Top 6 Future Trends in Facilities Management in 2020

The Indian facility market accounts for a total 3.2% of the country’s GDP, making it the most promising sector with such rapid growth.

While the current calculation counts to INR 5 lakh crores, the facility management domain is expected to further grow annually by 20–25% in the years to come.

In the global context, integrated facility management services are said to rise by nearly $35 billion in 2019, with an expected growth of $59.3 billion by 2023.

The compounded annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.4 percent makes it one of the fastest growing industries in the world with such a steady growth.

In order to help facility professionals contemplate the flow of operations in the commercial and real estate sector with FM holding a wide stature in a business context, here’s presenting 6 trends that are all the rage in this domain right now:

Personalization and User Experience

Having grown accustomed to personalized experiences as consumers, employees these days expect personalization in the workplace as well. This means FM intends to adapt the business space as a service model, which will majorly suffice the occupants’ requirements to support them in their day to day business.

Facility managers in a huge sense will become the “concierge” of these workplaces, who will be responsible to provide more than just technology, services and amenities to help employees be more productive with the wide availability of resources at hand.

Many workplaces even in the current scenario are beginning to address this need with employee experience apps that allow people to stay connected to their workplace and establish connections with the organization’s people, request services and dwell in a peaceful working environment.

Flexibility in operations

While startups and small enterprises continue to be the predominant users of flexible workspaces, larger organizations have also stepped up to the notion by increasing their use of well managed workspaces that are capable of accommodating a growing workforce. This has helped with managing expenditures during times of transition where the saved costs can be invested in future projects as planned by the organization.

Additionally, while wanting to adopt the flexible workspace arrangements, corporate real estate executives are prioritizing the ability to support employee flexibility that also helps them gain a better work life balance.

Creating Smart Workplaces

The use of devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) have had a great start with the rising trends in the FM domain. The application of this future technology in the workplace will allow employers to create more comfortable, energy-efficient workplaces that will support a friendly employee experience with greater efficacy.

IoT sensors and integrated workplace management system being the newest introduction in the effort of energy management, can add a great deal of building intelligence to the system e.g. automatically turning off the electricity at a vacant place or providing automated temperature control in accordance with the weather conditions. A full building automation system however is much easier to implement if it’s incorporated into the early design stages. This will not only make a building 360 degrees smart but also reduce the turnaround time for responding to exigencies as and when the system shall prompt of it.

Going green

Going green is taking over the world as the need of the hour. Rather than an ornamental option for building decoration, facility managers are digging into a careful study of plants that can naturally benefit buildings in certain ways like reducing the building’s temperature, purifying the air and more. Facility managers are beginning to ensure that they keep track of new green practices that help build a safer operating environment and benefit the building occupants to the most of its potential.

Drones for roof top inspections

Advanced technology has moved a level up by using drones to perform roof top inspections without having to waste time or money on scaffolding. This is one of the major benefits that drones will offer while saving the risk to human lives as they inspect buildings. Drones will help building owners and facility operators with a major reduction in costs while also reducing the risk to human lives as they inspect high rise buildings for system related malfunctioning.

Employee wellness programs

Facilities services have levitated its level of care for employees by incorporating all the possible means to keep them going. These services include short health sessions like yoga, general physical activity and outdoor movement to reduce the bad effects of sitting for long hours.

The effort will ensure that all employees are looked after well and that they feel comfortable during their working hours and yield effective results.

Facility management services are a lot more than just janitorial services that make arrangements for a sane operating environment. Having grown from its initial phase Facility services form the back bone of all frameworks and provide for a suitable working environment while relaying all the relevant information to propel the flow of operations in a transparent manner. This will not only smoothen the flow of operations in a building but make employee lives easier than before as they leave behind mundane office set ups and step up to a future that looks more promising.