If you have ever owned a facility, you know that managing large properties is a full-time job in and of itself. It leaves you with little time to focus on the business for which you purchased the facility in the first place.
Therefore, Business Owners require Facility Management services so that they can focus on what they do best.
Who is a Facilities Manager and What Are Their Responsibilities?
A Facility Manager has to wear multiple hats. They are responsible for strategic planning and maintenance of the various facilities in their portfolio
They must ensure that the facility continues to serve its intended purpose for all stakeholders by hiring and managing Service Suppliers and Supporting Staff.
Facilities Managers have over 7000 titles based on their specific responsibilities and the industry in which they work, with the most common ones including:
- Facilities Strategist
- Real Estate Strategic Manager
- Strategic Site Planner
- Facility Maintenance Analyst
- Facilities Program Analyst
- Space Planning And Logistics Manager
- Facilities Service Move Specialist
- Properties Coordinator
- Office Services Manager
- Facilities Helpdesk Lead
Regardless of title, a Facilities Manager is expected to manage the overall effectiveness of the buildings, which includes:
- Regular maintenance and building repairs must be scheduled and planned for the premises to function properly.
- Resolving legal and compliance issues with Property Occupants and other parties involved
- Ensuring Property Occupants have all the equipment and amenities they require to perform well while living or working in the facility.
- Ensure effective space management for the Property Occupants’ safety and well-being.
- Ensuring Compliance with Health and Safety Standards.
- Ensuring the security of the premises and all of the equipment and systems installed within.
Property Manager vs. Facility Manager: What's the Difference?
Responsibilities of a Property Manager
- Managing all the maintenance-related tasks of the leased building including preventive maintenance.
- Communicating the needs of the tenants and the responsibilities of the building owner.
- Handling rent collection and dispute resolution.
- Ensure property remains occupied for longer periods.
- Assisting with financial and asset management goals of the property owners.
Responsibilities of a Facility Manager
- Maintaining all the systems installed in the building.
- Space and layout management to ensure the best utilization.
- Overseeing facility moves and other changes.
- Managing the needs of the employees in the facility.
- Delegating work orders to service suppliers.
- Ensuring all the infrastructure is working at its optimal.
- Providing a safe, comfortable, and functional work environment for all.
- Being proactive to identify issues before they arise.
Sometimes, one may find some of the roles of Facilities Managers and property managers overlapping. However, in other instances, there are clear lines drawn in terms of the nature of the work each handles.
Consider these 2 scenarios:
- A window on the 7th floor is cracked. It is the responsibility of the property manager to make the property safe again. He or she will have to fix it by finding the appropriate service provider, obtaining a quote, and obtaining approval from the building owner to handle the service request on time.
- Your company is relocating to a new floor. It is the responsibility of the Facilities Manager to coordinate the move and ensure that the transition of relocating people and assets is done efficiently with minimal disruption to business operations.
10 Reasons Why You Should Hire A Facilities Manager
Maintaining a facility well necessarily requires a great deal of supervision. It is not always possible for a company to dedicate an in-house team to handle the day-to-day issues that arise in a facility
Hence it makes business sense to outsource facilities management to professionals who understand all the complexities that come with the job.
Some of the reasons why you should hire a Facilities Manager include:
- A Facilities Manager has the knowledge and expertise to maximize the value of your asset and minimize costs. This is done by making the best use of space and resources and proactively managing any issues that arise from time to time.
- A Facilities Manager ensures maximum productivity by providing the people in the building with a conducive environment with all systems and processes working smoothly.
- Provide a strategic direction on the best utilization of all resources and guidance to help the facility continue to obtain its intended purpose.
- Facility managers ensure that your space is free of health hazards by keeping equipment safe, providing employee training, and facilitating avenues for communication and trust putting occupants’ minds at rest.
- Facility managers are well equipped to handle the environmental and legislative matters related to running a facility and help your business mitigate the associated risks.
- Managing a facility is a full-time job and can tie up your resources if you do it on your own. A Facilities Manager frees up these resources so you can focus on running your business successfully.
- Facilities need many professionals to attend to the needs of the people in it. A Facilities Manager ensures that all such professionals work in tandem to deliver maximum value, reduce the risk, and cut down costs.
- Facility managers keep oversight of all the past, present, and upcoming issues allowing them to read patterns, track changes and detect risks that might arise in the future. This helps them to take preventative measures, reduce downtimes and minimize costs.
- A Facilities Manager will ensure to keep all the equipment and systems up to the latest codes for performance, technology, and safety, so your building is always up to date and sells quickly when required.
- Facility managers will educate the workforce about standards and procedures of using the facility, preventing any costly damages, and keeping the facility operating smoothly.
What Qualities and Attributes A Good Facilities Manager Should Have
Managing facilities comes with a vast scope of services that require the person doing it to possess several skills to excel at the job.
- An Excellent Communicator
A good Facilities Manager must have effective communication skills to cultivate an atmosphere of collaboration and trust to improve the overall organizational efficiency and handle problems proactively.
- Passionate Problem Solver
Identifying problems is just the beginning. A good Facilities Manager must be able to think outside the box, find an efficient and cost-effective way of doing something, and use critical problem-solving skills to address the issue at hand.
- Persistent and Determinant
The ability to keep pressing on until something gets done could be the sole driver of successfully performing a facility management role. Most issues in facilities arise as a follow-up was never done after the problem was identified and a solution was presented.
- Being Flexible
Due to the ever-changing role and responsibilities of Facilities Managers, they need to be able to go with the flow and adapt to new changes. Most commonly these changes could be maintenance management requirements from stakeholders, as opposed to the original plan, and need to be handled calmly and diplomatically.
- Ability to Learn and Evolve
It’s the responsibility of Facilities Managers to keep the workforce updated on the latest developments in technology and train them on using it to increase organizational efficiency. For this, they need to become tech-savvy themselves and be willing to adopt new systems and processes for asset monitoring and communication.
How Technology, IoT, and Cloud Services Involve in Facilities Managers’ Role
Facility managers need to embrace technology to stay competitive, effectively allocate tasks, increase the productivity of the workforce and keep property occupants satisfied and happy
Due to the multiple hats, they wear and the broad range of responsibilities on their shoulders, technology solutions like i4T Maintenance have been helping Facilities Managers by simplifying tasks.
These include regular maintenance of the buildings, effectively connecting them with asset owners and property occupants, handling resources, mitigating risk, and overall project management.
Digitally transforming the facility management industry, technology leaps such as IoT and cloud services are helping Facilities Managers benefit from:
- Third-Party Integrations
The days of using multiple tools to get a single task done are gone for good. Instead, cloud services have now made possible integrated systems that are connected with a single application to get everything done from one place with just a few clicks, increasing efficiency and eliminating data duplication.
- Real-Time Collaboration
So far a great challenge was to be on the same page with all the stakeholders when it came to facility management. However, real-time data progress tracking means managers not only enjoy team coordination but also get instant notification on what’s happening on each project and take action right there and then.
- Data Storage and Accessibility
Facility managers have to deal with a large amount of data every day. With the help of IoT and cloud services, all systems are connected helping with retrieving data efficiently, making changes to it, recording on the go, coordinating between teams, and meeting the legislative requirement for data storage.
- Mobile Accessibility
A key challenge for Facilities Managers is to respond to service requests in a timely fashion, but that’s not possible when the only time you can work is during office hours.
Mobile apps offering facility management services like i4T Maintenance improve flexibility and response speed making their work much more efficient and the communication process are a lot smoother than before.
- Record-Keeping and Analytical Tools
Facility managers have a huge responsibility to make timely and correct decisions to keep facilities up and running in the best possible way.
With the help of technology, it’s now possible to track employee performance, use of resources, measure customer satisfaction, keep an eye on the cash flows, and much more.
This has eliminated the previous trial and error method and helped Facilities Managers move towards a more calculated approach to solving problems and taking crucial decisions.
Get Connected With i4T Maintenance
Facilities Management is a job in itself and unless you have an experienced Facilities Management team by your side, it’s easy for you to handle your day-to-day operations.
i4T Maintenance has served Facilities Managers and Companies of all sizes for years. We can help you ensure that your premises and assets are well maintained, repairs are done quickly, and that your occupants are happy and satisfied with what you do.
Contact us today to learn more about the value of our services and how we can help you be a 5-Star Facilities Manager!
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