4 reasons to invest in facilities management technology
Any hospitality operator who sees facilities management simply as reactive property maintenance or enforced compliance is missing a chance to reduce their costs and boost their profits. And with controllable costs at an all-time high – standing at 52.5% of turnover in some sectors – there’s never been a more important time for the hospitality industry to focus on managing their outgoings.
According to a survey Access Hospitality carried out with The Caterer in 2019, operators that had recently invested in technology to control property maintenance costs said it had delivered the best ROI for their business in the last year.
Not only can advanced FM technology significantly reduce administration time, something 20% of operators spend almost a day a week on, it can improve supplier relations and performance and ensure minimum down-time for revenue-generating equipment.
The importance of facility management in the hospitality industry cannot be overestimated. Read on to find out why.
1. 24-7 compliance and reduced administration costs
Facilities management and development for tourism, hospitality and events is far from straightforward. In 2019, 25% of large multi-site businesses (over 50 sites) saw estate and equipment compliance as a key concern. This is largely because it takes up so much administration time to ensure every box has been ticked, and everything from fire equipment to duct cleaning and planned maintenance contracts is under control.
At present, 30% of operators spend three to four hours a week on back-office tasks and 20% spend five or six hours – almost a day a week. This can be significantly reduced by investing in a cloud-based property management system like Access Maintain, which stores all important documentation – from contractor insurance certificates to statutory servicing and testing of assets – digitally and automates all validity checks.
The system is also easy to use and lets you see, in real-time, all maintenance work being carried out and the associated cost, giving staff more time to concentrate on the customer experience, whilst retaining control of facilities management.
2. Less downtime for revenue-generating equipment
Offering an excellent customer experience has never been more important. Customers are more vocal than ever on review sites and social media, and many people will not even consider visiting a new restaurant without a recommendation.
If important equipment is down or the building isn’t in tip top condition, they will almost certainly notice. Plus, the additional time staff must spend finding workaround solutions could have been used to create a great first impression or upsell a premium bottle of wine.
Facilities management technology can help reduce the business impact of broken equipment by making it easier to report issues and ensuring contractors can react quickly to requests. Access Maintain, for example, features simple authorisation and sign-off processes, which go straight to the person with the appropriate cost-level approval, so there’s no room for ambiguity or lengthy discussions about the work carried out after the event.
Budget and expenditure controls are also in place, while approvals can be processed via mobile devices. There is also a GPS tracking system for engineers, ensuring everyone is accountable at every stage of the process.
3. Better supplier relationships
Contractors prefer to use technology-based applications rather than emails or spreadsheets. In fact, a recent survey completed by over 100 contractor organisations in the UK found that 78% believe that technology improves the overall maintenance process.
In addition, using a property management system, which offers contractors a real-time view of their performance in your business, will keep them on their toes and ensure they deliver better service and ultimately better bottom line profits for your organisation.
Without technology, monitoring your external contractor performance can be tricky, as it’s a combination of costs, response times, convenience at site level and the day-to-day customer service your business receives. Access Maintain takes this all into consideration and benchmarks each contractor against other suppliers you use for that service.
You can then choose only the best performing contractors from your pre-approved list, helping you achieve more first-time fixes.
4. Control and visibility
The greatest benefit of investing in facilities management technology is the data you receive about exactly what’s happening at any given time, how much you’re spending on property maintenance and how much you’re likely to spend in the future.
Simple-to-use-dashboards, apps and reporting allow teams to track and see where they stand in the approval process, while at head office and board level, you have complete control with real-time reporting and management of both current and forecasted spend.
As Chris Ward, facilities manager at Five Guys, said, “Access Maintain has enabled me to achieve a bigger and more realistic CapEx budget. I’m able to see what equipment keeps breaking, along with the associated cost, and compare that to what replacing the equipment would cost. I can then take this information to the Finance team and the Board because I have all that visibility in the reporting.”
