Manage and Quickly Adjust SOWs with IoT

Over the past month we have been featuring different ways the Internet of Things (IoT) can benefit your facility. If you’re just joining us now, make sure you go back and check out a general overview of the benefits of IoT for Facilities. We also took a deeper look at the ways that IoT could benefit facilities within certain areas, including operations and management, utility management, and safety and security.

This week we are continuing the series and taking a closer look at specific ways that IoT can provide more efficient processes within your facility. In this article, we’re going to talk about how IoT can give you the power to monitor, manage and quickly adjust your scope of work (SOW) based on feedback, analytics and use.

This week, Mississippi and Texas lifted capacity limits and are allowing businesses to resume normal operations. However, the Texas State Government not only announced that all businesses can open to 100% occupancy, but also removed the state’s mask mandate, even though Texas continues to be one of the top states for new COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 related deaths.

These unprecedented times continue to create new challenges and put added pressure on facility managers (FMs). The National Safety Commission (NSC) has said, “COVID-19 continues to be the single most significant workplace safety challenge in a century.” This means FMs need to evolve quickly, reinvent operations procedures and act fast to protect the health and safety of the facility environment, despite the lack of state government support.

When change is inevitable and you have to act fast, IoT solutions can help you analyze data quickly, create flexible SOWs, implement new processes and improve your organization’s health measures with efficiency.

Real-Time Data and Feedback

Feedback is essential to any business, whether you’re dealing with a customer-focused business or not. Feedback systems can be used to quickly identify any problem areas within facilities based on employee and/or customer feedback. That data can then be used to create conditions that better suit their needs.

If your business or facilities aren’t meeting company or organization expectations, your business can take the data or feedback and use it to create better systems that are designed to improve your customer or client experience.

The real-time data from feedback can also help you predict future needs by accurately mapping user behavior and identifying patterns to quickly recognize when an issue may appear. This should result in more positive satisfaction reports from users, customers or staff.

Scope of Work Flexibility

When visitors or customers enter your facility, they will visit different areas of the building, such as conference rooms, washrooms and break areas. With IoT, you can create processes and scopes of work that are based on counting and use versus time.

Throughput counting sensors can alert staff when set thresholds are reached. The sensors can be installed throughout any area, and alert staff when a certain number of people have entered or exited. It can also highlight if there is something wrong or something that needs urgent attention. This can improve turnaround time on major issues and allow staff to work where they are most needed, versus on a time rotation.

Inventory Control

Reduce the chances of running out of needed supplies with IoT sensors on supplies and inventory. Sensors can help you maintain proper stock by triggering an alert to inventory controllers or even issuing a restock order directly from the seller when stock is nearing a predefined quantity.

Effective inventory control can have a significant impact on limiting downtime and controlling budgets. You can connect stockrooms at every facility location and proactively monitor inventory movements, manage inventory levels and only hold enough stock onsite that is needed.

You’ll create an inventory system that has flexibility and precision. It will also save your staff monitoring and managing time, and that time can be spent on other tasks, making them more efficient and ultimately, grow your bottom line.

Monitor Movement

Knowing who is in your business and where and what they are doing can be extremely difficult, especially when you have parts of your business open to the public. IoT can help to track the movement of employees, visitors and contractors throughout your grounds with wearable sensors.

Wearable digital technology can improve employee safety and productivity. Sensors can monitor where employees are located and the tasks that were completed in that area. It can also collect data about their physical movements, health, environment, and much more to help protect the employee (for example, alert the employee to rest if their heart rate is too high or leave an area if a chemical is too strong).

At Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), Flagship helped to implement staff monitoring technology to improve operational efficiency and keep passengers happy and safe. The staff monitoring system at SJC uses proximity badging to provide real-time information that is viewable through Flagship’s Intuition software platform.

The IoT has become fundamental in improving reliability and driving process improvement by delivering real-time, intelligent and actionable data to connected systems and users. It improves awareness, uniformity and response time, and may also help reduce costs. According to a report by global satellite communications services provider Inmarsat, businesses can expect to boost revenues by $154 million with IoT through identifying cost savings, monitoring productivity, and improving health and safety.

Flagship Facility Services can help you implement IoT solutions to improve your facility's process improvement and flexibility. We have experienced and professional teams ready to help your business with your IoT requirements and your integrated facilities management needs.