As anyone who has purchased a car knows, the upfront cost is one price; the cost of maintaining that vehicle is entirely another. This concept is a simple example of “total cost of ownership” or the total direct and indirect cost of purchasing and maintaining a system over its useful lifetime.  TCO is a well-understood concept in facilities management, especially when it comes to the Read More

Modern technologies have brought substantial benefits to the retail facilities management, FM, sector. From cloud-based enterprise computing and mobile to big data and the emerging Internet of Things, retail brands are realizing significant improvements across their operations. However, while not surprising, much of the attention around FM solutions has been focused around facilities Read More

Contractor Management Challenges Today Facilities management professionals and their teams today are required to manage highly distributed enterprises with locations (stores, restaurants, buildings, outlets, healthcare centers, etc.) all over the country or even all over the world. For repair and maintenance (R&M) of these facilities, FM teams often need to source and manage service Read More

Get ready for ServiceX 2019! Our exclusive 3-day conference is back for another year. Join us on September 22nd-24th in Scottsdale, AZ for what is set to be a bigger and better show than ever before. ServiceX is a must-attend event for anyone focused on making sure their facilities and assets deliver a stellar customer experience. Attendees will have the chance to discover industry trends, Read More

Perhaps no technology trend has had a bigger impact on facilities management than the investment into “smart” building technologies. This already-multi-billion dollar market is growing leaps and bounds, featuring tech that ranges from optimized climate control to smart parking garages and self-cleaning bathrooms, plus many other use cases both known and still to be imagined. A smart Read More

Our top-of-the-head analysis reveals that US companies alone spend upwards of $100 billion a year in the repair and maintenance of facilities and key equipment. There are a number of ways these companies track annual costs accurately for better planning and forecasting purposes. One common method is to calculate your annual maintenance cost expressed as a percentage of your Replacement Asset Value Read More

Since 2015, 68 retailers have filed for bankruptcy and analysts expect nearly 6,000 more store closures in 2019. But new, modern retail is not only surviving, but thriving! Is it an apocalypse, a renaissance or just evolution taking its course? Today, we’re excited to release The State of Brick and Mortar Retail Report, a survey of more than 1,500 shoppers that reveals why customers decide Read More

You’ve probably noticed the term popping up in headlines, blogs, and broadcasts for the past several years, but AI is more than just self-cleaning vacuums and coffee-brewing robots. It’s being integrated into technologies and structures throughout the built environment, shaping and enhancing routine processes in ways that are often barely noticeable. ‘Smart’ buildings, for example, are being Read More

Regular maintenance of buildings, equipment, and technology used in retail operations is essential to keep things running smoothly but also has the potential to disrupt day-to-day aspects of the business. A parade of contractors with bulky equipment may not exactly be the brand image a store wants to portray to customers in the front of the house. The back of the house can run into issues too if Read More

Did you know a typical supermarket's refrigeration system has leakage rates averaging at 25 percent annually? That means 206 million pounds of harmful chemicals are being tossed back into the atmosphere each year, and that’s in the U.S. alone. According to the EPA, if regulations are not enforced, this could account for nearly 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Read More

Building management for multi-facility businesses is a daunting task, one that often takes a team of managers and employees to coordinate and maintain, especially across multiple locations. The use of technology such as Service Automation has made it possible to simplify the process through enhanced visibility, shared analytics, and improved coordination and communications. Emerging Read More

Despite the doom-and-gloom headlines, the brick-and-mortar model is still the foundation of the retail omnichannel strategy. In fact, it may be surprising to learn that brick-and-mortar retailing is substantially larger than e-commerce sales and that the gap may be widening. A contributing factor is that 98 percent of the uber-connected Generation Z still prefer to shop in actual stores, according Read More

A 2018 survey conducted by Deloitte and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) reports that consistency, resources and budgeting, and third-party risk are going to be the biggest risks to compliance that the retail industry faces. Compliance risk is when you face the potential for financial forfeiture or legal penalties if your company fails to act in accordance with laws or regulations. Read More

Adapting your facility to ever-changing technological demands can leave you vulnerable to data breaches and lead to downtime. According to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, 9,071 data breaches have been made public since 2005, with more than 11 billion records breached. An overwhelming number of these breaches are in the healthcare industry, though any industry – including retail, restaurants, and Read More

The term “Retail Apocalypse” has been thrown around for a few years now; it refers to the belief that online shopping is driving the extinction of brick-and-mortar stores. While the growth of digital may make this seem like a logical conclusion, the reality is that of the $4.2 trillion spent in the U.S. retail industry, only around 13 percent of those sales took place online. UBS investigated Read More

Digital transformation is shaking up every industry, and facilities management is no exception. More and more organizations are making the transition to FM software, thanks to the key benefits: Automated work order and asset tracking processes Reduced repair and maintenance costs Ensured contract and SLA compliance Improved efficiency Enhanced customer service Read More

Those in the ServiceChannel community (currently over 500 brands strong!) are familiar with our Services teams (from Implementation and Support, to Customer Success and Learning & Development) from their ongoing interactions with them. But they might not be as familiar with our fast-growing Product teams and the Development organization backing them. Whether in our NY headquarters or Read More

2018 was a year of monumental changes for business operations — innovative technologies like IoT, AR and VR gained traction, mobile in the workplace became even more widespread and customer experiences became even more important for winning business. With all that 2018 brought and taught, it's now time to look forward and plan how your business can operate successfully and profitably in Read More

Facilities managers can't keep businesses up and running in a vacuum; to effectively maintain facilities, managers are only part of the equation. When equipment requires routine maintenance, repairs need addressing or weather-related emergencies come up, you have to call on qualified contractors who can get the job done properly and efficiently. Therefore, FMs are frequently tasked with issuing Read More

You want to win more contracting business, but you're not sure where to start. It's a common problem; growing a commercial contracting business successfully is a challenge, especially if you're relying on inefficient promotion such as print and email campaigns. While these marketing tactics are effective at acquiring local business, they limit your growth at the national level. To grow your Read More