, and ‘swing spaces’ are growing in popularity. Additionally, facilities such as lunch spaces, games rooms, gyms and coffee bars. These changes are influenced by a number of factors, including Generation Y (those born between 1981 and 2000) by 2020, who will make up half the global workforce. This also has an impact on facility managers as they grapple with the new technology infrastructure that these shifting workspaces demand – in particular mobile phone technology.
Recognising the value of in-building mobile coverage
Increasingly organisations are pushing mobile-only strategies, with landlines fast becoming obsolete. For example, PwC has gone as far as removing landlines from every office desk. In tandem, modern work spaces come with an increased number of connected things, mobile devices and smart building features including lights, sensors and CCTV. As such, full-bar indoor mobile coverage is now essential for any modern workplace.
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It is the often-forgotten utility, but in today’s connected world, mobile network equipment is as important as gas, water and electricity – and every FM professional needs to recognise this. Recent research has shown that business
owners are in real need of help to achieve full-bar mobile coverage, with 89% of those surveyed considering it important. Also, 26% received mobile coverage complaints from staff, which can lead to workers having to leave their workplace to get good reception or quitting all together. This is unnecessary if the right investments are made. But many business owners and facilities managers don’t know where to get advice on how to solve the problem.
The opportunity for facilities managers
While facilities personnel can’t be expected to be telecoms experts, whether in-house or outsourced, the profession is amongst those that need to start to understand when in-building mobile coverage is poor, how essential it is for business and where to turn in order to resolve it. This is particularly important as our research also found that more than one in five (21%) actively expects their facilities manager or building manager to be able to help. This increases to nearly a third (31%) for business owners of mid-large sized businesses (250-500 employees) and those with a turnover of £100 Million – £500 Million. The key is engaging a reputable provider
of indoor mobile coverage networks, who will then ensure high-quality service across an entire facility that has the flexibility to
grow as technologies continue to evolve. Also helping you to overcome any in-building mobile coverage issues, whether that be building materials, location, or interference. For example, I have previously worked
with an academic educational building that faced multiple challenges in providing high quality vendor-neutral indoor mobile coverage. This included its concrete and steel structure, and multiple rooms where robust signal for surgical training and clinical simulation facilities was life or death. And four floors below ground with facilities such as a lecture theatre that needed to have the same consistent connectivity. All of this was possible. Organisations are crying out for
reliable advisors that can offer them greater connectivity, compliance, quality and consistency, with nearly half of all respondents happy to pay for improved coverage as they do with standard utilities. And why wouldn’t they when installations have been known to increase a property’s value, workforce productivity and attract new talent, as well as enable organisations to provide faster speeds and user experiences? Facilities managers have a pivotal role
to play in bringing this service under one department’s control alongside other utilities. Indoor mobile coverage can no longer be the last consideration, or worse, not considered at all. Working with specialist providers that can design, install and maintain indoor mobile coverage solution, with a range of commercial models (including service models with no huge CAPEX costs upfront), makes it easy. Connectivity drives productivity and creates new opportunities.
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