Facility Management

Facility management(ISO41001) is managing buildings, grounds, and other physical assets belonging to an organization. The term “facility management” can also refer to any combination of these functions performed by outside service providers on behalf of the building’s owner or manager. Facilities management is a vast industry, and it continues to grow as more and more companies realize the importance of maintaining their physical plants. This field has many different facets, from designing new buildings or renovating existing ones to constructing specialized structures like outbuildings and greenhouses. Facilities managers oversee all of these projects and ensure that they’re completed on time, within budget, and with high-quality standards.

Types of Facility Management

Facility management has two areas:

• Hard facility management: This type of facility management involves managing physical assets like buildings, workspaces, plumbing, electrical, etc.
• Soft facility management: It deals with tasks performed by people like maintenance, housekeeping, cleaning services, and workspace management. These services make the building secure and the work environment more pleasant.

Importance of facility management

Facilities management is crucial in running the day-to-day operations of your business. They can help you in:

 

• Planning – Strategic planning guides your business to achieve its objectives and evaluate your progress while taking action. The facility manager defines short and long-term goals that help you allocate funds, boost productivity, and achieve the objectives.
• Operations – Facility managers will manage day-to-day operations to keep the office organized and supervise and coordinate with the contractors to minimize any disruptions that impact the functioning of office activities. Their functionalities may include

1. Ordering stock.
2. Ensuring facilities comply with the industry guidelines.
3. Effective waste disposal.

• Increases the lifespan of assets – Facility management increases the lifespan of the assets through proper maintenance, repairs, periodically checks which saves the cost of acquiring new assets and repairs in the long run.
• Health and Safety – Facilities management ensures handling onsite emergencies, predicting any hazards, and taking actions to deal with them. Facility managers are not just concerned with ensuring that buildings are clean and well maintained; they also work to ensure the health and safety of employees who will be present these buildings daily. They have a huge role in maintaining the workplace’s cleanliness and meeting hygiene standards.

Outsourcing Facility Management

Hiring a professional company to take care of your facilities management needs is the best decision you can make. Here are three reasons why it’s worth it.

 

• Experience – Professional companies know what they’re doing. They have years of experience in this field and are knowledgeable about all sorts of buildings, from warehouses to office spaces to apartment complexes. If you don’t have that expertise on staff, then hiring an outside company will save you time and money in the long run because they’ll do things right the first time around, without wasting hours or days trying different methods until something finally works.
• Better ideas and variety – Today’s workplace go beyond clean restrooms and workplaces. Large companies expect more amenities like gyms, standing desks, dry cleaning, etc. These amenities enhance employee experience but also burdens your team. Instead of being the Jack of all trades, hiring a professional who can suggest innovative ideas and save your team’s time would be better.
• Cost savings – Outsourcing the task to a third-party vendor will save the costs incurred to train your employees, purchase any new tool, or implement any methodology to assist facility management. Vendors also may provide attractive plans based on your budget and suggest cost-effective ideas to save fit into your budget

Cons of Outsourcing Facility Management

• Negative Employee opinion – Outsourcing the facility management can provide negative employee feedback. This is due to the task being snatched away from employees and outsourced to a third-party vendor. This can lead to a low hiring rate from the company.
• Lack of organizational knowledge – While the facility managers from your vendor may be highly trained, they might not have a thorough understanding of your unique company culture. In addition, they don’t possess the attachment and passion towards your company compared to a full-time employee in your organization.

Facilities Management Technologies

Facilities management technology is an industry grown steadily over the last decade. Facilities management departments enable data analytics and AI based solutions to improve their functioning. Here are four things you should know about implementing technologies in your organization:

• Facility managers need to be able to make quick decisions when issues arise; they can use mobile devices and tablets for instant access to information.
• Technology provides a competitive advantage by allowing companies to measure their performance against others; this leads them not only increase revenue but also save money through process optimization.
• Facilities management software allows managers to track everything and help manage their properties. This includes everything from customer service and operations to maintenance and energy management.

Below mentioned are a few software that helps you manage your tasks:

• The Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) – Platform is a software tool that allows an organization to consolidate and manage its assets. This includes everything from the buildings and furniture to the vehicles and even office equipment.
• Computerized Maintenance Management System – CMMS software can be used in any industry where equipment requires regular upkeep or replacement. It is also helpful for heavy machinery industries that face costly repairs if not properly maintained on time

Best Practices of Facility Management

• Centralize facility management – Many companies struggle to manage their facilities, and this is because of the complexity of the job. It takes a lot of time and effort to deploy staff members, inspect buildings, monitor equipment performance – all over different locations. The solution is software that will allow you to do all these things in one central location. Centralizing your facility management through software will help you streamline operations and eliminate costly errors that inevitably happen when managing by hand.
• Collect more data – IoT and data analytics help facility managers make data-driven decisions to shape their workplace. It also helps them to recognize any challenges and take corrective actions.
• Automated facilities process – Automated facility management lets you use technology to automate many of the tasks required for maintaining your buildings, saving time and money in the process. This type of system can help you eliminate unnecessary work orders, detect problems before they become major emergencies, identify trends in energy usage, and more.