Many companies use Facility Management (FM) companies to manage their general services and the maintenance of their buildings. The IoT makes it possible to optimize and facilitate the FM teams work. Let us explain you how..
Hxperience has been working for several years now on how IoT and predictive analysis technologies can be applied to different application cases in the building sector. With this experience, the company has studied the use cases of IoT for Facility Management companies.
IOT : challenges and opportunities for the Facility Management stakeholders
Facility Management companies manage a range of so called “general” services in buildings on behalf of their corporate customers, such as security, safety, hygiene, maintenance and multi-technical maintenance. Facility Management is currently facing a changing environment and needs to adapt and rethink its operating methods.
Keep pace with customer and environmental requirements
An important challenge for Facility Management companies: to respond effectively to their customers’ growing budget constraints, as well as to an increased scope of service offerings. In this context, not only do they need to provide their customers with reliable information and perfect quality of service. They also should know how to innovate in order to meet new needs coming from different use of workspaces (Flex Office, Home Office, Co -Working).
Another constraint: the importance of complying with the increasing regulatory requirements in terms of urban planning, sustainable environment, hygiene, etc.
Last but not least, the comfort of building occupants remains, or should remain, a first priority for Facility Management companies. In order to respond optimally to all these issues, digitizing and effectively piloting Facility Management activities, thanks in particular to IoT technology, is essential.
Rethink FM mode of operations and train teams
The transformation challenges for Facility Management companies are not all external. Internally, these companies must rethink their intervention processes, manage their teams and train them so that they can use IoT-based digital tools wisely. Providing relevant information and indicators will only be useful if it eventually helps improving procedures and mode of operation. It should ultimately improve technicians’ responsiveness in case of incidents, the overall task planning as well as communication towards the occupants. On the other hand, it is essential that all the stakeholders have access to the data in order to work in complete synergy.
Facility Managers: Maximizing customer satisfaction with IoT-based solutions
IoT is based on a network of sensors and embedded software in physical objects. These sensors are connected via low speed wireless networks (Sigfox or LoraWan type) to a software data processing and analysis. After being collected, processed and analyzed, these data are accessible in the form of synthetic dashboards, analysis charts, maps etc … They can also generate automated triggering of alerts and call out requests. Here’s how IoT can help Facility Management companies on a daily basis.
Reduced operational costs
First and foremost, the IoT should reduce the Facility Management companies overall OPEX and thus optimize their margins. Indeed, thanks to the data reported and processed by the business software, technical teams will only go on site when an alarm is triggered due to a malfunction of equipment and they also have the possibility to perform a first remote diagnosis in order to avoid useless interventions. This efficiency gain is especially valuable when technician teams manage a large number of widespread locations.
Conditional maintenance and predictive maintenance
The processing and analysis of usage data correlated with contextual information will make it possible to optimize the services offered by Facility Management. Cleaning the premises is a very good example. Thanks to presence sensors installed in meeting rooms or to crossing sensors in the toilets, maintenance teams can reduce the cleaning time in unoccupied or uncrowded places and, on the other hand, intervene more quickly in the premises with stronger human presence. A intervention request will be triggered when a predefined attendance threshold is reached for example. Predictive analytics algorithms can even go further. Thanks to the development of machine learning models on certain critical installations, alerts are sent to the technical teams when drifts are noticed. Their intervention makes it possible to anticipate the malfunctions or a breakdown of the installation which would probably have a direct negative impact on the occupants’ comfort or even on safety in the building.
Improve comfort and develop new services for occupants
Sensors can be placed in many places and can collect multiple real-time data on the work environment: light, temperature, humidity, CO2, VOC, etc. Facility Management companies choosing IoT solutions can offer office building occupants an optimal level of comfort. In addition, they can also provide occupants with a certain amount of contextual information (affluence to the company restaurant) as well as external information such as traffic or public transport timetables, etc.).
IoT, an opportunity for Facility Management companies
Connected buildings represent a colossal economic challenge reaching several hundred billion dollars by 2022. There is an increasing number of connected equipment, but the active and centralized management of all building services is still in its infancy. Facility Management companies which have chosen to invest in IoT are getting a head start in an ultra-competitive market. At Hxperience, we have developed a software solution, SMATI, which collects, processes, analyzes and values building data. The business applications available in SMATI make it possible to optimize the operation of your property portfolio. It is also possible to monitor and analyze the uses and the performance of the services offered in the building. Hxperience has also launched the SMATI packs that offer a complete solution allowing Facility Managers to connect and operate buildings very easily.
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