Facilities management can be defined as the tools and services that support the functionality, safety, and sustainability of buildings, grounds, infrastructure, and real estate. 

Facilities management includes:

• Lease management, including lease administration and accounting
• Capital project planning and management 
• Maintenance and operations
• Energy management
• Occupancy and space management 
• Employee and occupant experience 
• Emergency management and business continuity
• Real estate management

Types of facilities management. There are two basic areas: Hard Facilities Management (Hard FM) and Soft Facilities Management (Soft FM). 

• Hard FM deals with physical assets such as plumbing, wiring, elevators, and heating and cooling.
• Soft FM focuses on tasks performed by people such as custodial services, lease accounting, catering, security, and groundskeeping.

For people to do their best work and feel engaged in their environments, they need to be in buildings that are safe, welcoming, and efficient. Facilities management has a hand in everything that surrounds the people in facilities and on the grounds. Where they work, play, learn, and live should be comfortable, productive, and sustainable.

Superior facilities management will contribute to your organization’s bottom line, impacting the short- and long-term value of property, buildings, and equipment. Your efforts can be crucial to:

• Space optimization
• Guiding capital projects
• Energy management and maintenance
• Lease accounting
• Workplace experience

The technology in facilities management includes both software and systems. Vast amounts of data are generated by built environments through Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, wi-fi,  meters, gauges, and smart devices. The most effective solutions enable facilities management departments to make good use of this data by infusing analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) into an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS). These technologies deliver cognitive capabilities that make computer-aided facilities management possible — so you can analyze and learn from data, enabling you to achieve real-time visibility, perform predictive facilities maintenance, and create more productive, cost-efficient environments.

Across numerous industries and company sizes, facilities managers have a wide range of important day-to-day responsibilities. These managers need to both plan ahead and also be ready for various tasks within any given day. While the manager’s responsibilities often include:

• real estate management
• capital projects and planning
• occupancy and space management 
• lease administration and accounting
• workplace experience

... there are also ways to improve the performance of each responsibility that will fill the manager's schedule:

• deliver operational efficiencies
• create an environment conducive to productivity
• find and adopt technological solutions 
• guarantee regulatory compliance
• minimize risks to facilities and employees
• reduce energy consumption costs
• reduce the carbon footprint of the real estate portfolio

In the IBM Institute for Business Value 2021 CEO Study, 56% of CEOs emphasize the need to “aggressively pursue” operational agility and flexibility over the next two to three years. One implication is that as many enterprises return to their offices, the workplace ideally becomes a destination where employees want to gather and collaborate — connecting safely with each other. And then there is already the need to create a return-to-the-workplace strategy. Learn more from the following blogs.

The move is on to hybrid workspaces. The new workspace in the post-pandemic world will need to satisfy even more needs. Does productivity mean keeping face-to-face working or saving employees commuting time? Have a look at the advantages and challenges of building a hybrid workspace model.

Give employees a better workplace experience. “A great place to work” is being redefined by COVID-19, employee expectations, and technology. That experience can still mean the difference between engaged, productive employees, and a company facing turnover and even more disruption. Learn how to create that new experience.