No matter your industry or business, it is essential that maintenance of your equipment and buildings is carried out efficiently and accurately.
Because for small businesses and larger enterprises alike, poor maintenance and unplanned repairs can significantly harm the bottom line.
Facilities management experts admit that facility managers spend almost a third (30-33%) of their maintenance budget on problems such as these.
So it’s easy to see how this might be a challenge on a departmental level, while also putting a significant strain on the overall business.
Ultimately, we know a facility manager should ensure the efficient maintenance of equipment, buildings and other assets so that things can run smoothly.
But more often than not, facility managers are reactive rather than proactive. Sometimes it can’t be helped – with so many things to take care of it can be easy to lose track.
However, the grim reality is that reactive maintenance can cost almost four times more than proactive maintenance.
Can facilities managers really afford to be reactive instead of proactive?
Making Facility Management Efficient Again
We know that the regular maintenance of facilities and equipment can decrease the time and money spent on repairs. But without an efficient maintenance plan, it can be overwhelming.
In order to address this challenge, establishing an approach and a culture that enables efficient tracking and reporting can be a real game-changer.
This can be helped along by a solution that allows facility managers to proactively monitor the condition of buildings, facilities, equipment and assets, ultimately affording them the ability to act early.
This could be the differentiator, saving time that could be better spent elsewhere while also making a significant difference to the management and maintenance budget.
So what’s the route to achieving this outcome? Well, it’s made possible by technology in the form of facility management software.
The Power of Facility Management Software
Accurately measuring the reliability and condition of assets, facilities and equipment may seem like a drudge, especially if you have your hands full.
But when facilities management refocuses its efforts to eliminate any possibility of facilities failure or downtime through tracking and reporting, it could pay dividends in both the short and long term.
This whole process benefits from a turnkey facilities management software, one that offers real-time evidence gathering, maintenance task tracking and reporting.
By stepping into the modern age of facilities management, facility managers will be able to go about their duties efficiently.
And for facilities management across multiple sites, this approach becomes even more valuable.
Whether it’s for a single location, regional or global, facility management software easily scales to meet the needs of the business.
But it’s all well and good saying “adopt new technology”, for some facility managers the task is not always as simple as that.
To help facility managers discover the best solution, here are five features every good facilities management software should have.
Five Must-Have Facility Management Software Features
1. Task Tracking
Task tracking is vital for efficiency. Knowing what people are working on and when will help you build a picture of the overall project and budget. It will also give you the oversight of things like time and cost spent on tasks or the management or personnel.
2. Templates
If there’s one thing that says speed, it’s templates. Pre-made digital templates are ready in a flash, accessible on any device, and shareable. Whether it’s for health and safety, building maintenance or a basic condition report, using templates will keep things progressing on time.
3. Integrations
In today’s hyperconnected world, the ability to integrate your facility management process with other software or platforms can be a real boost to efficiency. Connecting to different areas of the business streamlines operations to no end.
4. Evidence Capture
A full historical audit trail of all inspections, activity and issues along with all the necessary evidence, will empower facility managers to safeguard their spaces. The importance of capturing these intricate details accurately and comprehensively cannot be overstated.
5. Reporting
Scheduling, tracking and managing things in real-time is great, but at the end of the day, granting visibility to all stakeholders through reporting can make a real difference, whether that’s through summaries or full reports.
The Future of Facility Management
In the facilities management space, there is a real desire to improve the perceived value of the profession to the hierarchy.
By turning that part of the business into a profit centre and aligning it with the overall business mission, facility managers can add irrefutable value to any organisation.
The truth is, businesses rely on facility management practices to give them the information they need to make informed decisions, so the facility management reporting process should be a representation of the ambition and goals of the organisation as a whole.
Through the adoption of a mobile inspection and reporting platform, facility managers can streamline their service to no end, understanding exactly how the facility is performing and helping them to establish huge positive changes across the organisation.
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