The technology sector has experienced a boom, leading to many advancements, particularly in the business sector. Procedures can now be carried out quickly, and in the field of facilities management, the role of the facility manager is changing.
Building owners have high expectations for the Facility Management team to collaborate and be stakeholders in business growth. There has been a shift towards highly efficient operations and improving occupant experience, and the teams are expected to simplify their roles as smart solution providers.
Currently, standalone software is the technology available for facility management. However, in order to become value-driven players and keep up with changing customer needs, the team needs technology that combines various automation systems, uses existing data, and resolves critical issues.
Existing buildings today have enormous amounts of valuable data on assets, energy, and people that can be utilized. With the emergence of predictive analytics and AI, it is time to use data insights to bring together maintenance, operations, and sustainability for smarter activities, increased occupant engagement and productivity, and daily sustainability performance intelligence.
Currently, the built environment requires assembly-line-style systems to operate across a large portfolio of buildings for maximum efficiency. The most likely solution for this is the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which will ensure efficiency at scale in facility management. IoT repurposes existing investments in building systems such as fire safety, automation, security, and power systems. Machine learning increases the value of data, bringing data-driven intelligence and eliminating manual work.
In the high expenditure, high cost, and heavily maintained industry of facility management, the use of machine learning can change the role of facilities management teams from service providers to value-added partners, clearly demonstrating the benefits to businesses through sustainable facility management solutions.
Facility managers spend 30% more on energy costs for buildings that are not benchmarked and incur a maintenance expense of 15% per square foot per year due to inefficiency. Predictive energy efficiency can be achieved through an IoT-driven sustainability management solution that utilizes real-time information about buildings and available data.
IoT and AI are the future of facility management, ensuring smooth operations for facility managers.