CAFM & IT
has existed for several years. But there are three things that block its implementation. Legacy, cost and the change process itself.
Legacy and the change process are interlinked. The systems, policies, procedures, silos, and attitudes that already exist within a business slow the pace of change. Indeed, management almost always underestimate the nature of the change required within the business or, worse still, have started along a path because it should be a good idea but with no clear vision of what they want to achieve or why they want to achieve it. However, cost remains the block most easy to pick out. The investment needed is often too much for the perceived return.
However, our research, both anecdotal and from results of our own work, indicates that if properly conceived, changing the way your business manages its property and facility portfolio to shape it, update it, run and manage it will save more money than what might be regarded as the far simpler outsource quick fixes. It is a question of ensuring the changes you make are based upon real world information that is up to
www.tomorrowsfm.com
date and relevant to the needs of your staff and your customers. Too often, this is not the case as the information is either not collected or not available.
“It is our behaviour that determines if technology drives us or we drive it.”
This was the position when we began working with the Nationwide Building Society to develop a property asset management tool called the Hub. Nationwide, like many other organisations with large property portfolios, needed to take money out of its operation without affecting the quality of their output. They knew the answer lay within rationalising and streamlining Nationwide’s supply chain. As well as reducing its internal team from 100 to around 30 people, they focussed on reducing the myriad of IT systems for various reporting functions into one integrated system to avoid duplication and provide one source of data, The Hub – a single version of the truth.
Technology has enabled Nationwide and other organisations like them to save money, operate more efficiently
TOMORROW’S FM | 27
and provide an online platform to view property, assets and facilities, which connects directly with a company’s outsourced partners and their computer systems, to build and compare data and enable informed decision-making.
But it has not taken over. Instead, facilities and asset managers are learning to harness technology and not be overawed by it. Because, ultimately, whilst we live in an age of technology, it is our behaviour and cultures within the workplace that determines if technology drives us or we drive it.
In my next article, I will look more closely at how technology is allowing facilities and property professionals to take charge, add value and make strategic contributions at Board level.
You can read Martin’s next article in the September issue of Tomorrow’s FM.
www.isiteportal.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
