“Simpler can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains”.
— Steve Jobs
Facilities Management surveys and reports since 2011 focus on the problems and challenges faced by Facilities Managers but what about the opportunities?
Considering that the mandate of a facility manager is highly politicized, financially charged and represents a significant impact on organizational budgets I feel that it’s better to focus on the enormous potential to simplify, reduce costs and improve support.
We’ve seen that cities, while well serviced and supported with complete solutions for Facilities Management have found industry offerings cumbersome, lacking and overly expensive. This startling condition is fostering innovation in cities through simplification.
I’m going out on a limb here to say that the processes and administration of facilities, as with any organizational management style, peaks in complexity, then crashes, is re-organized and becomes different, and hopefully better. This five-year cycle occurs with any organized activity, and the only options leaders have is to embrace change, innovate and re-organize.
What would happen if, as a facilities exec you decided to change by refocusing on the customer and innovate through simplification?
We’ve seen terrific success with cities when their reorganization refocuses them on customers, the simplification of work management processes, the streamlining of asset management, and the integration of project management tools.
In cases that we’re familiar with, up to five disparate systems, help desk, project management, web and mobile apps, can be replaced by one system that simplifies and refocuses the team on customer satisfaction; this follows the less is more thinking required to streamline and innovate.
Consider these four ways to simplify your facilities management organization
1. Focus on Customers
There is an opportunity to provide better service through improved two-way communications with your clients. Make it easy for them to submit and update service requests via the web. Conversely, make it easy for consumers to interact with the service life cycle.
Customer service processes that are mired in complexity should be pared back and simplified. Enable improved communications with a portal from your website and make it easy to use and understand.
2. Simplify Management Processes
Make it easy to take the client request, assign it to a resource, track the work, get feedback and close it. Implement a simplified work order management process that supports stakeholders and vendors.
3. Streamline Reporting
The simplification of your processes and tools will reduce reporting requirements. Simplify reporting through the elimination of superfluous reports and focusing on customer service, satisfaction.
Reports that support your simplified and revised mandate must help to reduce costs and increase satisfaction.
4. Integrate Project Management
Manage service requests with tickets and work orders, but include small service projects with minimum formality, and even large and complex projects in reporting and resource scheduling. Reduce complexity by removing external project management tools and implementing an integrated project system.
Conclusion
A reorganization of your processes, resources and thinking with a customer service focus with a dedication to simplicity produces great opportunities for innovation. Enable these changes with efficient, cost-effective tools that improve two-way customer communication, simplify management processes, restructure asset management, streamline reporting and integrate project management.
About TeamHeadquarters
TeamHeadquarters is the only fully integrated work management/project management automation software available in the market today. Its use in city governments for facility management, IT management, police services, and other customer interactive services has helped to reduce processes, improve customer service and lower costs.
Learn more about TeamHeadquarters and city management solutions today.
