Top 5 benefits of cloud-based facilities management software

The way that field and office teams work has changed rapidly over recent years, with technology bringing significant changes to the workplace. The need to capture accurate data, consolidate, analyse and share is critical to today’s key business decision makers – and Facilities Management is no different. The ability to efficiently managing daily tasks, internal and external workforces, as well as providing clarity to clients on a day to day basis is paramount.

However, the introduction of innovative digital transformation technologies into facilities management such as mobile job scheduling, IoT enabled sensors, automatic reporting and intelligent business insights with customer and management dashboards eliminates inefficient processes which consume time and resources.

What are the common pain points in facilities management?

Employees completing paperwork often find it takes a long time to complete, effort to transport and limits storage capacity. There’s also the risk that paperwork can be misplaced, is difficult to find within complicated, manual filing systems or even if its data within a collaborative spreadsheet it could be easily deleted, overwritten or corrupted.

There is often limited or no capability for comprehensive report publishing, even a simple proof of works or your employees’ proof of presence can be a difficult thing to evidence. Clients who are on-site can also find it difficult to understand a facilities management staff’s performance since it is tricky to compile information to a central source of truth especially across multiple disciplines of cleaning, security, maintenance and compliance.

Organisations who use several one-point solutions for these different disciplines can have their own problems. Often designed for a single purpose within a business they are inflexible which can limit their capability to be dynamic and conform to the precise needs of the business and its clients.

What are the benefits of Cloud-based facilities management software like mpro5?

This is where a cloud-based facilities management solution can help. Businesses now, have a greater need for innovation and technology adoption – i.e. moving away from manual processes such as paper-based processes and spreadsheets. This will ensure in-house facilities management departments and facilities contractors alike can manage both their workforce, compliance and regulatory requirements and give clarity and assurances to clients more efficiently and effectively – capturing, analysing and sharing data seamlessly.

All kinds of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ facilities management services can and should implement this Digital Transformation, with the following sectors, and more, able to quickly reap the benefits of cloud-based facilities management software: Grounds Maintenance, Building Compliance, Equipment Servicing, Catering, Hospitality, Health and Safety, Waste Management, Recycling, Environmental Services, Reception, Proof of Delivery, Vehicle Checks and more

So how can your facilities and operations teams ensure they remain competitive while building resilient relationships with customers and continuously moving the business forward into the future? Here are what we feel are the top 5 benefits of Cloud-based facilities management software implementation with mpro5.

1. Digitise your paperwork and processes

The mpro5 digital job workflows are a dynamic, intelligent and digitised adaptation of your spreadsheets and/or paper forms. These digitised forms let you graduate from relying on users to complete a linear sequence of questions, to something much more powerful – all on the single mpro5 mobile workforce application. Workflows can enforce questions, automatically calculate scoring, capture photos/signatures, log timestamps and GPS location and so much more. Most importantly, workflows can direct users down different question paths based on their responses.

2. Highly configurable to your needs

Facilities management software enables organisations and staff to manage their assets, office space, equipment, and occupants efficiently and effectively. However, one of the major benefits of Cloud-based facilities management software such as mpro5 is that our mobile workforce management software is not a single point solution and is able to offer high configuration to bespoke use cases and processes within your business.

Our web-based dashboards help manage and schedule the maintenance of an organisation’s facilities and assets. As a result, facility managers from nearly every business vertical are now achieving successful business outcomes using facility management software.

3. Accessible and available anywhere

One of the benefits of cloud-based facilities management software is that your solution is available anywhere your smart device has a cellular or WiFi connection. A facilities management contract often involves managing large teams of staff who can be spread across multiple locations, therefore ensuring that your employees are completing tasks efficiently and proactively can be difficult, particularly as managers often work off-site.

Switching from manual processes to a mobile workforce technology platform provides greater control and visibility for facilities and operations managers. This is because they can see exactly which tasks staff have carried out as all reporting data uploads automatically to the Cloud or on to custom management dashboards.

Managers can also see which employee completed which job and when as well as being able to view whether any issues have arisen and are flagged in real-time, enabling teams or individuals to fix issues within SLAs. This provides greater control and provides the opportunity to be proactive about business decisions, rather than reactive. For example, facilities or operations managers can analyse data from an interactive management dashboard and spot opportunities for improvements, which allows them to potentially add value and open new avenues for business revenue.

4. Improved productivity, visibility and operational efficiency

Your current facilities management processes can be much more efficient with Digital Transformation technology. These processes include cleaning, maintenance, repairs, audits and quality compliance, not to mention asset management and time & attendance reporting, site surveys and security patrolling – all in one single Cloud based mobile application.

Another of the benefits of Cloud-based facilities management software is that management teams are able to reduce costs by eliminating manual paper processes while increasing the visibility of their operations significantly. Therefore, suppliers need to ensure that they’re operating as efficiently as possible and delivering value for money to customers without impacting on day to day service. Using Internet of Things (IoT) sensors is one way to reduce costs. In the case of IoT, when the monitoring data is captured it is instantly sent to managers which eliminates time-consuming manual checks. With mpro5, there’s also no need for a complex rollout onto your users’ devices as mpro5 is easily downloadable from both the Google Play Store and iOS App Store.

They can also implement Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and give their clients access to real-time data. Finally, they can unlock key business insights and process improvements from Big Data collection and analysis within interactive management dashboards.

5. Embracing digital transformation technology

The rise of digital technology, and digital transformation, within facilities management software has the power to transform your business processes by digitising them. For example, smart buildings can increasingly monitor themselves via Internet of Things-equipped devices and sensors can be set up to proactively send alerts when they require servicing or have a fault. Overall, another of the benefits of facilities management software is that monitoring in the cloud improves control over operations.

All of these technologies are here now and can deliver enormous improvement in service and productivity. As digitisation within businesses increases, even more new opportunities are likely to be unlocked. As a result of implementing cloud-based facilities management software, facilities management companies need to embrace technology and change how they work to improve clients’ operations.

Achieving this is much easier when equipping managers with cloud-based facilities management software that delivers comprehensive information so they can see exactly what is happening in real-time. Data from digital work management systems and automatic monitoring is easily accessible through dashboards in the cloud. Managers can be more proactive and work together with the client to meet their needs.

Technology will continue to be the key enabler to the future success of Facilities Management organisations and digital processes alike – whether this is IoT enabled sensors to make cleaning and maintenance tasks more efficient and predictive rather than a break/fix model that is currently being used by multiple organisations.

Businesses will need to ensure they embrace and adapt as technology changes and be on a clear path to Digital Transformation innovation in order to sustain their business as well as to stay ahead of the competition. As IoT grows, so too does the increase in data and it is what organisations do with that data from instrumentation of sensors, to mobile devices and using that as core intelligence to drive better processes into organisational and operational processes.