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New Year is a time of reflection, and we’re looking back on the priorities for facility management professionals over the last 12 months.
2019 was a big year for building information modelling (BIM) at Service Works. Following the merger with the FM division of our sister company Symetri, now called Service Works Global Nordic, our software has gone from strength to strength. Our superior IWMS software, QFM, enables effective building lifecycle management, including a comprehensive BIM solution with laser scanning, 3D modelling and full IWMS integration.
“How Does BIM Benefit FM” was top of the reading list for all our regional client bases. While only mandated for public sector projects in the UK, more and more companies are seeing the value in implementing BIM as part of their new builds. Increasingly, information is being digitized on existing buildings for easier access to the data they hold. In anticipation of BIM becoming more widespread we produced the blog “BIM – Digitizing Information for Existing Buildings” and our complementary white paper “Are You Ready For BIM? Digitizing Existing Buildings”. These proved to be essential reading for FM managers in 2019 with a focus on the practical side – the how and, very importantly, the why of setting up a BIM model. The popularity of these resources reflected the industry shift from a theoretical, information gathering state, to a more active stance of wider BIM adoption.
Asset management remained a hot topic, with FM professionals reading up on the basics of “Setting Up an Asset Register” as well looking to manage their assets more strategically. Our blog “Using Technology to Improve Asset Management”, informed FMs of methods to streamline asset management such as IWMS apps, QR codes, sensors and, of course, BIM.
In addition to the ongoing quest for value and ROI in 2019, facilities management also made environmental strides in response to global climate concerns. The industry looked for ways to reduce single-use plastics; improve cycling facilities and implement flexible working to help reduce emissions from the daily commute; whilst also gaining energy savings through automation. Our article, “The Future of Climate Change and the Impact of Facilities Management”, looked at how smart energy management can help control the building environment and reduce energy waste. For those without smart tech, a building management system (BMS) integrated with IWMS can reduce energy waste, for example, automatically switching off lighting and heating in vacant meeting rooms.
A significant number of readers were interested in the future of FM, revisiting some of our earlier blogs which explained smart buildings, sensors and automation such as “How Smart Technology is Affecting FM” and the survey results from our recent FM Software Survey in Asia Pacific.
We look forward to launching our next FM software survey in the UK and Australia, which will provide insight into how technology is affecting FM and the challenges the industry expects to face. Sign up to our blog mailing list to be among the first to receive the results:
