“Yes, You Need to do More with Less”, and other Survey Insights — What you Need to Know — Technology will Drive Operations in 2023 A recent 2023 JLL survey confirmed that facility management teams are being asked to process more work orders with less resources (staff and budget). This article summarizes key trends and insights identified in the JLL report. The need to do more with less necessitates adopting innovative technologies that can deliver…

Proper assignment of alarm priority helps FM operators stay on top of critical events, mitigate risk, and prevent unplanned downtime — What You Should Know: The priority of an alarm is meant to convey its relative importance versus other active alarms. Accurate prioritization guides the FM operator / dispatcher about which alarm to respond to first in order to prevent the worst potential consequence (business impact).

Using Alerts, Prompts, and Notices to Reduce Alarm Fatigue — What You Need to Know: One of the leading causes of alarm fatigue in facility management is when the BAS alarm system is used to communicate any information that the operator / dispatcher might need to know, whether it is an alarm or not. …

Decades of Scientific Research Lost, causes $1M in damages As reported by the Times Union, a janitor working in a chemistry-biology research lab at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, mistakenly shut off power to a super-cold freezer-destroying decades of scientific research. The situation: Research samples were stored in the freezer at minus -112 degrees Fahrenheit. To prevent the…

How Reducing Repeat Work Effectively adds FTEs — What You Need to Know: Skilled labor shortages are the new reality in facilities management (FM). Improving the efficacy of your existing workforce by reducing repeat work can alleviate the pain of being short-staffed, free up time for more proactive maintenance, and reduce OpEx costs. …

Evaluates Effectiveness of Internal Controls for Protecting Customer Data What You Should Know: Virtual Facility has successfully completed a Type 2 System and Organization Controls 2 (SOC 2) examination for its Alarm Triage™ Platform and services. The examination conducted by the independent CPA firm — AssurancePoint, LLC — found that Virtual Facility achieved its service commitments and system requirements as measured by the…

Facility Managers should Recognize that they are Risk Managers Why It Matters: Facilities management (FM) performance significantly impacts an institution’s ability to manage risk. You know this to be TRUE if you’ve ever described your daily activities as “fighting one fire after another”. …

What You Should Know: Inundating facility management (FM) operators / dispatchers with an average alarm rate of > 12 alarms per hour can cause alarm overload, leading to… · critical alarms being missed, · incorrect alarm response (human error), · unplanned shutdown of revenue generating assets and spaces, · and…

Improved Facility Management Performance can be achieved by getting better at Unplanned Work (Corrective Maintenance) in order to free up more time for Planned Work (Proactive Maintenance). — Facilities Management (FM) personnel are being challenged like never before to reduce cost, improve labor efficiency, prevent unplanned downtime, and increase asset lifetime / reliability. Reducing headcount might seem to be a promising cost reduction option on paper, but it would have a negative impact on patient care and occupant…