Can CAFM Help Businesses to Become Increasingly More Sustainable?
In the current environmental climate, the need for sustainability is more urgent than ever. Commercial, industrial and residential sectors alike are facing global scrutiny for practices that undercut sustainability.
Computer-aided facilities management is a tool that can streamline the operation of these sectors. How far can it go toward advancing environmentally-conscious business practices?
The Problem
Currently, facilities management providers are not accountable for the energy used across their clients’ portfolios. Compliance with Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) that are far from comprehensive enough is standard practice. The SLA’s more often than not, don’t even mention sustainability at all. Whether you use internal FM providers or hire them externally, they aren’t as environmentally conscious as they should be.
For example, three janitors cleaning a 22 story building. It doesn’t matter if every light in the building is burning all night; as long as the work gets done, the SLA’s are fulfilled. Most FM providers take no note of the energy wastage as long as they meet the SLA’s.
In every industry, there is a need for constant maintenance. FM providers are not concerned with the environmental impacts of these assets. Anything from faulty boiler rooms to clogged air filters impinge on a company’s energy efficiency.
A service member might log a maintenance or repair card on a Friday afternoon, but these will usually only be attended on a Monday morning. Even though the assets are out of order for only two days, the energy impact is astronomical. Yet, as long as the card is attended to on Monday morning, the SLA’s are fulfilled, and FM providers are satisfied.
The Solution
CAFM systems offer a ready-made, powerful asset register. The systems also know roughly how energy is being expended and where it can be saved. CAFM software can also track the life cycles of assets. This can result in preventative maintenance instead of emergency repairs. Energy inefficient assets can be taken out of service sooner due to comprehensive data gathering. For more benefits of implementing CAFM software, visit www.fsifm.com to get the lowdown.
Clients of FM providers often don’t have complete visibility of their contractors’ performance. Contractors log limited information, and due to a lack of enough oversight, the accuracy of the information can vary. With CAFM software, a single dashboard will bring together critical information about how your contractors are performing. Time is money, and wasted time in how efficiently a task is done or its turnaround period is a waste of company resources.
The infrastructure needed for peak CAFM integration is already in place in most organizations. A vast network of sub-meters on business premises, for example, will collect massive amounts of data about how electricity is used across all the devices and processes reliant on it.
Conclusion
The only way to manage your company’s sustainability is by monitoring how your assets are used and how energy is expended. CAFM software offers a comprehensive solution to this end by giving you significant amounts of critical information. CAFM software also gives you access to more detailed information concerning the lifecycle of your assets so that you can make better, more timely decisions. If you want to be responsible for decreasing your organization’s carbon footprint, switch to CAFM software.
