The development of Internet of Things solutions, the greater availability of data, and the improvement of artificial intelligence have allowed the facility management world to be central in the digital innovation processes of organizations and companies. Facility management is configured as the process of design, implementation, and control through which the facilities (i.e. the buildings and the services necessary to support the business of the company) are managed, in order to ensure the levels of service suitable to meet business needs while creating a quality working environment at the best economic conditions possible. Facility management, therefore, represents a range of discipline and services necessary to ensure the functionality, safety, security, efficiency, and comfort of the whole environment, so buildings, infrastructures, and the real estate.
SMART TECHNOLOGIES ALLOW COMPANIES TO GAIN CRITICAL INSIGHTS ON HOW TO OPTIMIZE THE MANAGEMENT AND SEVERAL FACETS OF THE FACILITY
The facility management can be divided in hard and soft. The first one deals with space and infrastructures (i.e. space management, management and optimization of the workplace, technical management of buildings, energy management, waste management, and indoor and outdoor cleaning), while the second one is performed by people and organization (i.e. health, hygiene, safety and security, internal services, ICT, and internal logistics). By using this term it can be also meant the facilities management systems and software. These systems use sensors and smart devices to generate a great amount of data. Smart technologies are fundamental, as their cognitive capability allows to analyze data and learn from them, in this way managers can have real-time visibility, improve predictive maintenance and productivity, and cut costs. These solutions allow organizations to gain critical insights on how to optimize the management and several facets of the facility. Moreover, the effectiveness of these systems can be improved by integrating workplace management systems.
MODERN TECHNOLOGIES HAVE CHANGED THE WHOLE SMART FACILITY MANAGEMENT APPROACH
The advent of modern technologies, such as cloud computing, has increased the whole smart facility management approach. Fully functional solutions significantly simplify the operations of facility management, especially the central monitoring and the control of the systems and technologies used. They also provide managers the ability to unify the management of multiple geographically dispersed facilities, to have remote control of the locations without being physically present, to centralize interventions in the system in the event of a situation in the building or the needs of its user, to store information about actions taken by individual users and groups, and to cut costs. Thanks to smart technology it is also possible to find out which is the degree of utilization of spaces and resources, in this way it can be recommended an upsell of new spaces or it can be foreseen that the tenant will soon ask to leave the space rented.
DATA IS FUNDAMENTAL, AS IT ALLOWS MANAGERS TO PREDICT POSSIBLE FUTURE SCENARIOS AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTIONS
Sofia Locks access control solutions are designed to optimize facility management. Data allows managers to be always updated on the activities and the real estate units thanks to the integrated Business Intelligence, in this way the usage frequency of the resources can be analyzed, and trends can be observed. Also, cybersecurity and GDPR compliance are granted as cloud-native systems are secure-by-design. Sofia Locks knows that data has become fundamental in the digital world we are all living in, not only as it allows to process information in every moment, but also because it allows managers to predict possible future scenarios and take appropriate actions. A data-driven approach should be always used when talking about facility management, as it allows managers to foresee risks and understand the huge value that comes from data, to design in an anecdotal way the future strategy of the business.