PRODUCT FOCUS: CAFM & IT APP-DRIVEN EVOLUTION
The future of FM is in the palm of our hands, suggests Valerie Henry, Business Development Manager at FSI.
In the past decade, the technology available to FM teams has evolved at a rapid rate. Data and tasks that were once held in weighty documents or bloated spreadsheets now sit in a small corner of our phones and tablets. This progress shows no signs of slowing.
Business is never static. It’s all about evolving and developing in technology, and FM is now realising that.
The rise of app-driven processes in FM have advanced in response to the overall accessibility of this technology in our lives and industry-wide calls for greater efficiency and adaptability. It’s fair to say that they have made a game- changing impression.
App-based working has greatly enhanced productivity and streamlined FM processes. By offering a direct and familiar route for people to acquire, track and assess data on the move, they drastically cut down the time it takes for information to be logged and problems to be rectified, as well as greatly improve engagement between FM teams and end-users.
Examples of this can be found across FSI’s various applications, such as the ChatLog app. Inspired by social networking tools, it enables end-users to directly highlight and log building issues with their helpdesk, as well as identify the most pressing issues based on how many people report each problem.
Another app, Book It, allows people to remotely pre-book visitors, check them in and organise meeting spaces seamlessly – all possible in a few clicks on your device.
These examples illustrate the true benefits of the app- based evolution in FM – giving everyone immediate access to valuable information across their buildings and resolving issues faster.
It’s all about instant access. Having an app on your phone in easy reach that can monitor, communicate and capture data across a building is so much more efficient than writing things down or logging them on a spreadsheet.
App-based working also improves employee wellbeing. The accessibility and familiarity of this approach empowers employees, residents and other end-users to voice their opinion on issues impacting their buildings.
FSI’s apps are designed to give your workplace community control of their working environment, allowing them to interact directly with FM systems, and to connect your workforce community to the Concept Evolution CAFM or IWMS system back at base, keeping them connected all the time.
36 | TOMORROW’S FM
As well as enabling people to take more initiative over the maintenance of their building and fostering better two-way communication, the use of apps in FM makes the industry more attractive to the next generation of workers. These are people who use apps daily – making them part of their work life is naturally the next step.
Of course, there are those slow to adopt this new approach, or who remain sceptical to its advantages. Whether this reluctance to change is driven by finances or a generational divide, there is no escaping that apps will play a huge role in the future of FM.
“The rise of app-driven processes in FM have advanced in response to the overall accessibility of
this technology in our lives and industry-wide calls for greater efficiency and adaptability.”
We’ve got to think about the future generations. The younger generations are increasingly more tech-savvy than the previous ones, and they represent the future of the FM industry. This must drive us to evolve with them through technology. The days of spreadsheets, pens and pads are gone – in FM, people, processes and buildings will continue to get smarter.
Fundamentally, as the IoT, AI, biometrics and more powerful technologies continue to develop, the onus is on FM providers to harness these. There is no turning back, and we should all be looking forward to a future where we can hold FM in the palm of our hands.
www.fsi.co.uk/
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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