Facilities Managers give the green light to environmentally friendly software solutions

Written by Ceri Vaughan-Jones Innovise Software 2011/12

It is clear that the role of the Facilities Manager is a complex one. Responsible for nearly everything that goes on inside and out of a building, there is very little that is left outside the scope of the job. Now, in a time where environmental sustainability and energy efficiency is of such importance, this additional consideration and responsibility also falls onto the shoulders of the facilities professional.

The shift in focus towards greener programmes is certainly giving the more proactive Facilities Manager something to think about. Enabling an organisation to work more efficiently, save money and reduce its ecological footprint through the establishment of effective procedures that offer a greener way of working can both significantly improve the bottom-line. Enabling companies to reduce their energy expenses and furthermore to take advantage of the lucrative environmental market, going green has never looked so alluring.

Software solutions that provide a more efficient way of operating whilst positively enhancing the organisations drive towards greener working, offer a strong business case that facilities managers are finding hard to ignore. Workforce management software is a particular example of how investment of the facilities budget into technology will both save money and the world at the same time.

The CEO of the UK’s leading workforce management software solutions provider to the FM industry explains how businesses can have their cake and eat it when it comes to finding an environmentally sound solution that also ticks the boxes of profit, savings and efficiency:

“Eliminating unnecessary work and making facility management more efficient will undoubtedly have a constructive impact on the bottom line. So embarking on that long-term investment to change the way that workforces are managed and monitored through a software based solution that requires no paper and lessmanpower than more traditional methods of working, will ultimately save money and reduce the carbon footprint. Having provided the FM industry with innovative software solutions for the past twenty years, it has been interesting to observe the shift in desire towards solutions that offer a greater degree of sustainable working. It is also clear that demand for service providing organisations that can offer green-solutions is growing. Acting as a signal to the in-house Facilities Manager that spending time in finding more environmentally friendly ways of working is OK, the facts around significant resource and long-term cost savings attached to solutions that use less yet produce more speak for themselves. Proactive thinking around the implementation of a software solution to rejuvenate management processes and reduce the impact on the environment is increasingly being adopted by Facilities managers to not just aid an organisation to ride out economic unrest, but to enable business to positively thrive.”

Through workforce technology the scheduling and day to day management of shift working staff is taken care of. Once a time consuming job that was prone to error, the task is quickly and accurately done in a fraction of the time and with considerably less man-power. Spanning all elements involved in the management of a workforce (recruitment and vetting, scheduling, time & attendance or quality monitoring for example) there is a software solution that is designed to eliminate the huge chunk of time (and paperwork) that would have originally been allocated to each task, taking a monumental time burden off management teams. Allowing management to refocus on achieving targets to keep clients satisfied and contracts safe, workforce management software enables specialist skills to be utilised in the right place rather than wasted on administration, giving further justification to its necessity in the workplace. Eliminating the need to invest into a workforce that is double the size yet produces half of the necessary work in twice the time, workforce management technology accurately places, monitors and then evaluates workforce productivity to ensure that each employee is working as productively as possible. While the most important aspect of sustainability and green conscious thinking is the impact on the earth, business still remains business and bottom line consideration has to be taken into account - but where a solution can offer both impressive business and environmental benefits, it surely is a win-win situation.

Dictating that all must be done to save costs and create efficiencies, the economy as well as the Facilities Manager has become a major driving force in transforming workplaces into a darker shade of green. This economic pressure will continue to refine the software that is being produced to enable organisations to make smooth transitions from one way of working to another and the push to work green will keep the demand for technology based solutions high.

He continues: “Workforce management software and other such FM technologies that are developed to enable companies to work more productively but with half of the resource has evolved to meet the needs and challenges of an industry that is being squeezed, forcing it to become more efficient. Coupled with the fact that Facilities Managers are now more focused on the impact that products chosen to feature within the running of the workplace have not just on the occupants within it, but the world at large is changing the perception of environmentally friendly solutions from something that would be ‘nice’ to something that is now essential. This movement to purchase only products and software solutions that are green and a desire to implement smarter, more sustainable working is certainly effecting this change.”

Proving that more innovative, greener procedures deliver the same or better performance or durability is the first hurdle for the Facilities Manager looking to green a facility. Providing measurable more efficient ways of working it is clear that workforce management technology is considerable better than traditional methods, and then some. Thanks to manufacturers embracing the movement and producing high quality green products, the myth that choosing ‘green’ over the standard option is more expensive and less hardwearing has been dismissed. There is no reason not to involve an organisation with the green movement especially now that the options are so cutting-edge and offer such business benefits. Through their choices and their focus, Facilities Managers have indicated that going green is good business..so who are we to argue?

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