Operational Challenges And How a Facilities Management Software Platform Will Help
Common Challenges
Facilities management companies are charged with managing significant amounts of data. Piecing together disparate systems to handle it all can be cumbersome—and costly. When you’re ready to reconcile the many systems you work with, you could build your own platform. But with the out-of-the-box options that are now available specifically for facilities management companies, you might not have to do that heavy lifting after all.
Are you ready to shift to a work order platform built with facilities management in mind? Use this checklist to help you decide if your company is ready to make the switch.
1. We want to be more efficient with our data entry and management.
If you or other members of your team spend a lot of time copying and pasting data from one system to another, you know the frustration that multiple disconnected systems can cause.
“In auditing our clients’ processes, we’ve discovered that many have staff dedicated to moving data from platform to platform all day,” says Marios Patriotis, Automated Decision’s head of technical operations. “What we’re able to do with our integrations completely eliminates this busywork, so they can focus on more important business goals.”
for example, this can eliminate the need for emailed GPS checks and photos from contractors to an administrator, who downloads them, logs into a third-party system and uploads them there.
2. We use multiple systems that need to be integrated into a work order platform.
Work order systems populated by siloed service channels that operate independently of one another are complex enough. But a platform that isn’t integration-friendly can add a layer of frustration beyond duplicative data entry. And if that sounds like your system, you’re not alone: Most work order systems can’t integrate these channels effectively into a single platform. Fortunately, though, Automated Decision excels in this area.
“We accomplish this by using cloud-based technologies including containerized services, serverless functions and API gateways, as well as additional processes that maintain scalability, like queue processes,” Patriotis says.
Automated Decision also enables your organization to map different terms used across different systems—whether it’s trades, statuses, services or priorities—to yours, so you can manage your data using the terms most useful for your organization.
3. We lack the resources to deploy ongoing configurations and customizations required to meet our changing business needs.
While it’s possible to build a proprietary system from the ground up, it’s expensive and time-consuming, and it can divert the focus away from your true business goals. There are a number of potential issues and requirements that must be addressed, including security, integrations to APIs, data mapping, migration and more. And it could take months or even years to complete it.
The good news is, someone has already done the legwork and can make the process easier for you. AD’s modular, scalable solution can connect and integrate with any source—modify the data, map it and send it to virtually any other destination system or API.
“We’ve been working with facility management companies for more than a decade, and we understand your business and your needs, from the life cycle of a work order to needing plugins that aren’t supported in your current system,” says Mario Lopez, senior software architect at Automated Decision. “We work hard to anticipate your needs and meet them so you don’t need to build a complete system from scratch.”
4. We want the uptime, security and other benefits of a cloud-based platform.
You have options when you build your work order platform, including on-premises and cloud-based solutions. The key difference is, cloud-based solutions can solve multiple issues and save money in the process.
For example, if you’re paying separately for data security, building frameworks and constantly making updates in your system, you need an IT team that’s going to continuously look for new hardware and check for software updates, which is going to be costly—in both the time and tools needed to manage it. When you use a cloud-based system, the tools are typically more affordable because they’ve been widely adopted by large enterprises, so they can be delivered at a lower cost.
5. We don’t have the resources for ongoing support and training.
When something new is added to your team’s workflow, it can involve training to get up to speed, which is a barrier. Automated Decision understands this and has created an intuitive platform that is easy to learn and use. And if minimal training is needed, Automated Decision offers support as part of the platform—one less thing for you to worry about.
“We offer a solution to fit exactly what you need just by checking boxes,” Patriotis says. “We remove that long learning curve, that extra time, and those bugs you’d have to work out if you were building it on your own. We solve all of those challenges for you.”
Contact Automated Decision today
Automated Decision takes the hassle out of building a work order platform. We start by understanding your current processes and how your team operates, and then we ensure a smooth implementation complete with training resources to ensure your team succeeds. Ready to learn more? Contact us today.