As technology continues to proliferate, tedious and mundane tasks across the labour market are expected to face partial or total automation. Indeed, by 2030 we’re expected to see around 15% of all jobs displaced by technology.
The Facilities & Asset Management industry will be no exception to this wave of automation. With a significant volume of low-skill and mundane tasks forming the day-to-day activities of facilities management professionals around the world, the rise of technology presents an opportunity to optimise and focus human efforts on more valuable tasks.
Facilities & Asset Management firms are no stranger to technology. Data sits at the heart of any significant operation, with a fundamental reliance on trends, experiences, and asset performance patterns used to predict and prevent future issues down the line.
These data assets have traditionally been physical documents and included maintenance checklists, log books, or service reports. Data assets contain a vast amount of information which can be quantified to help inform decision makers on future performance and ultimately decide on necessary mitigation measures. When maintained and referred to correctly, data assets could prevent total equipment failure or provide cost-savings in the long run.
The Problem with Paper
Paper-based data assets present some significant challenges to the modern-day facilities manager. These include:
- A short life span due to deterioration of physical documents over time
- Technical specialist having to navigate through multiple checklists on site when performing maintenance servicing on multiple assets under challenging workspace conditions (e.g. hanging off ropes or under poor lighting) on a daily basis
- Double work in capturing images for evidence on maintenance work completed. This process often includes printing images to attach with maintenance checklist, and subsequently scanning to create soft copy documents for uploads and submissions
These challenges can be overcome by integrating technology into the processes.
A Technology-first Approach to Data Assets
The benefits in digitizing data assets could outweigh the investment cost involved which includes being able to extend the lifespan of the physical and data assets, eliminate cumbersome documenting process on maintenance activities, eliminating safety risk on technical specialist juggling both maintenance and documenting activities on site, providing predictive analysis on equipment performance, and much more.
There is a shift towards digitizing data assets as technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, and predictive tools become readily available. This trend of digitisation is a welcome one as clients begin to adopt and accept digital documentation for e-submission of reports. This is also firmly in line with the Singapore Government’s initiative of moving towards a digital economy.
Through the effective integration of technology such as app development, we can help eliminate tedious, time-consuming administrative processes and allow technical specialist to focus on delivering high quality, speedy, and surgical maintenance activities to meet, anticipate, or exceed client’s needs.
In addition, the development of technological solutions provide an opportunity for staff to expand their bandwidth and pursue their individual professional or personal passions, striking a work life balance allowing them to feel more fulfilled in their roles.
To find out about how simple technology solutions can have a profound impact on-site, check out our post about the HSSI application we launched in 2018.
