Unlock opportunities with an integrated workplace management system

In today’s connected world, the lines are blurred between physical and digital infrastructures.

Especially in real estate and facilities management, buildings and workplaces are major generators — and consumers — of data, coming from numerous, different sources. To realize the full advantages of all of this data, an organization needs a technology solution to address and augment all aspects of real estate performance. This includes real estate and lease management, capital project management, space utilization, operations and maintenance, and the occupant experience.

An integrated workplace management system (IWMS) provides an end-to-end solution that is ideally suited to add value in each of these areas. With an IWMS, organizations have an unprecedented opportunity to capture and analyze their data and develop greater operational resiliency and effectiveness. These data insights give companies the tools needed to react quickly to change, care for their employees and occupants, and make strategic space and occupancy decisions.

What Is The Case For Investing In Workplace Technology?

Real estate is typically one of the largest expenses for an organization.

That’s why it’s imperative that organizations continually evaluate the best way to optimize their real estate portfolios. From acquisition through disposal, an IWMS can make the most out of every square inch and meter of space, offering new opportunities for improved real estate lifecycle management in three key areas:

Transaction management

Transaction management provides the decision support for organizations to manage building acquisition and disposal. Real-time visibility of current performance and scenario modeling helps executives make data-driven decisions with confidence and make correct postings.

Lease administration

Lease administration streamlines lease renewals and avoids overpayments. This reduces costs and increases effectiveness through automated tracking, date notification, and invoice validation against contract terms.

Lease accounting

Lease accounting helps executives audit numerous financial assumptions, approvals, and data changes. It ensures that balance sheets reflect both assets and liabilities, and supports compliance efforts with new financial reporting requirements.

Manage competing needs with constrained resources.

Organizations need to prioritize and manage competing needs. If resources are constrained, it is imperative to predict when important assets and building systems will require maintenance, refurbishment or replacement. There is also a need to document the impact on productivity and building value when systems fail.

An IWMS can advance the quality of capital, facility and environmental projects, while accelerating project schedules through integrated analytics and automated processes. Overall, an IWMS improves an organization’s capital project management capabilities in three important areas:

Project portfolio management

An IWMS helps organizations analyze the outcomes of every project and prioritize funding requests in alignment with business requirements.

Project planning management

An IWMS supports project planning through investment scenario analysis and helps manage execution. It delivers project analysis to help managers compare project plans and progress, leading to more informed decisions.

Project schedule management

An IWMS delivers advanced project execution and control capabilities required to continually balance time, cost and scope.

Six steps for effective capital planning (PDF, 113 KB)

Space utilization for today’s dynamic environment.

Organizations need real-time occupancy information to know how and when space is being used, and by whom. An IWMS centralizes and integrates that critical information at an enterprise level, giving organizations the ability to make the most cost-effective decisions.

An IWMS also accelerates the configuration of an organization’s workplace in vital areas, including:

Strategic space planning

An IWMS helps organizations capture and evaluate occupancy to align usage with business requirements and objectives.

Move management

Using self-service, automated and mobile processes, an IWMS dynamically routes work and tracks locations of people, resources and assets. After the move, it also automates the capture and allocation of space usage charge-backs to internal departments and third parties.

Reservation and hoteling management

Managing limited resources, such as shared workspaces and assets, requires a system to make the most of those resources. An IWMS provides a reservation system that supports this dynamic process, optimizes availability, guides selection and eliminates conflicts.

Quickly start monitoring space by using your existing wireless network

Maintenance and operations are often at the forefront of business continuity.

While they consume up to 70 percent of the total cost of ownership for a facility, proper management is also critical to quickly address unexpected events and changing protocols. They also enable an organization to improve efficiencies while delivering the highest quality of occupant well-being.

Service lifecycle management

Accurate capture of issues and alignment with warranties and service level agreements can reduce delays and generate significant savings by avoiding redundant work. An IWMS improves the performance of service providers by automating service management processes – from the capture of service requests to the routing of service calls.

Preventative maintenance

Preventative maintenance is a key weapon in the fight against inefficiency. Regular maintenance schedules are supported, and work orders automatically issued in accordance with SLAs and warranties. This minimizes costs associated with faults and unplanned downtime.

Condition-based maintenance

Further value can be delivered through a proactive approach to identify possible issues before they occur and plan maintenance accordingly. Facility assessment features in an IWMS can track and evaluate building and asset deficiencies. They then help to identify opportunities to extend the lifecycle of assets.

Companies that rank high in employee engagement are 21 percent more productive.

An IWMS provides the tools and insights needed to create a safe, secure workplace experience that encourages productivity.

Space management

An enterprise-wide view of all facilities — from data centers to cafeterias and everything in between — is critical to optimizing and right-sizing space. This data must be overlaid with business objectives to understand how, where and when to make the most strategic decisions regarding space.

Workplace services

As the workforce evolves and issues arise it is crucial to deliver the right services and amenities. Easy-to-use frictionless technology, such as mobile apps and AI-based assistants, reduce learning curves and give users more control over common tasks, including room scheduling, wayfinding, and reporting and requesting maintenance.

User experience

A better workplace experience means a better user experience. Identify what matters most to your employees then use an IWMS to deliver customizable apps, responsive design and better calendar integration.

Unlock new levels of operational resiliency, efficiency, and optimization with IBM TRIRIGA.

These smarter buildings offer real, tangible outcomes. Through the smart application of data, IoT and AI, IBM can help you unlock key information and insights, giving greater visibility into space and facility utilization, occupant experience, capital projects, operations and maintenance, and lease administration and accounting.

With TRIRIGA – backed by data security that only IBM can provide – you can get the most out of your real estate investments regardless of size, scale and configuration.