A range of services are required to ensure that a facility runs efficiently and is compliant with the law. This includes managing both hard and soft facilities management services (FM). Businesses are responsible for utilizing various FM services that meet legal requirements, depending on the building’s size. To keep the occupants happy, it is important to properly maintain and manage a facility. A facilities manager and their service staff are the most important factors in ensuring reasonability.
What are Facilities Management Services?
Effective facilities management services are key to maintaining safety, security, efficiency, and functionality in a built environment. This applies to all buildings, grounds and real estate, as well as infrastructure.
FM services may vary depending on the specific requirements of a building. These services can include consulting services like space planning and asset surveys, security, environmental, or IT services. There are two types of FM services that can be used in most built environments: hard and soft FM.
Building management is a complex task that requires both hard and soft services. They also help increase business productivity and improve employee and occupant satisfaction.
A majority of FM services, both soft and hard, are now required by law. The Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations 1992 imposes on businesses the responsibility of providing for the safety, health, and well-being of building occupants. Facility managers are responsible for ensuring that services like:
- Cleanliness
- Toilet and wash areas
- Eating and communal areas
- Lighting
- Ventilation
- Temperature
What are Hard Facility Management Services?
The services of hard facilities management are for the structure of the building. They cannot be removed. They have a direct impact on the safety and welfare for employees and visitors and are therefore required by law. You must have FM services that are hard to reach; they cannot be negotiable. These are hard FM services:
- Gas, heating, and plumbing
- HVAC systems
- Electrical, mechanical, lighting
- Fire safety systems
- Maintenance work on buildings
What are Soft Facility Management Services?
Soft facilities management services, on the other hand, are not required by law. They can be added or taken out. Soft FM services are designed to make buildings more comfortable and pleasant for their occupants. They can make the building safer. The type of business and the needs of its occupants will determine which type of soft service a company requires. Soft FM services include:
- Grounds maintenance
- Landscaping
- Decor
- Catering services (including vending machines, water coolers, and catering)
- Cleaning services
- Pest control
- Waste management
- Parking for cars
- Workspace management
How to manage both hard and soft facility management services
It can be difficult to manage a building efficiently using a variety of soft and hard FM services. Facilities Management Software is a great tool to make this job easier for both landlords and facility managers.
Facility Management Software allows businesses to plan, organize, and manage all aspects of FM services from one platform. FM Software features allow facility owners to reap many advantages, including:
Plan for building maintenance
Preventative maintenance is more cost-effective than reactive maintenance. To ensure that these FM services run smoothly, routine inspections of fire safety equipment and HVAC servicing can be planned. Businesses can reduce the chance of unexpected downtime by planning for future maintenance. This will increase productivity and improve occupant satisfaction.
Improved Work Order and Inventory Management
Tracking technician tasks and dealing with red tape is one of the greatest challenges for facility managers. This is due in large part to the lack of management tools.
A solid process for work orders will ensure that no problem is overlooked, regardless of how small. From the time a request is made, to the completion of the job, repairs and maintenance can be organized in a way that works. The maintenance manager can review work requests from occupants of a building. The maintenance manager will assign a technician to fix any problems. To support work orders, such as photos of equipment, warranty specifications, and details about service, you can attach supporting information.
Ensuring Asset Management
Asset Management is a key component in the delivery of FM services. This is also a part of planned maintenance. This involves assessing the equipment’s working condition and its location. This information is used to inform budgeting by helping to determine total costs of ownership (TCO), and return on investment. It allows businesses to decide whether an asset should go for repair, replacement, or disposal.
Asset tracking is also part of an asset management module. This is where you tag equipment with barcode or qr code, such as laptops, and other tools for monitoring and tracking. Facility owners can track assets to ensure that employees and occupants have the equipment they need.
Tracking Energy Consumption
Morden CAFM systems allow businesses to keeptrack of their facility’s energy consumption. Facility managers can use energy usage insights to identify assets that are using too much energy and then replace them as necessary.
This helps reduce energy costs and also makes the building eco-friendlier. This is a factor that increases employee retention. 46% of employees in the younger generation say that environmental issues are important corporate and social responsibility objectives.
Conclusion
For a building environment to run smoothly and its occupants to be happy, both hard and soft FM services are essential. Modern tools like Facilities Management Software are key to making this happen. It streamlines the management and maintenance services.
FM Software’s like CloudApper Facilities allows users to increase workspace utilization, improve building safety through planned maintenance and create a productive and comfortable working environment. With the right tools, compliance with regulatory requirements is easier. This reduces the chance of your business being sued or losing money.
This article is written by Shaon Shahnewaz, a digital marketer, tech enthusiast & blogger who enjoys reading & spending time with his kid. He lives in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and can be reached anytime via his social media pages.