Technology has made a major impact on the facilities management industry over the last several years. New systems, software, and devices are providing facilities leaders with more, real time data and better data to maintain and operate their facilities more efficiently, smoothly and cost-effectively.

While technologies such as Mobile Apps, Artificial Intelligence and robotics often grab headlines, the hype of new technology often comes way sooner than when it is practical for facilities teams to actually use in practice. It can be hard for facilities leaders to figure out what technology they should be investing in, and which they should take a wait and see approach.

Figuring out what technology you should be focused on can be a bit overwhelming, here I have taken a look at the three biggest technologies that are set to change how buildings are maintained and operated right now, in 2021.

#Tredning -1: Smart devices & vast use of Internet

IoT and smart devices is not new for us but the use this technology in facility management is very new and it’s now the talk of the town. Today, these devices are being used in almost every industry across the globe, providing users with massive amounts of accurate and real time data that was unreachable before.

If you haven’t used the IoT yet then this is the right time to start discovering what IoT and smart devices could do for your facilities Management.

A good first step is installing them for energy management like Temperature and Humidity Sensors and Machine Listening/Vibration Detection Sensors. This will help for sustainability and green initiatives as per government regulations as well as drastically cut utility costs by pinpointing where energy waste is happening.

#Tredning -2: Building Information Management in Building Management System

BIM technology has become the standard in the construction industry but it has yet to really take hold of facility management, especially for managing the floor plans that facilities teams use while Paper, PDF, and CAD design are the traditional use.

This is set to change from this year onwards and the trend has been started as we are reaching the tipping point for BIM adoption. BIM is a digital technology that delivers intelligence and real-data to inform how to build and operate buildings. Where CAD is a recreation of manual drawings that requires lots of time and manual effort to keep accurate, BIM is able to do this more accurately and in much less time. For example, a hand drawing doesn’t tell you the square footage of a room. BIM does this out of the box, allowing facilities teams to better plan and operate their buildings.

#Trending -3: Drone Technology

Hope you all have seen the Amazon delivering your package at your doorstep in few minutes through drones, then it brings a lot of value to facilities managements also. Use of drone is still very low but this ratio will increase vastly in coming years.

The most common use case for drones currently is roof management. It means, no one likes going up on the roof to complete that inspection or check what condition those rooftop units are in. Drones eliminate this time consuming and potentially dangerous activity for facilities teams. Teams can get high-quality imagery of building roofs in a fraction of the time, helping them limit risk.