AI is the Future of Facility Management

The term Artificial Inteligence (AI) has been around since 1956, but recently it grew into much bigger proportions. Its success within last 2 decades brought attention from many investors and industry leaders. Even though the applications of AI in facility management are only starting to emerge, the future seems incredibly bright.

According to experts facility management might be industry that benefits the most from AI, given the sheer amount of repetitive, time-consuming tasks. In this article we will highlight how AI can help you with facility management.

1. Decrease Energy Usage

Percentage-wise business usually spend more on energy than any other expenditure. That means that any small improvement to efficiency can have massive impact on your budget.

One of the great features of AI is that it is always improving. Based on new information or past errors it can calculate the best, most efficient way of running your business. Energy expenditures make up most of facility maintenance costs.

The AI algorithm analyses historical data and uses them to predict optimal usage and calculate potential for savings. It can also import weather and occupancy data to better analyse and help decrease energy usage.

2. Enable Predictive Maintenance

According to the International Society of Automation, approximately $650 billion is lost to machine downtime globally each year.

Many companies have moved from reactive to pro-active maintenance, which allows them to lower assets downtime and increase productivity and efficiency. PdM softwares enabled with AI can easily analyse large amounts of data and find trends that suggest decrease in productivity and point out necessary maintenance before failure even occurs.

3. Improve Building Security

AI doesn’t just help organizations with decreasing energy expenditures and making it more efficient, it also helps keeping them safe.

For cybersecurity purposes, AI can detect online threats and label online behaviour as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. It can identify and flag potential risks and propose a solution to problems or threats.

When it comes to physical safety, AI can be used to boost existing security systems. Advanced AI can recognise threats, notify security guards, monitor areas of the office, and more.

4. Smarter Reporting and Analytics

A comprehensive management software is crucial to any FM team’s success. Thanks to facility data analysis, managers can make data-backed decisions and plan strategic initiatives, while keeping an eye on budget and long-term goals.

In the past, facilities data has been sorted manually and decisions have been made based on analyst’s intuition and experience. AI can automate these processes to generate faster, more reliable insights based on historical data. It also allows less experienced facility managers to make smart, data-driven decisions.

5. Predict Facility Cleaning Needs

Cleaning crew typically cleans all occupied spaces regularly. This approach is suitable for busy spaces that are used constantly, but in an average facility some spaces are used more often than others. AI creates an opportunity for spaces to be cleaned only when necessary, based on sensors that track occupancy. AI can also optimise cleaning by automatically ordering cleaning supplies and materials whenever necessary.

Final Thoughts

Facility management is experiencing a talent shortage. The average employee in this industry is 50+ years old. Younger employees are often more interested in positions that offer modern technology, and that is exactly what AI could provide to FM industry. AI could remove some of the administrative tasks and make the job more attractive for younger generations. If you want to implement AI in your facility, contact us at info@enectiva.cz.

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