How to Increase Productivity in Your Facilities Management Business
26 June 2023
Productivity is the heart of successful operations, especially for facilities management businesses. As a service-oriented business, your efficiency, cost savings, and above all, customer satisfaction hinge on productivity.
But how exactly do you achieve it? In this blog, we will delve into the essential strategies and proven techniques that can help propel your facilities management business to new heights of productivity. 🚀
Whether you are seasoned pros looking to refine your operations or an aspiring start-up seeking a competitive edge, this guide will equip you with the tools and insights you need to optimise facilities management productivity.
So, let’s dive in starting with a quick look at why productivity is so important in facilities management. Or you can skip straight ahead and check out our facilities management software overview here.
Productivity: The key to success in facilities management
When we speak of productivity, especially in the context of facilities management, we’re not just talking about checking tasks off a list but delving into:
- improving quality service delivery
- operational efficiency
- and customer satisfaction
The heart of facilities management revolves around tasks like ensuring HVAC systems are running optimally or maintaining building cleanliness. While you might be fixing broken HVAC units or ensuring cleanliness across a commercial building – when you complete tasks efficiently, swiftly, and accurately, you’re delivering value.
Yet, there are numerous productivity speed bumps on this journey. Overlooked maintenance tasks, inefficient manual processes, or poor resource management – sound familiar?
These challenges, while common, can hinder your progress. For instance, without proper scheduling, a maintenance task might slip through the cracks, leading to equipment failure and service disruption.
That’s why improving productivity is so vital.
Benefits of increasing productivity
Why should you care about these challenges? Because overcoming them brings real rewards. When you increase productivity, you reduce costs by using resources efficiently. You also improve service delivery, ticking off more tasks in less time and with less stress. That’s an instant customer satisfaction boost!
And it’s not just theory – real businesses have experienced these benefits.
For example, Precision Facilities Management implemented BigChange and revolutionised the way they support customers and add value to the services we provide. BigChange also helped them reduce their carbon footprint with reduced waste and more efficient journeys to and from jobs. That translated to happier clients and substantial cost savings.
📚You can read more on this here.
This type of increased productivity has a domino effect. Not only does it help you cut down costs, but it also streamlines your operations. You’re able to deliver better, faster services, leading to happier clients. Plus, think about the increased employee satisfaction when they can do more with less stress. It’s a win-win!
Strategies to increase productivity in facilities management
Now that we’ve set the stage, let’s dive into how you can boost your productivity right across the business – with the right field service management solution:
Optimising job management 💯
First up, managing facilities management jobs effectively is crucial. This means scheduling and allocating jobs efficiently. A digital job schedule helps prevent missed deadlines or overlooked tasks. And don’t underestimate the power of prioritisation – urgent and high-impact tasks should always be at the top of your list.
Simplifying complexities ✔️
In the world of facilities management, each job type comes with unique requirements and resources. The right field service management solution simplifies these complexities by grouping different tasks for a client together. Grouping jobs of different types together for a customer also makes it easier for you to manage your resources well too.
In essence, the right approach doesn’t just manage complexity; it transforms it into an organised, manageable process. It helps you ensure every task, every job type, and every client gets the attention they need.
Leveraging technology 💻
Technology is your best ally in the productivity game. Field service management software, for instance, can be a total game-changer. It can automate the scheduling we mentioned above, generate real-time progress reports, and even handle customer communications.
In fact, a recent BigChange case study saw an impressive 70% increase in productivity!
“BigChange was recommended to us by another FM services company and the system has quickly become an indispensable tool. As a completely digital system it has eliminated laborious paper shuffling and replaced all our disconnected systems to bring everything into one place, for our expanding direct service operations, BigChange has dramatically cut management and administrative time. What used to take all day is now achieved in 3 hours, boosting our productivity by 70 percent.”
📚You can read the full case study here.
And don’t forget about the other tech tools out there, such as predictive maintenance systems, which can preemptively spot faults and prevent downtime.
Efficient resource management 🧑🤝🧑
Finally, let’s talk resources. How you manage your equipment, your team, and even your energy usage can significantly affect productivity. That’s why so many facilities management embrace preventive maintenance to keep client equipment in top shape and avoid unexpected downtime. As well as managing this for your clients, it’s just as important to do this for your own equipment. And the right job management software can organise both easily.
Adopt sustainable practices ♻️
Finally, sustainable practices like paperless operations, not only save resources but also enhance your company’s reputation. For instance, digital job management is a real game-changer for sustainability. Not only are there paperless gains, but also the ability to allocate jobs based on real-time data such as engineer, equipment, and stock availability.
Plus, you can share job directions, workflows, digital risk assessments and safety certificates with your engineers via a mobile app. As well as provide live job progress to your back-office team and customers.
Implementing changes and monitoring progress
Once you have your productivity strategies ready, it’s time to implement them. Be sure to roll them out thoughtfully – change is most effective when it’s gradual and well-planned.
And don’t forget about the power of feedback. Regularly monitor your progress and adjust your strategies based on what’s working and what’s not. Keep your team in the loop and listen to their feedback. They’re the ones on the ground, after all.
With all this in place, you will never miss follow-up work with automatic scheduling and recurring jobs for your PPM contracts. And you will be able to optimise your resources’ time with live data, including signature capture and photos showing full job completion details.
Plus, simplify compliance with a digital library for schematics, best practice guides and other essential health and safety documents.
Boost productivity and drive growth 🚀
To sum up, boosting productivity in your facilities management business is about understanding its importance, identifying the challenges, and then adopting the right strategies. From job management and technology to best practice resource management, there’s a lot you can do.
So, are you ready to supercharge your productivity?
Our field service management software can be the perfect partner on your journey.
BigChange enables you to significantly boost productivity and improve the experience for clients all while aligning your teams. So that you can fit more jobs into a day while mitigating risk.
See how our facilities management job scheduling software & CRM gives you the power to handle planned maintenance and react rapidly to unscheduled work.
Looking for more?
Further reading and resources:
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