By Sue Pridmore, Director at Platinum FM
Facilities management is undergoing a transformation, as data-driven decision making redefines how we manage, operate and maintain buildings, precincts and community infrastructure.
Throughout my career, I’ve witnessed the digital revolution equip the facilities management industry with game changing tools and technologies, while quickly making old methods and ways of thinking obsolete.
When I first started in the facilities management industry in the UK, data insights weren’t really part of decision making processes. We were very operationally driven, and although we understood our assets and risks well, we were often forced to rely on gut feel and anecdotal feedback, instead of objective facts.
The new digital era
Today at Platinum FM, we’re armed with a suite of cutting edge technologies that provide real time data, enabling our decisions to be made more quickly and accurately.
This ensures our customers are better informed about the performance of their facilities, from a cost, performance, reliability and from their own customer’s perspective.
As our customers become increasingly aware of the benefits cutting edge facilities management services bring to their business, they’re expectations, quite rightly, continue to grow.
Businesses who have been settling for simply having their assets fixed and maintained, should instead be seeking to understand the performance, cost and value of their assets in a more holistic way.
Data is useless without context & insight
Data is the new oil. It’s a valuable commodity, powering the digital revolution across facilities management. As such, it must be safeguarded, and its true potential extracted through custom tools and technologies.
ur ability to collect, harness and mobilise real time data to drive decision making ensures we are agile, proactive and responsive to customer needs.
INFORM data-driven decisions
At Platinum FM, we’ve designed and developed the bespoke technology platform INFORM, a leading-edge and highly secure company owned software system that is provided as part of our FM service or SaaS.
The solution is continually evolving and uses the latest technology to enable more efficient and effective workflows, as well as the ability to measure service levels against agreed key performance indicators.
It’s an integrated, intuitive platform that enables us to quickly and inexpensively simplify maintenance planning programs, improve the visibility of asset performance, provide insights to extend the life of assets and substantially reduce operational downtime and maintenance costs.
It’s highly customisable with workflows to assist in the design of maintenance plans and service delivery models, issues and expedites work orders, monitors contractor performance, captures health and safety inspections, tracks statutory compliance and facilitates online invoicing, payment and budgeting.
What’s next
Data-driven decision making within the facilities management industry continues to evolve rapidly. While our technology is pivotal, it’s our people that remain at the centre of Platinum FM.
Securing top tech talent is now a major objective for leading facilities management companies. Key to Platinum FM’s continued technological innovation and evolution is Andrew Ponnadurai, General Manager, Business Systems and Performance, who believes optimising the mobilisation of cloud-based sensor/IoT device information is the next major game changer.
“Proactive and predictive maintenance capabilities are developing all the time, through the use of cloud-based sensor/IoT technologies,” he said.
“This will greatly assist in reducing maintenance spend by cutting down the reliance on preventative maintenance and only servicing assets, when necessary and as indicated by the asset.
“For clients this drives down costs and frees up valuable resources to bolster overall business performance,” he said.
The role of data-driven decision making in successful facilities management programs has accelerated at a rapid pace since we launched Platinum FM six years ago and will continue to do so in the years ahead.
While the movement has certainly made the facilities management industry a more dynamic and exciting place to work, the biggest winners are our customers – who receive improved efficiencies and reduced costs.
Because at the end of the day, while technology continues to evolve, the fundamentals of business remain largely unchanged.
Sue is the founder and Managing Director of Platinum FM, with more than 25 years national and international experience across a broad range of industries including; television, engineering, manufacturing, utilities, retail and commercial. Previous experience includes working as a General Manager of Operations for Vic/Tas, where she was responsible for a team of over 200 staff.