What is facility management in today’s modern, digitized workplace? Great question. It wasn’t that long ago that poly-lined floor plans and manually submitted maintenance tickets were the norm. Today, facility management requires integrated software ecosystems.

Hardware, software, and the physical building

For many workplaces, connected technologies are must-haves. Hardware is the cornerstone of next-generation facility management, used for collecting and storing data. Temperature sensors help manage building HVAC systems, and access control systems centralize building security.

If hardware is the cornerstone, then software makes up the rest of the foundation. Software’s primary function is to turn electrical signals, activations, code, and communications into readable, usable data. From there, facility managers use that data—and the analytics derived from it—to improve facility management.

Facilities management software tiers

Facilities management software varies depending on the application. You might use a basic program to automate ticketing requests. On a larger scale, you may rely on a Facility Management System to aggregate and display data from an array of networked devices.

An effective facilities management system should, at the very least, centralize information for high-level insights. Sensor systems provide deeper insights into overall workplace utilization. How deeply you want to focus determines your data needs.

The software makes managing and improving facilities easier

The best facility management software enables facility managers to do their jobs better. The more data available, the more insights you have to drive improvements. It does not matter whether you manage 100 sensors across 20 different data-collection applications—without the right software to deliver that data, there is no clear path to improvement.

Integrated software is important, too

Beyond the programs and software ecosystems that collect and display data, integration is also critical. Just as every facet of your building is connected, so are the many applications used to manage it. Actions like sharing data in the cloud to gather feedback from key stakeholders are critical to facilities management and depend heavily on the technology behind them.

Facilities through a software lens

Facilities management has always been a discipline grounded in operational stability. It may seem like that mission is more difficult as buildings become more digital, but it is actually getting easier.

Software does what humans cannot: it finds intricate patterns, processes huge datasets, and organizes complex information in seconds. It simplifies the traditionally difficult parts of facilities management. It automates ways to better understand a facility’s inner workings and helps facility managers make the most of available workspace.

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