For years Facilities Managers (FMs) have relied on the relationship with their contractors to know what their assets are doing and whether they are performing effectively; often it is a case of ‘no news is good news’ and if an asset doesn’t fail, it is a measure of success. However, with equipment becoming more intelligent and being able to be interconnected with such technologies as energy monitoring and building management systems, it is essential FMs have the data to effectively manage equipment performance.

On a practical basis most FMs are faced with a paucity of data about their estates and assets within; asset lists and real-time data are a luxury few have at their fingertips. Over time and with the growth of the ‘Internet of Things’, the problem of an acute lack of data transparency will render the many advantages of smart data useless, inevitably putting performance under threat and driving up costs.

Furthermore, this acute lack of data introduces risk to the business, leading to an over-reliance on contractors to know what is going on day to day, ultimately any potential risk rests with the business which can range from non-compliance to asset failure. Whilst offsetting the risk to the contractor provides some comfort, it does help when things go wrong, downtime and compliance remains the challenge for all FMs.

Soon, smart equipment able to self-monitor will measure its own performance and when properly integrated into other systems will improve efficiencies, service quality and reduce operational costs. An obvious benefit of these technological advances is, for example, condition based maintenance, where through self-monitoring its own performance such a strategy becomes manageable and a low risk option. Although these techniques are currently deployed, they do not enjoy universal support because they are difficult to manage, but these barriers will become a thing of the past.

A further significant benefit will be optimising equipment energy performance through the integration of a number of systems to minimise consumption, for example by adjusting operating times of equipment when demand is lower than normal.

But unless presented effectively, big data will get in the way of making the right decisions, the right technologies can make this manageable and with the increasing deployment of mobile technology FM is available everywhere, at any time, making asset management virtually instantaneous and reducing the downside impact of failures to the business.

Having the right supply partners who can support these concepts is becoming crucial to a client who is seeking to optimise asset performance, improving up-time, creating innovation whilst driving down costs. Having the right data, the right measures and transparency of information at your fingertips will help to achieve these objectives.

Therefore, when selecting a supply partner and service delivery model, it is important not just to consider today’s standard FM requirements but also how your business will develop over time; maintenance and asset optimisation should be considered over the longer term. FM budgets are always tight; it is for this reason that procuring FM services should take into account many facets which are not just focussed on the technical delivery but on all aspects of effective asset management.