Who doesn’t look back at the days before smartphones with nostalgia? Companies (along with most of us)! Together with the rapid popularity growth of smartphones and tablets in recent years, companies have increasingly incorporated mobile apps as ways of enabling employees to easily access certain company systems. Smartphones are no longer a trend, but a must in order for organisations to stay competitive. Facility management is a good example of an industry that can greatly benefit from the use of workforce apps.
What is Facility Management and how can mobile apps help?
Facility management or FM is an ever growing profession in the UK, encompassing the management of buildings, services and processes that support the primary activities of an organisation. Facility managers can be in charge of a vast array of processes, such as planning, construction, maintenance, cleaning, catering, hospitality and more.
As FM workers are often mobile, their smartphones allow them to complete various activities through workforce apps. Here are a few ways workforce apps can be useful for facilities management:
- Lone worker protection
A priority for any manager is the safety of their staff members, and FM is no different. The industry has employees out of the office regularly, working on projects that can pose various risks. Lone worker mobile apps can help prevent incidents and protect employees, by offering dedicated SOS buttons, escalating alerts, man-down features and more.
- Reporting
Many organisations do not have adequate systems for managing mobile workers. For FM employers, lack of transparency regarding mobile workforce often leads to limited task performance visibility and wasted resources. For workers who cannot effectively report on their activities, the lack of communication can lead to lower evaluations. Reporting apps can provide the necessary solution for transparent and efficient communication through features such as incident categories, ability to attach media to reports, GPS etc.
- Job dispatching
Managing the tasks of a significant number of mobile workers can also be a challenge. Job dispatching/management apps can be useful. They allow facility managers to easily assign tasks to workers, who can accept, reject or update the tasks. Thus, these apps enable facility managers to make the most out of their workforce.
Mobile Worker Plus is an expert in workforce apps, covering multiple aspects such as lone worker protection, job/task management, reporting and more. Read more about what we do.