Reducing pressure smartly
Robert Fryers, CEO and co-founder of Spotta, explains how smart detectors can reduce the pressure on cleaning teams.
COVID-19 has led to increased hygiene and cleanliness expectations on cleaning managers, who also have to put the welfare of occupants and staff at the forefront of service delivery. The tightening of operational budgets will see teams redistributed to business-critical issues, and likely reduced headcount as part of cost-cutting measures – putting ever more pressure on cleaning teams.
Cleaning businesses already suffer one of the worst staff retention rates at 74%, according to the Office for National Statistics, which makes maintaining training and skills for all areas of the business difficult on top of responding to new, critical hygiene requirements.
Companies that embrace new technologies have a strong competitive edge to achieve advanced operational cost- cutting and efficiency measures and address manpower, skills, and training shortages.
Making buildings smart
Internet of Things (IoT) solutions help businesses adhere to regulations and reduce the pressure on cleaning teams. We’ve seen the arrival of robot vacuum cleaners, hotel mini bars that identify when and what has been taken, as well as voice and movement-controlled lighting and sound systems – but IoT is going much further.
Smart buildings bring benefits from staff productivity to sustainability through sensors and automated applications. They also play a role in improving the experience of staff and visitors. This is particularly poignant at a time when hygiene and wellbeing comes under scrutiny in buildings open to the public.
IoT devices are useful in addressing problems that are often hidden from view. New devices and applications are capable of sharing information through mobile apps, online portals or email to provide a complete performance review of the building and highlight problem areas in real time. As building management becomes more complicated, cleaning managers must have access to the right data for decision- making, in order to be able to understand problems and respond by identifying the appropriate solution.
Redeploying team resources
Many companies have reported 10-15% cost savings from IoT projects, so it’s important that cleaning managers look at the value and operational savings IoT devices bring. IoT can reinvent staff resourcing, using detectors and monitoring systems to enable managers to deploy staff immediately to problem areas – whether it’s replacing missing towels, emptying bins or dealing with pests, without having to do manual checks. This minimises time and training costs in a period where staffing challenges for cleaning teams are high.
28 | FEATURE
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https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicspending/articles/isstaffretentionanissueinthepublicsector/2019-06-17) (
https://relayto.com/mckinsey/industrial-internet-of-things-2019-impact-and-adoption-a2xjyhgckyx1o/kcEKNuIy10)
twitter.com/TomoCleaning
Detectors have evolved: they provide effective monitoring in areas where previously only trained staff or animals were capable. To illustrate, pest control for many hospitality businesses and public buildings is a big problem, impacting a business’ reputation and putting it at risk of litigation and, especially now, scrutiny from health and hygiene authorities.
In recent years pest traps have become increasingly intelligent, capable of identifying even the smallest of pests like bed bugs. Strategically placed IoT devices analyse pests through image sensors and machine learning, informing cleaning staff of the type of pest so it can be dealt with appropriately, reducing human monitoring and training.
At a time when revenue and cash flow is essential to the very survival of businesses, issues need to be dealt with before they become financial and operational problems.
Working with smart sensors
IoT detectors and sensors are part of the move to smart business, offering intelligent and mature solutions for digital transformation that allows staff to focus on tasks which bring higher value. In order to maintain motivation and productivity, cleaning managers need to engage staff with the technologies and the benefits they bring, to appropriately deploy team efforts to enhance delivery and staff wellbeing.
Smart buildings using technology will allow businesses to survive, as well as provide the opportunity for cleaning teams to thrive in the new tomorrow.
www.spotta.co
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