Automated Workflows in Facility Management: Enabling Innovation and Bringing Transformation
Facilities management encompasses more than just the conventional responsibilities of building management. It involves managing multiple buildings, systems, and teams. With the increasing complexity of modern buildings and the extensive nature of work, having automated workflows has become essential for facility managers to streamline their workflows operations and improve their efficiency.
According to a WorkMarket insight report, 85% of business leaders believe that automating certain tasks can free up their team’s time, allowing them to concentrate on achieving the company’s most important objectives. So, implementing automated workflows can be incredibly beneficial in managing various facilities management processes. In this blog, we will explore how automated workflows help facility management.
How automated workflows bring improvements in facility management?
Automated workflows can bring significant improvements in facility management operations. Here, we discuss some areas where we can witness this transformation enabled by automated workflows.
Centralized Management
One of the primary uses of automated workflows in facility management is the ability to centralize and automate processes. This means that instead of juggling multiple platforms and systems, facility managers can use a single platform to manage everything from work orders to maintenance schedules. This helps to simplify the day-to-day operations of the facility and reduces the workload of the staff and reduces the risk of errors.
Easy Maintenance Schedules
Automated workflows help schedule facilities maintenance as they are easily triggered based on calendar dates, ensuring that no maintenance task is overlooked. This ensures that equipment is regularly serviced and maintained, which can help extend its lifespan and reduce the risk of breakdowns.
With automated workflows, facility managers can rest assured that all maintenance tasks are completed on time and nothing falls through the cracks, leading to a safer and more efficient building environment.
Managing Work Requests
Facility managers receive numerous work requests from building occupants, and manually managing them can be time-consuming and error-prone. With facility workflow solutions, managers can create a system that receives work requests, categorizes them, assigns them to the appropriate staff, and tracks their progress. This ensures that all requests are attended to promptly and that there is clear communication between the staff and building occupants.
The system can also send out automated notifications to stakeholders such as the requester, technician, and supervisor, providing them with the latest updates on the work order status.
Managing Smart Building Technologies
The smart buildings market is predicted to reach a value of $121.6 billion by 2026, driven by the growing demand for energy-efficient buildings, and a CAGR of 10.9%. With the advent of smart building technologies, many routine tasks like controlling lighting and temperature are now automated. Additionally, the data generated by the systems are leveraged to optimize building operations.
To streamline this data collection and reporting, automated workflows are implemented to collect and analyze temperature or utility bill data. By automating these tasks, facility managers can better utilize the data to improve building performance, while reducing their workload and increasing efficiency.
Emergency Response
Every facility needs to be prepared for emergencies and has a plan in place to protect everyone present, including employees, visitors, and contractors. Creating emergency procedures beforehand and incorporating automated workflows to activate during an emergency can guarantee that all necessary tasks are carried out, even under high-pressure situations.
When these workflows are easily accessible on mobile devices, it enables facilities managers to take swift action during emergencies. This helps to reduce the risk of injury or loss of life and ensures that occupants are well-protected in case of an emergency.
Safety and Compliance Matters
Facility managers must ensure that the building meets all safety and compliance regulations. Automating facility management workflow can help facility managers to monitor compliance, track inspections, and create automated alerts for any violations. This helps to reduce the risk of fines and legal liabilities and ensures that the building is safe and compliant.
For example, if any incidents occur, they can be recorded and disseminated via email to appropriate managers across the company who require notification. Then the reports are analyzed to identify trends in the incidents to take corrective actions.
Minimize Human Error
Manual processes are prone to human error, which can lead to costly mistakes and accidents. Automated workflows can facilitate workflow management and help facility managers to minimize human error by automating routine tasks and creating clear instructions for staff. This helps in reduction of manual errors by 48%, with an increased speed of tasks completed by 42%. This reflects in improving the accuracy and consistency of operations. Looking at it from a risk management standpoint, automated processes are undoubtedly superior to manual ones.
Increased Work Satisfaction
By automating routine and low-value administrative tasks, employees are freed up to focus on more significant and valuable work. This can lead to increased job satisfaction, as employees can use their skills and abilities to accomplish meaningful work. Furthermore, automating these tasks can help prevent employees from feeling bored, underutilized, or unchallenged, which can in turn improve their engagement and productivity. Ultimately, this can contribute to a positive work culture and lead to the improved overall performance of the organization.
Conclusion
Automated workflows help facility employees to unleash creativity, enhance effectiveness, and boost productivity on the job. Streamlining business processes by eliminating bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and manual labor is crucial for effective business process management.
As the demand for cost-effective, high-quality facility management software continues to grow, automated workflows are becoming an increasingly essential tool for organizations looking to stay competitive and meet the evolving needs of their clients.
