How FM Companies Are Using Contactless CAFM Systems To Improve Standards, Reduce Costs And Save Time

Case Study: How One Shopping Centre Identified Three Major Issues With Its FM Operations Within A Week Of Implementing A Contactless FM System

Péarlaí Survey Results: What FM Experts Said Their Biggest Challenges Were

July 5, 2022

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Three main aims for any company are improving standards and quality of the service they provide, reducing unnecessary costs and saving time to become more efficient overall and spend less time on unnecessary tasks. In the context of facilities management, arguably the best way to move forward and overcome challenges in achieving these three aims is using a contactless CAFM compliance and T&A system. Facilities management businesses with a contactless system installed have seen improvement in all three of these areas. But how exactly has this been achieved?
When it comes to improving standards, the main advantage of a contactless system is quite simple. Having a contactless system which picks up presence and dwell times around a site has allowed clients to completely eliminate human error that would be present with tap or scan systems. Not having to tap or scan a reader while completing their tasks has led to a more efficient workforce and higher compliance rates. Additionally, by monitoring assets and keeping track of when they are due for maintenance, a factory client was able to plan accordingly and reduce downtime from unexpected maintenance. Furthermore, accurate compliance data can show management when they need to make changes to staffing. For example, in a shopping centre with a contactless system installed there were too many staff on site one day and not enough later in the week to cover the day’s tasks. The data collected using the system made these staffing issues clear that would have been unknown without the use of the system. Management is now also able to get real-time alerts both for problems like this or when standards fall due to other issues, allowing them to resolve the issues quickly. By improving standards like all our clients have been able to do using a contactless CAFM system, it means that clients are impressed, leading to excellent referrals and new contracts.
Contactless CAFM systems also have several ways in which they can reduce costs. Having accurate and indisputable data has helped to prevent and defend public liability claims and lower insurance premiums. The average slip & trip public liability claim pay-out is £10k in the UK and the average pay-out in Ireland is over €32k, so reducing these costs by lowering risks and being able to defend claims with accurate data has proved to be a valuable tool for clients. This isn’t the only cost-saving advantage clients have had at their disposal since installing a contactless system. Accurate time and attendance data has allowed for staff to never be overpaid or undercut again. Using the system to monitor assets and keep track of when they need maintenance has also allowed businesses to avoid any unexpected costs to repair or replace equipment if they break unexpectedly. Knowing when an excess of staff members is working at once on a specific day also allowed a shopping centre client to reduce costs from having to pay them unnecessarily along with improving efficiency.
Finally, there are several ways that installing a contactless system has helped clients working in offices, shopping centres and factories to save time. Accurate time and attendance data means that hours can be saved that would have had to be spent confirming time and attendance for the purpose of invoicing clients. Additionally, instead of having to spend hours making sure staff are present on site when they should be and are completing tasks as expected, a contactless system means the data is at clients’ fingertips and those hours could be spent on more important tasks, with real-time alerts letting them know if standards fall. Thirdly, for staff members on sites, time is saved where they would have to tap or scan a reader as proof of attendance. The elimination of needless tasks like this has increased efficiency among several clients’ workforces.
To sum up, in the context of facilities management, clients have seen many benefits since installing a contactless system that have led to increases in productivity, efficiency and cost reduction, three important areas of consideration for any company.