How to Tell if You Need a CAFM System

For owners of large-scale facilities or geographically dispersed building portfolios, achieving optimal functionality, occupant satisfaction, and cost-effectiveness demands a sophisticated approach. If your current methods rely on cumbersome spreadsheets, reactive maintenance strategies, and siloed communication, a Computerised Aided Facility Management (CAFM) system can be a transformative solution.

How do you know you need a CAFM system?

In our experience, we've found that there are several common issues that businesses could benefit from CAFM systems. By working with customers across multiple sectors, we've found the following problems to be the ones that CAFM systems deliver the best value for money as solutions:

1. Data Silos and Spreadsheet Struggles:

When dealing with large-scale or complicated facilities management, having multiple spreadsheets for reporting and tracking makes it very easy to get bogged down. Spreadsheets are needed because they're the only way to collect data from the various systems required to manage daily operations, as they need to be integrated. Data is siloed and useless without spreadsheets, but using spreadsheets means you work inefficiently.

As facility data can become very complex, having a single centralised system like CAFM lets you access the information you need in a user-friendly platform, streamlining your workflows. CAFM systems also come equipped with reporting tools and dashboards, allowing you to easily see the required data without relying on complicated and easy-to-break spreadsheet formulas.

2. Poor communication and collaboration

Complex facilities often suffer from critical information getting lost in the ether. Multiple teams doing different activities must be on the same page rather than simultaneously in the same meetings. Critical information gets lost, impacting your central officer teams, maintenance crews, and building occupants.

With a CAFM system, you can foster seamless communication between everyone who needs to be involved. Work order submissions, tracking the progress of maintenance tasks, and automated updates can all be managed with a CAFM software installation. Everyone who needs to access the information can do so, ensuring everyone has access to the information they need to keep the facility running smoothly.

3. Poor Asset Management

Facilities often have to track and maintain a variety of assets. From air conditioners to complex factory machinery, a vast range of equipment needs to be tracked, and often, this tracking either doesn't happen or happens in a siloed way that limits the information available to the engineers or team members looking to complete jobs.

With a CAFM system, you not only get access to a centralised asset registry to keep track of all of the assets in your facilities, but you can also give your team access to the asset registry from wherever they are, allowing them to see maintenance history logs, upcoming jobs and more.

Advanced CAFM systems can even be hooked up to the Internet of Things to monitor assets and identify when maintenance jobs need to be scheduled. It will automatically send an alert about the job to your team member when it's assigned. All of this means you no longer need to scramble around looking for information, and you can get asset management tasks completed quicker and reduce the risk of equipment failure and costly repairs.

4. Maintenance and facility costs aren't controlled.

The many moving parts of a complex facility can lead to spiralling costs. This is especially true in areas such as maintenance, where failure to maintain assets not only costs in terms of repairs and replacements but can also lead to higher costs in other areas.

With a CAFM system, you can control your costs in multiple ways. By adequately managing your stock and inventory, you can avoid over-ordering parts needed for maintenance. You can also ensure you're not spending money on replacing assets that could have been maintained better to minimise replacement costs by using preventative and planned maintenance approaches that the software allows you to set up.

You can even use the reporting facilities to monitor activities and costs daily, weekly, monthly and annually, allowing you to get a granular view of how much money is being spent.

5. Need help managing compliance within facilities efficiently.

Staying compliant with many building codes, safety regulations, and environmental standards can be overwhelming. A CAFM system helps you manage your compliance in several ways. These include:

• Streamlined Scheduling and Tracking: Schedule inspections, manage certification deadlines, and generate automated reminders for upcoming compliance tasks. No more scrambling to meet deadlines or missing critical inspections.
• Centralised Documentation Management: Store relevant certificates and documentation in the system, making them easy to access and audit as needed.
• Effortless Reporting: Generate comprehensive reports on compliance activities for regulatory agencies. Simplify the process and demonstrate your commitment to maintaining a safe and compliant environment.

If the above issues affect your facilities, you must look into CAFM. Talk to our team of experts and book a demo with our consultants, who will explain exactly how a CAFM system can benefit you.