Facility management is a comprehensive approach to overseeing the upkeep and improvement of facilities. The responsibilities include securing vendor contracts, repairing and maintaining building improvements, cleaning and upkeeping workspaces, and managing off-site assets.

Introduction

Facilities management solutions is a comprehensive approach to overseeing the upkeep and improvement of facilities. The responsibilities include securing vendor contracts, repairing and maintaining building improvements, cleaning and maintaining workspaces, and managing off-site assets.

Facility Management incurs the most significant expense behind the workforce. They support the team member by coordinating desking arrangements, managing team member directories, facilitating moves and space utilization and handling emergency planning.

Facilities managers have a broad range of responsibilities:

• Maintenance: Monitor and plan energy usage, plan the facility’s capacity and forecast possible fluctuations.
• Project management: Long-term planning, conceptualizing new projects and managing a team. The Facility Management Manager should manage the project and work within the budget.
• Manage two-way communication: Communicate with end customers, ensure their satisfaction with the services provided, and address the concerns of the team working in the facility.
• Managing resources:Tracking employee productivity, allocating tasks, and hiring talent when needed.
• Emergency management: Ensure safety and eliminate any threats..

Given the wide range of responsibilities a facility manager oversees daily, companies can use technology to ensure efficiency and a great experience for their employees occupying the facility.

The facility management manager streamlines the workplace into a competitive advantage for the occupants. Data-driven facilities management solutions are a growing digital transformation trend as organizations strive for operational efficiency.

Let’s understand how IoT technology enables efficient operations and maintenance for facilities management solutions.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a powerful technology that provides businesses with real-time insights into their facilities that every company must leverage to succeed in the future. IoT-enabled devices and sensors aid in collecting data and automating the process of managing office space. By gathering a rich set of data, facility management managers can make data-driven decisions that were not possible with legacy systems.

IoT sensors enable granular monitoring of usage. It includes occupancy monitoring, space utilization, and energy-efficient strategies.

With office space management solutions, the company can take the best decisions and act quickly and sustainably to ensure its employees’ safety, comfort, and productivity. Integrated IoT devices aggregate data for better workspace utilization and provide ROI.

Upgrading to predictive maintenance with IoT Integration

Predictive maintenance identifies potential failures of assets while checking the assets when they are running. It is a technique in which the service period of crucial parts is predicted during the inspection so that the parts can be helpful within their service period. It uses data analysis tools to control equipment performance and condition during regular operation to reduce the probability of failures.

IoT can enable predictive maintenance by continuously monitoring asset conditions through programming or self-monitoring. It increases asset performance and extends asset life by optimizing asset operations. Every asset, piece of equipment, and system generates data. The sensor will send an alert when an asset is about to fail; facility management services can identify and fix it immediately.

A process like this informs other assets when it is due to fail and prevents the entire system from malfunctioning. The problem can be detected before it requires an expensive repair or replacement.

Energy Efficiency

Organizations can achieve a significant reduction in their energy usage with IoT. IoT devices such as daylight sensors, HVAC controllers, lighting controls, and more can create greater energy efficiency throughout a building’s systems. Let us understand a few of them:

Daylight sensors use photocells to turn off or dim lighting based on the amount of available natural light. These photosensors can also raise or lower blinds to optimize lighting.

HVAC Controllers using IoT technology can reduce energy usage by measuring various conditions within a building to regulate output within climate control systems. Intelligent controllers can be placed at specific vital points or throughout a building.

HVAC Economizer Controls can pull in the cool outside air to reduce the need for electrical cooling. Economizers use sensors to measure air temperature, heat, and humidity to determine actions based on energy efficiency and occupant comfort.

Lighting Controls control lighting through the use of IoT. Energy efficiency results from lowering lighting output based on certain conditions. Results depend on occupant behaviour, control system type, patterns of activity, and other conditions.

Seamless Communication

With the advancement of technology, it is common for teams to use different communication tools—email, instant messenger, and voice calls, to create multiple touchpoints.

Choosing a connected facility management system or adopting a digital calendar and report to keep track of calls and meetings improves communication between the team.

Conclusion

IoT platforms exist to help facility management managers overcome technical challenges without the need to figure it all out in-house.

The benefits of IoT-enabled facility management are:

• Access to granular building and equipment data enabling better maintenance
• Improved team efficiency due to transparency and seamless communication
• Longer lifespan of equipment and assets leads to better ROI
• Enhanced ability to plan maintenance and projects
• Higher risk mitigation efficiency

IoT-enabled facilities management solutions connects people, processes, and systems to deliver high-performance buildings, energy efficiency, and improved customer satisfaction.