by Brianna Crandall — October 8, 2018 — Did you know that only 30 percent of facility departments have succeeded in realizing the added value in deploying technology to optimize facilities and energy? According to a report from global commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE, connectivity in buildings will increase over 410 percent by 2020 through the use of smart building technology.
Today’s facilities managers (FMs) have access to more technology than ever to optimize building operations. But, even with access to leading facilities technology, the majority of FMs are struggling to capitalize on new tech, even on simple improvements like LED lighting, and to see the return on their investments (ROI).
With the rapid emergence of new technologies and many FMs unable to see the full value, Veolia North America wanted an in-depth view of how firms are using these technologies. Through a survey of 100 energy and facilities executives in the US across four industries, Veolia recently released Getting Value from Investment in Facilities Technology: How to Overcome the Barriers.
The key findings show that the issues are primarily organizational, not technological:
- Lack of a strategic approach: Few have documented strategies for utilizing technology.
- Data silos: Many portfolio owners (80 percent) can’t get different systems to talk to each other, so they never really see the full picture.
- User adoption: Many are hampered by a lack of in-house expertise and/or difficulties changing behavior from “the way we’ve always done it” (e.g. use of paper forms).
- Risk of technology churn: Some owners are concerned about investing in a solution that may quickly become obsolete in such a fast-moving market.
According to Veolia, operational excellence is achieved through the right combination of people, process and technology.
Read or download the complete findings in the Realizing Value from Investments In FM Technology: 2018 Facility Management Benchmark Survey report from the Veolia website.
