{"id":9276,"date":"2024-10-16T08:49:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T07:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swgnew.com\/aus\/news\/its-time-to-visualise-the-future\/"},"modified":"2025-06-02T15:46:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T14:46:24","slug":"its-time-to-visualise-the-future","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/news\/its-time-to-visualise-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Time to Visualise the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mats Broman, CEO of Service Works Global (SWG) spoke to Fiona Perrin from i-FM<\/a> discussing the future of FM. When <\/span>technolog<\/span>ies<\/span> converge <\/span>to form a <\/span>C<\/span>onnected <\/span>D<\/span>igital <\/span>T<\/span>win<\/span>,<\/span> we can<\/span> really<\/span> see the possibilities of FM<\/span>,<\/span> says<\/span> \u00a0Mats Broma<\/span>n.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Take a walk around a sports centre. Explore its corners, its layout, its facilities, its sensors and its construction. As an FM, you\u2019ll already be thinking about processes, workflows, maintenance regimes and sustainable practice. How do you speed up efficiency, lower costs and protect the environment?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, instead of walking the sports halls, the central areas, the boiler rooms and offices, imagine you can do it all from the comfort of your desk through a 3D model with perfect visualisation. It\u2019s something you are used to on your phone in your day-to-day life, through maps and StreetView, but not in the workplace portfolio you manage every day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Point and click on any element of the built environment. Explore further. Check out the connected environment from IoT sensors and what they are telling you. Fly through the centre and see the maintenance history of the assets for which you\u2019re responsible. Visualise the space without moving an inch.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then perhaps, you\u2019ll have a question. You\u2019ll know the answer is somewhere deep in your own documentation, models and the real-time data you\u2019ve gathered. You use AI in your own daily life \u2014 language models like ChatGPT are everyday tools, but again, that might be a long way from your reality at work.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now dream of a time when<\/span> AI can also <\/span>help <\/span>provide the intelligent, transformative answers to our own business <\/span>questions \u2013 how often does a lift really need to be serviced, for example, based on real use data? What should the temperature be in an office <\/span>in two weeks\u2019 time? And then imagine the answers, all available and <\/span>integrated into your CMMS system<\/span> via<\/span> a connected digital twin<\/span> of your built environment<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span> This is what is possible when BIM, AI and CMMS systems converge.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Learning from Scandinavia<\/h3>\n

How do we know this is no FM reverie? Well, it\u2019s already a reality in Sweden, says Mats Broman, CEO of global facilities, property and workplace management software, Service Works Global (SWG). Having led the Nordic operation for over 15 years, he took over as CEO from founder Gary Watkins in May, and he\u2019s ready to show us in the UK the art of the possible.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of experience around the use of AI, digitisation and other things from the Swedish perspective,\u201d he says. \u201cI will try to enhance that and implement it in a broader way in the UK and other places in the world.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SWG\u2019s software<\/a> is already in 100,000 sites across the world \u2014 clients include Honeywell, Mitie, BNP Paribas and multiple NHS Trusts across the UK.\u00a0 Broman says that the culture of the company \u2014 \u201copenness and transparency\u201d \u2014 is not going to change, but he looks forward to “speeding up” bringing some of the Scandinavian learning to the UK.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Sweden we\u2019re more advanced in using BIM on the FM side,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve been working with digitisation of buildings in the region for over ten years, driven by the municipalities and their requirements. In the UK, there have been demands to use BIM in construction projects for a long time but the purpose has been to create an efficient building process, not for efficient FM. In Sweden we now relate it to the FM processes from the start.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Broman demonstrated examples of the 1,400,000 sqm<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>that have already been digitised at this year\u2019s <\/span>Workplace Futures conference<\/span><\/a> including the sports centre at Sollentunavallen. The visualisations are impressive; integrated with CMMS systems and SWG\u2019s investment in AI tools for better digitisation and for solution interrogation, they are transformative. Importantly, the tools work for both existing buildings, new construction and in change in the use or layout of facilities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the digitisation of Stockholm <\/span>C<\/span>entral<\/span>\u00a0railway <\/span>station on behalf of property owner Jernhausen, engineers use StreetView-type visualisations to streamline visits. \u201cWe can see the basement of the railway station and the water pumps that help regulate temperature in the building, for example,\u201d explains Broman. \u201cEngineers might want to have a view of the time series and they can see stats directly when they are out in the field.\u2019\u00a0 Room sensors in the conference rooms provide information on how the rooms have been used \u2014 and are predicted to be used \u2014 to drive decisions on temperature for energy management. Air condition alerts are sent to the CMMS system; at the same time users can use the same convergence of technology in apps to provide directional signage \u2013 \u201cjust like StreetView but inside\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If this is the future, every FM will want to be there.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leap in daily reality<\/h3>\n

Broman, though, is realistic. \u201cWe ask first, \u2018can we have your paper drawings?\u2019\u201d he says. In this \u2018Plan to BIM\u2019 model, floor plans provide the basis for machine learning (an AI application) to digitise and render buildings into visualisations that are then integrated into the CMMS system. Importantly, though, \u201cthe reality is that users often don\u2019t have great drawings to start with,\u201d he adds. \u00a0So the solution might be \u2018Scan to BIM\u2019 using laser scanning and multiple data sources to provide accurate digital twins, including 3D visualisations of everything from the office layout to HVAC.<\/p>\n

Real-time user data then helps operators to plan maintenance visits, understand the interdependencies of different systems and speed up processes and solutions. \u201cIt\u2019s much easier to solve the problem out in the field,\u201d explains Broman. \u201cIt\u2019s changing workflows, planned preventative maintenance and the ways that engineers and their colleagues work on demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

FM must recognise the legacy<\/h3>\n

Broman loves starting that conversation with clients \u2013 how to commence the journey to digitisation and is \u201cnow having some really interesting dialogue with existing customers in the UK\u201d to see what can be achieved. \u201cIt\u2019s step by step,\u201d he says. \u201cWe often have to help customers to understand how they can start their digitisation journey and where the return on investment may be greatest.\u201d<\/p>\n

He believes the drive towards sustainability will be the key to adoption, helped by regulation and the drive to net zero. Ensuring standards are adhered to means solutions can be scaled globally.<\/p>\n

Working together as an industry is fundamental, he says, and all the different players in FM have something to bring to the table. \u00a0\u201cThe tricky thing is to really understand what makes us more efficient, better and more profitable. I think it\u2019s important to meet each other \u2014 service providers have expertise from their side; real estate from their side; so now is the time for us to work together to see how we can provide solutions for market needs and make us much more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some say, though, that FM is notorious for not being an early adopter. Again, Broman is pragmatic: \u201cI think we have to accept that we are a slow-moving industry for natural reasons. When you invest in a building you tie up lots of capital, and if you try to change the building at the same rate as technology develops you don\u2019t always get a return on investment. We must accept that we have a legacy and that we might have to do some things manually but add things that are going be more efficient \u2013 take the low-hanging fruit. We have to be honest with ourselves and see what we can do \u2013 but that\u2019s a lot more than we are doing today.\u201d<\/p>\n

A better future<\/h3>\n

In the meantime, take a moment to think again 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.<\/p>\n

Imagine the difference it would make to your job and the industry we work in. It\u2019s no pipedream: Broman has shown us the future, and we might all want to share in the vision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mats Broman spoke to i-FM to discuss converging technologies, connected digital twins and the possibilities of these in the future of FM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":9277,"template":"","categories":[54,56,186,58,60,64,68,69,70],"class_list":["post-9276","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asset-management","category-bim","category-cmms","category-compliance","category-fm","category-mobile-technology","category-space-management","category-sustainability","category-workplace"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/9276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}