The Role of the Technology in Facilities Management - Case Study Example

The role of the technology in facilities management Introduction The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) defines facilities management as the practice and process of coordination of the work of a business and the people within a physical workplace. The Engineering New-Record gives a more detailed definition for facilities management. It describes facilities management as the discipline related to designing, planning, construction and management of space in different types of structures ranging from process plans to office buildings. Facilities management involves the development of long range forecast, maintenance and operations plans, corporate facilities processes, space inventories, real estate, projects through construction, renovation and design, equipment and furniture inventories. Facilities management is a critical interdisciplinary field in the modern business world which encompasses the coordination of people, space, organization and infrastructure especially in association with the administration of hospitals, hotels, convention centres, office blocks, schools, arenas, shopping complexes etc. Facilities management is used to facilitate a wide number of activities in business and is slowly emerging as a core function within a business from being a supporting function in businesses. There are eleven key competencies associated with facilities management which is applicable in the facilities management processes, irrespective of in which sector the facilities management is applied. These core competencies include emergency preparedness, communication, finance, strategy and leadership, property management, real estate, business continuity, environmental stewardship, human factors, maintenance and operations, quality, property management, sustainability, project management and technology. This case study deals with the technology factor in facilities management with respect to the role of technology in facilities management in the hospitality and other relevant tourism sectors across the world. Discussion Facilities management in industries The information technology support provided to the facilities management in an organization can significantly improve the functioning of facilities management in an organization as a main supporting services. However, with the integration of new technologies, facilities management is evolving as a main business function and is ceasing to be a supporting service in any organization, especially in the capital intensive industries like construction, manufacturing, hotel industries etc. Technology is highly needed in facilities management. The main function of the facilities management department in any organization is to manage the facilities available within an organization. The facilities within an organization are majorly the capital assets of the business which form more than 8-12% of the total annual capital budget of an enterprise. Keeping a continuous and accurate track of the facilities and planning for the facilities is a difficult task which requires a high end technological support. Proper technological support helps to improve the efficiency of the facilities managers to keep a check on the facilities of the enterprise and make suitable plans for the maintenance and revival of the facilities. The main technologies used in the facilities management of different organizations in the hospitality and the construction sectors are the Capital Planning and Management Solutions (CPMS) technology, CMMS , CIFM and CAFM technology systems (Barrett and Baldry, 2009). The use of web technologies in the facilities management segments allow for increased capabilities in the area of capital planning. The web technologies and the CPMS systems allow the facilities management to keep a proper track on the emerging facilities issues and help them to take effective actions to mitigate and solve the arising issues with respect to capital assets and other facilities in the organization. However, the uses of technology in the facilities management of hospitality and construction industries in the western countries are much more developed as compared to the Asian countries. For example, the Malaysian and Taiwan construction industries are experiencing facilities management as a comparatively newer trend while the facilities management in the western countries have been practiced for several years. Opportunities There are many opportunities for facilities management in the emerging business environment. The functioning of facilities management can be made stronger by the proper use of latest technologies that can be implemented to manage the assets and properties more efficiently. The management of properties, plans and people in the hospitality sector is extremely important because these are the key resources for the hospitality industry. The management of aging buildings is equally important to ensure the continuity and future sustainability of the hospitality sector in various countries across the world. The quality of the facilities management systems in different industries including the hospitality industry have major impacts on the bottom-line of the organizations functioning in these sectors. Therefore, more focus is being given by organizations in hospitality and tourism industry towards the maintenance and renovation of facilities. Facilities management is regarded to be a major type of investment by the organizations in the hospitality and tourism industries because of the long term high returns expected from the investment in facilities management. Using technology and outsourcing relationships in both the strategic and operational units of the business help to influence the functioning and sustainability of the business in the industry. The economic growths of the developed and developing countries across the globe coupled with the increasing level of tourist activities by different leisure and business travellers have created several opportunities for the global tourism and hospitality industries (Gorden, 2008). The economic growth of developing countries driven by factors like high savings, structural changes, shift in industrial and economic sectors, incremental and pragmatic reforms have resulted in boosting the growth and popularity of the hospitality sector as well. These changes have boosted the use and implementation of facilities management on emerging hospitality and tourism sectors like the Malaysian, Korean and Chinese tourism industries. This trend had been previously noted in the western countries and is gradually shifting towards the Asian countries. This has created huge opportunities for facilities management in the hospitality and tourism sectors of the developing countries as well. Other opportunities for facilities management implementation include the shifts in the social perceptions of people with respect to proper maintenance of buildings. More and more potential buyers and tenants are looking for buildings that are well maintained and have value added services associated with them. Also, the tourists and visitors look for well maintained and properly serviced hotels for staying purposes. This has created suitable opportunities for the development of facilities management. The facilities managers also find opportunities in the rising importance given to the management of old buildings and aging assets. The changes in the offered services for development whereby integrated and high end technological systems are used are much more preferred by visitors, tourist as well as buyers and potential tenants. A constant improvement in the use of technologies in the facilities management sector is indicated to be an important opportunity. The progressive aspects of technology help in supporting the development of facilities management in various sectors including the hospitality and tourism sectors across various locations in the world. The use of high ended information and communication technologies and proper web based and computerized services help to improve the efficiency and functioning of facilities management in a wide array of industries by ensuring proper response to service requests, maximization of the values of facilities management services, better management of property portfolios, use of space utilization strategies and use of preventive and renovated maintenance programs (Booty, 2010). Challenges The major challenges associated with facilities management are aging buildings, sustainability issues, risk management, cost control and several human resources issues. The sustainability challenges faced by facilities management services in the tourism and hospitality sectors include energy management, water management, environmental impact and waste management. Sustainability has become a major trend and a dominant challenge in facilities management. The emphasis of facilities management is shifting to following a balanced approach from cost control. The balanced approach takes into consideration the band image, corporate responsibilities and the triple bottom line including People, Process and Planet factors (Atkins and Brooks, 2009). The management of resources and facilities in an integrated manner is becoming more important in the domain of facilities management in order to attain sustainability in the facilities management services. Energy management systems are implemented in order to ensure that facilities contribute to and improve energy management and use proper load management strategies. The vulnerability of depleting natural energy resources have made water management emerge as a topic of global concern. The aging of the buildings is a major challenge faced by the facilities management services across all industries. This includes the large number of aging buildings under the property portfolio of many hotels and other hospitality businesses, the low availability of funds, the deference of maintenance services, the trade-offs between reinvestment in existing facilities and investing in new facilities construction and poor mapping of the building maintenances with the emerging work styles and changing demands in the industries. The efficiency and cost control challenges faced by the facilities management services with respect to efficiency costs are the continuous budget constraints and issues, the increasing pressure in the industries with respect to cutting down on the costs and the need of expenses in order to balance the demands with the high quality of services. The cost control and efficiency measures have been include in the facilities management with an aim to change the previous cost cutting systems which may have negatively impacted the quality and productivity of the facilities management services. Proper changes in the cost cutting and efficiency measure is critical for the continued success and survival of the assets and businesses in the competitive business environment. Facility management now faces the challenge of maintaining the critical strategic facilities and assets while ensuring efficiency and proper cost control measures. The risk management challenges in facilities management include the business preparedness to combat disasters, maintaining the safety and health of the workers and maintaining a positive and secured work environment, ensuring data protection, compliance to rules and regulations pertinent to the industries and the assurance of maintaining work continuity (Cotts, Roper and Payant, 2010). The risk management accountability and awareness are increasing in level and are also becoming more complex. This poses as a serious challenge in facilities management. The increasing awareness of the global citizens about terrorism having a major potential to disrupt the lives and operations in the world and the accelerating sensitivity of the global citizens towards the threats of natural disasters are crucial challenges faced by the facilities management services across different sectors. The increasing dependence of modern businesses on the information and data has created a critical challenge for facilities management to ensure the maintenance for confidentiality of the critical information in a business. The human resource challenges associated with facilities management in the hospitality and tourism industry include the emerging changes in the work system, aging of the workforce, increasing diversity in the workforce and introduction of mobile workforces in facilities management. Trends Facilities management is becoming more competitive due to the continuous development and innovations, the extended pressure of decreasing the costs and to make value additions to the main business of the client enterprises. Facility management in different sectors including construction, manufacturing, hospitality and tourism are being widely supported by the technological innovations and developments. Facilities management has become a widely studied topic among different practitioners and scholars. The academics view facilities management as a fast developing field that offers rich data sources which may be used to develop or explain theories related to how buildings and other construction facilities can be effectively managed. On the other hand, the practitioners regard facilities management as a major opportunity for businesses to control the operational costs incurred in the businesses depending on whether the business has a primary interest in procuring the facilities management services or providing the facilities management services. But in both these aspects of facilities management, the application of technology including information technology and communication technology remains a major medium for acquiring, managing and utilizing data. Since, facilities management is useful in long term operations of a business like the designing and construction of assets, there are huge scopes of development in facilities management that can be done through the proper integration and incorporation of evolving technologies in the field. Continual development through the adaptation of latest evolving technologies is regarded as the key to the sustainability and future success of facilities management in different industrial sectors. The role of facilities management in the hospitality and tourism sector is crucial and has more scopes of improvement in future. There are major strategic, functional and operational trends guiding the success of facilities management in the tourism and hospitality sectors. The implementation of suitable facilities management is made in the hotels and other businesses operating in the hospitality and tourism industry in order to ensure the competitiveness of the operations of the business, to enhance the operational efficiency of the businesses which are likely to improve the productivity and profitability of the business along with savings made inn operational expenses, to increase the market shares by maintaining the existing customers and by acquiring potential new customers of the business, to maintain the standards and corporate image, to comply with the emerging trends in the markets, to use the latest technology available in the market, to adhere to the government requirements, to increase the scale of the business and to equip the business suitably in order to cope with natural disasters and calamities like hurricanes, earthquakes etc., to cope with terrorist attacks or any other unforeseen circumstances (Mudrak, Wagenberg and Wubben, 2009). The role of facilities management in the hospitality industry has evolved over time. Technologies like radio frequency identification, tracking of the properties, property portfolio maintenance software and capital assets maintenance systems, web based services and computerized services have established facilities management as a main support service in the hospitality and tourism sectors. The renovation of the aging properties of hotels as well as public properties is a significant part of boosting the tourism attractiveness of a country. Therefore, many countries are taking up latest technologies in their facilities management processes in order to enhance the tourist attractiveness of specific locations. Conclusion The current trends and future opportunities and challenges of facilities management as applicable in the tourism and hospitality industry have been discussed in the case study. It can be identified that information technology exist in the strategic as well as operational aspects of facility management and that the advancement of information and communication technologies act as a key driver in strengthening the role of facilities management as a major supporting service for the organizations operating in many industries including the hospitality and the tourism sectors. Information technology has paved a strong base for facilities management by enabling it to become more efficient in terms of renovation of property as well as in asset management. The continuous incorporation of new information and communication technologies used in management and renovation of properties is likely to create further scopes for facilities management in the hospitality sector. Also, the adoption of new technologies and web based services is likely to change the trend of the future of facilities management. References Atkins, B. & Brooks, A. (2009). Total Facilities Management (3rd Ed.). Chichester: Wiley Blackwell. Barrett, P & Baldry, D. (2009). Facilities Management towards Best Practice. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Booty, F. (2010). Facilities Management. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Cotts, D., Roper, K. & Payant, R. (2010). The Facility Management Handbook - Organizing the Department. New York: AMACOM. Gorden, R. (2008). Start and Run a Successful Cleaning Business. Oxford: How to Books. Mudrak, T., Wagenberg, A.V. & Wubben, E. (2009). Assessing the innovative ability of FM teams: a review. Facilities. Vol. 22(12). Read More