Australia
Another busy year is coming to end; one that has bombarded FM with the possibilities of IoT, AI and digital transformation as a means to solve the increasing pressures of sustainability and budgetary constraints. These challenges have been at the top of our agenda too. Read on to see how we have been helping clients, developing our software and sharing insights with the FM and PPP markets.
Software Updates
In November, QFM 5.3 for web and the QFM Mobile App was released. The release included significant enhancements including:
QFM Parts & Stock
A number of enhancements have been made, including new minimum and maximum usage columns for stocked parts and new Part characteristic fields have been added. Custom QFM Worksheets can now be configured to show Event Requisition Parts.
Offline Approvals
QFM 5.3 now includes the ability to view and approve permits and events via the QFM Mobile App. It allows operatives on-site to review and approve permit requests without a data connection; this means work can continue without the disruption of lacking data connectivity.
Mobile Task Types
The introduction of Mobile Task Types in QFM 5.3 allows administrators to show/hide specific aspects of visits per event type. Such as restricting visibility of Parts tab for specific visits.
For full details of everything that was included in the latest QFM release, please visit the client portal to access the release notes, or contact your account manager for a demonstration.
Partnerships
Best FM Partners 2024
We are thrilled to have been awarded Best FM Partner with Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust at the UK’s FM & Property Awards. We have been working with Kettering since 2017 and over that time a collaborative way of working has transformed the estate’s compliance and efficiency. UK General Manager Nigel Robinson enthuses: “A client partnership approach is at the core of our company ethos. Our expertise in delivering FM technology to meet the needs of healthcare estates and Kettering’s passion to go beyond the status quo has led to great success, and we’re pleased that’s been recognised.”
Looking at the Future of PPPs with the CCPPP
Last month we hosted a webinar with the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP), looking at how AI and IoT are reinventing the operational phase of PPPs. Over the course of an hour, CEO Mats Broman, International GM Samantha Fuller and Systems Consultant Liz Cummings shared insight and actionable advice on topics including how IoT can automate the building environment, using sensors and AI for preventative maintenance, how such tech can be integrated with a paymech to reduce the risk of underperformance and penalties, and crucially, how to bring these into an existing PPP framework. If you missed it, you can watch it now on CCPPP’s YouTube channel.
SWG on Stage
If you’ve been on the UK FM circuit this autumn you’ve probably bumped into one of our team. Marketing Director Hazel Bedson and CTO Paul McCarthy joined forces with our sister company Symetri’s Principal Consultant Daryn Fitz at the Smart Buildings Show in November to discuss how converging technologies are shaping the user experience. We exhibited at UHEI in Birmingham, and heard from other FM experts about digital transformation and sustainability in university and healthcare institutions. And, we just finished exhibiting at Anticipate (formerly known as Facilities Show) over three jam packed days where we loved the opportunity to chat to existing clients and get to know new faces with questions on everything from cleaning scheduling to building a digital twin.
QFM User Group
We welcomed our UK CAFM software clients to our annual User Group, this year held in London. In addition to a look at what’s new and coming soon for QFM, we were joined by several special guest speakers. Guy Dowsett from BESA discussed SFG20 for compliance management, Dr Rachel Hampson from healthcare infrastructure specialists Archus introduced the benefits of data driven maintenance, and our own clients Brian Powell and Naima Fidow from Royal Brompton NHS Foundation Trust provided a case study of how they use QFM to solve their own FM and compliance challenges.
FM, BIM and PPP Knowledge Share
New Guides Now Available
We partnered with UK journal FMJ a few months ago to ask the nation’s FM professionals how recent innovations like digital twins, technology and digital information are refining and reshaping FM service delivery. The results point to an industry experiencing a significant transformation. Download our FM Technology Trends Survey Results 2024 to learn more, or read this short summary, originally published on FMJ.
A complementary guide also accompanied our webinar with the CCPPP. How are AI and IoT Reinventing Operational P3s explains the challenges PPPs now face including financial constraints and sustainability pressures, and how increasingly accessible technology like AI and building information modelling (BIM) can help.
Meet SWG’s CEO, Mats Broman
Two leading journals met with Mats this summer to learn more about his vision for SWG since he became CEO in May.
Read Smart Buildings Magazine’s Q&A to get to know Mats including what excites him about the smart building industry, what regulations businesses need to be aware of, the best (and worst) thing about his job, as well as a his desert island disc.
Then, Mats introduces the art of the possible to iFM, presenting a vision of how FMs could be managing their sites using a connected digital twin. “Take a moment to think about flying through your buildings, seeing and interrogating the assets you manage via accurate 3D visualisations and then using AI to assist with solutions that make the user experience better, at the same time as protecting profit and the planet. Imagine the difference it would make to your job and the industry we work in. It’s no pipedream: Broman has shown us the future, and we might all want to share in the vision.”
AI and IoT in PPPs
Our GM for North America, Kelly Widger, was featured in Canadian Facility Management & Design (CFM&D) magazine’s winter edition, discussing how increasingly accessible technologies like IoT, sensors, AI and BIM and helping alleviate P3 contracts’ increasing complexity. Read A Transparent Approach – Enhancing Accuracy in the P3 Model here.
Heath and Care
International General Manager Samantha Fuller was featured in Aged Health Magazine discussing facilities managers’ essential role in compliance with aged care regulations in Australia, and how CAFM can help through reporting and asset lifecycle management. UK General Manager Nigel Robinson spoke to Health Estates Journal to explain how to implement a digital strategy and the resulting benefits, with examples from work carried out with Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.
Sustainability
Hazel Bedson, Marketing Director spoke to Smart Buildings Magazine about the sustainability challenges facing the construction and facilities management sectors and explored the technologies that can help deliver more sustainable, efficient estates.
If you would like more information on any of these news items, please contact us here.
