Spotlight on Customer Facilities Management Innovation
ServiceChannel
Another heavily read section from our popular ebook, Facilities Management Survival Guide, focused on a number of particular innovations we’ve seen implemented at some of our clients. Often, situations arise that present challenges not easily addressed through existing methods and processes.
However, sometimes by looking at problems from a different perspective – and with the right technology in place – solutions become apparent. We’re excited to share a number of these innovative solutions below from our clients and hope they give you something to think about as well.
By the way, if you haven’t had the opportunity to check out the Survival Guide, it’s packed with a lot of useful and actionable information on FM best practices and innovations and trends impacting the facilities field to key industry data & statistics and how AI & machine learning are impacting FM.)
Wide Array of Value from Service Automation
Service automation can add tremendous value to facilities managers simply as an effective way to manage their FM programs. However, many ServiceChannel customers have discovered creative ways to extend this value across more aspects of their operations and even to other stakeholders in their companies through innovative use cases. Here are three examples:
Spotlight: Improving Collaboration and Communications with Other Corporate Departments
The FM team recommended that the Procurement team “go digital” by migrating the paperwork to the company’s service automation platform specifically through Compliance Manager, a web-based, centralized database. Migrating from paper to digital records made tracking and managing these documents much easier and more effective. This was important because many of the vendors that Procurement was tracking operated in high-liability, highly regulated businesses such as construction, supply chain management and IT.
Spotlight: Reducing Risk and Liability Management
A worldwide clothing and accessories retailer was sued by a customer who had slipped and fallen in one of the company’s stores. The company’s Legal department conducted a thorough investigation of the incident including reviewing the service records available in its FM software. Ultimately, it determined that the janitorial company dispatched for the work order did not properly complete the job.
The Legal team negotiated with the janitorial firm and convinced it to assume liability for the lawsuit, to the plaintiff’s satisfaction. This action was made possible through its facilities software records, which showed that the janitorial firm had the proper levels of liability insurance to handle the claim.
Spotlight: Improving Decision Making through AI & Machine Learning
A multi-region restaurant chain believed that repairs on its assets were frequently excessive but was not sure how to verify that. This remained an issue even after the company carefully reviewed its repair and maintenance proposals, as it lacked the underlying data to identify any problems.
Using ServiceChannel’s machine-learning powered Decision Engine, the chain began correlating repair & maintenance proposals with supporting asset intelligence (initial costs, warranty status, past repair spend, etc.), to gain a much greater understanding of its equipment cost structures. This enabled the Operations team to reject a number of proposals for fixing outdated equipment, choosing to replace rather than repair them. The company estimates it will realize over $1 million in repair costs savings as a result.
These are just a few examples of innovative methods that ServiceChannel companies have employed to address specific situations that had arisen that helped them save real dollars and drive operating efficiencies.
