A working environment needs to have seamless and simplified processes to give the teams from different departments an easy time focusing on crucial activities. This ensures the business grows rapidly, meeting the set goals and yielding more returns.

With the tech space transforming many industries, facility management software will come in handy, be it a construction company, corporate office, or educational institution. Of course, in any organization, there are challenges and problems that make it hard for top leaders t manage and control all the activities. That is why facility management software will come in handy in such a scenario. If you are wondering what a facility management software solution is and how to develop it, keep reading this guide to the end.

What is a facility management software?

Facility management software is a digitalized computer program that enables leaders within an organization to control all repair and management programs in a seamless manner, thus maximizing returns and cutting down on expenses.

With facility management software, it is easy to monitor and track all activities within an organization and streamline communication channels. These are the basic elements that enable a company to run smoothly and meet its vision and mission.

Types of facility management software solutions

• Enterprise Asset Management – This comprises software, systems, and services that are crucial in monitoring, controlling, and maintaining operational equipment. The key objectives of enterprise asset management software are to enhance productivity while minimizing operational expenses. The key tasks include managing assets, work processes, EHS initiatives, and supply chain management.

Aalpha Information Systems is a software development company that will help you develop and launch enterprise asset management software based on your business dynamics.

• Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) – This is a software solution for CMMS and critical infrastructure industries. Its role is to centralize data to execute maintenance tasks without delays; among the CMMS functions that this software solution simplifies include auditing, analysis, report management, work order management, labor management, and resource & asset management.
• Computer-aided Facility Management – This is a facility management software solution that helps entrepreneurs plan long-term solutions for budget, space, and preventive maintenance. Besides, this software solution helps business owners plan software functionality in relation to the dynamics of the business. What’s more, business people can plan, track, and implement all the activities in a facility’s working environment.
• Integrated Workplace Management System – This software solution includes tools that help in managing a facility. With such a software solution, you can control and manage anything within your business.

Why you need a facility management software: top benefits

Here is why your business requires facility management software:

• Simplify Repair & Maintenance Tasks

As an entrepreneur owning stores and properties, you don’t want to spend most of your time monitoring system failures and equipment. Instead, you use the time and effort to get new clients, study market trends, and implement strategies that will grow your business. This can only be possible if you have a facility management software solution handling some of the tasks.

For instance, the GEOMAP IWMS – integrated workplace management system makes it easy to schedule and automate repair and maintenance for systems whenever necessary. This gives the teams ample time to focus on productive activities that will see the business grow.

What’s more, entrepreneurs and property managers don’t need to engage repair and maintenance personnel. They simply need GEOOMAP IWMS to execute all tasks related to repair and maintenance.

• Real-time facility monitoring and managing

Of course, facility managers need some time away from the site to meet other life objectives. This can interrupt processes in the facility. However, with facility management software, there is nothing to worry about.

Facility managers can access real time updates and activities of the premises from anywhere. GEOMAP is fully compatible with mobile platforms, and this makes it easy for business owners to monitor every activity and status of the facility in real time, enabling them to take immediate action.

• Promotes energy-efficiency

Industrial and commercial buildings handle several systems and facilities on the go. Lighting, water filtration, and HVAC are examples of systems that require more energy, hence leading to a high amount of operational expenses.

With facility management software solutions, it is easy to analyze the facilities to cut down on energy expenses. For instance, with an in-depth audit process, you can review the systems that use a lot of energy, note processes that promote wastage, and determine the best solutions that will keep the facility running with regulated energy.

• Cost Savings

Apart from enhancing energy efficiency, which reduces operational costs, facility management software solution saves costs in many other ways. For instance, there is no need for manual labor, automating tasks that prevent equipment failure and system breakdown, which can be costly to handle, and giving businesses valuable reports & analytics to make informed decisions.

• Enhanced efficiency

Facility management software enhances the facility management processes by automating tasks. For instance, generating valuable reports, monitoring stock levels, and scheduling maintenance tasks play big roles in saving time, minimizing errors, and enhancing data accuracy. All these elements enable a facility to run efficiently.

• Seamless Communication

In a bigger facility, effective communication is a key element. With facility management software, all teams have a central, reliable platform to share information and collaborate effectively. Thes ensures nothing was misquoted or misinformed, and this makes the processes efficient in so many ways.

• Increased Productivity

Above all, facility management software enhances productivity in a work environment in different ways. For instance, the software solution enhances the scheduling of preventive maintenance tasks which eliminates chances of equipment failure. Again, the software solution enhances productivity by eliminating downtime caused by equipment failure.

All these processes ensure all teams have the right and fully functional tools to execute their work processes, which contributes to improved productivity.

• Asset tracking & management

In most cases, modern facilities often have many assets, and it is upon the management to ensure all these assets are in the right state and operating effectively. It could be a tough task to track and manage all these assets manually, hence the need for a customized facility management software solution.

With the right facility management software, the teams will always know where every asset is and in which condition. This will give them valuable insights into using the assets appropriately.

What’s more, it is easy to manage and maintain all the assets from anywhere as long as there is facility management software.

• Overseeing contractors

It is a tough task managing and supervising contractors. The process can be hectic and complex, thus affecting the progress of the ongoing project.

Facility management software is all you need to solve this hard scenario, eliminating the need to take charge of the supervision process physically. With a personalized facility management software solution, the contractors can simply fill in the information after they complete tasks and invoices. These details are key in enabling business owners to track and monitor work done in relation to costs incurred.

What’s more, facility management software gives the teams access to resourceful tools that enable them to accomplish most tasks faster and more efficiently. Besides simplifying these processes, there will be a good relationship between the teams involved, thus creating a smooth and collaborative working environment even for future projects.

Must-have features for facility management software

The following features will enhance the effectiveness and functionality of a facility management software solution:

• Simplified work order management

A reliable facility management software should have a seamless work order. This will make it easy for workers to access the system, key in maintenance requests, and then the contractor approves the processes at a specified fee.

• Seamless user interface

Include a seamless dashboard in facility management software to help all users access data easily, speed up processing time, and enable team expansion.

• Reporting & Analytics

With the reporting and analytics feature, you will get valuable insights that will guide you in making informative decisions to run and manage the facility.

Facility managers can track and monitor KPIs, and trends in maintenance fields, predict the future accurately, and put in place measures that will keep the facility management solid.

• Third-party integrations

A steady facility management software solution should have a feature enabling smooth third-party integration.

For instance, payment systems that reduce data input errors, automation for auditing processes, and payment automation.

• Accessible contractor directory

For continuous maintenance and updating of contract details, the facility management software solution should have an accessible contractor directory feature. Through these features, the parties involved can access and stay updated on the tasks ahead. Besides, business managers can source reliable contractors through this feature.

• SaaS platform

A SaaS-based or cloud-based platform makes it easy to install and update hardware resources without incurring a lot of expenses.

• Mobile Applications

Mobile apps are key features of facility management software. This feature helps business managers and the teams at large to control all operations, making the business grow steadily.

Through mobile apps, it is easy to integrate a work order management system to help engineers track work progress, time spent, and resources used.

• Strategic Resource Planning

This feature will help in controlling stock, administrative resources, and labor resources by creating a clear connection between the office and employees. This ensures all work processes and effective and that everything is communicated timely and clearly.

• Employee profile

The employee profile feature will help facility managers oversee employees’ activities. The information gathered will aid in onboarding new teams where necessary, identifying the strengths of individual employees, and allocating them respective tasks. This will not only enhance the company’s growth but motivate employees to work, too.

How to develop facility management software: Steps to follow

Finally, when you are ready to start creating a facility management software solution, below are the steps to follow:

• Define the Scope & Objectives

Start by highlighting the key features and functionalities of facility management software solutions. Should it be inventory management, work order management, asset tracking, and reporting, or any other features, make sure you have a better understanding of the specific market niche you want to invest in.

This step is significant as it will help you develop a software solution that aligns with business needs. Besides, it will help developers create a clear plan to help them design and develop a scalable facility management software solution.

• Market research

Now, after defining the scope of the software, it is the right time to evaluate the market potential of your product. Identify competitor’s strengths & weak points, what customers are saying, and different pricing models. Don’t forget to find the missing gaps as you draw a plan on how to fill them during the facility management software development process.

• Collect valuable insights from other users

Give other facility management software users an opportunity to share their views and insights. This is a good moment for them to highlight the challenges they are facing and suggest possible solutions. The information gathered will add value to the UI design and the entire facility management software.

• Create the best UI/UX

The UI/UX design should be as captivating as possible. It should be easy to use and navigate, and this is where prototypes and wireframes come in.

Make the software solution available for both mobile and desktop devices for easy accessibility even when off-site.

• Choose the Right Technology Stack

The right tech stack will help you achieve the goals and objectives of building facility management software solutions.

Among the elements you should consider when selecting the right tech stack for your facility management software solution include compatibility with other devices & platforms, security, and scalability.

At Aalpha Information Systems, we will advice on the best tech stack once you share your project details.

• Develop Core Functionality

With the best UI/UX design and tech stack, you can now start developing facility management software solutions. If possible, you contract dedicated developers to follow agile methodology, enabling them to gather feedback and make improvements during the software development processes.

• Integrate with Third-Party Services

It is now time to integrate your software solution with third-party services like payment gateway, barcode readers, and GPS tracking, among many others. This will enhance the overall functionality and effectiveness of your software solution.

• Test and Deploy

With everything intact, you need to evaluate the software solution, identify issues and bugs, and fix them. Integration testing and user acceptability testing should be done to ensure the software solution performs well. With all the testing complete, you can now deploy and launch facility management software.

• Post-launch Support and Maintenance

Once you launch the software, that is not all. The only way to keep improving its effectiveness is by monitoring it, gathering feedback, and maintaining it to meet user needs.

How much does it cost to build a facility management software solution?

Facility management software built for a certain niche has different features when compared with facility management software built for another niche. For instance, facility management software for a warehouse has different features and functionalities compared to one built for schools.

Besides, some facility management software solutions are quite complex compared to others. This is because different companies require different features for the software to function exceptionally. With this said, the costs of developing facility management software solutions vary significantly due to the following factors:

• Complexity of the software solution
• Project deadline
• Components and features required
• Number of developers and engineers
• Location of developers
• Tools, resources, and technologies used

Nonetheless, the cost of developing facility management software solutions can range anywhere from $10,000 and $30,000 or even more, depending on the factors highlighted above.

If you are stuck and don’t know where to begin, Connect with Aalpha Information Systems to share your project details, and we will give you a reasonable budget to actualize your project idea.

Emerging technologies and trends in facility management software solution

The following technologies and trends are set to transform facility management software solutions in the near future:

AR- Augmented Reality – With AR, maintenance tasks are now made simpler. Engineers can now use AR-enabled devices to get real-time expert advice across the globe. While this helps in solving a lot of issues within a facility, it enriches the technicians with valuable skills, knowledge, and insights on handling similar matters in the near future.

IoT – Internet of Things – the power of IoT helps facility managers integrate smart devices and sensors to collect valuable real-time data on equipment status. When analyzed through strategic algorithms, facility managers can use this data to implement viable maintenance measures.

Besides, the same data can help in forecasting future or possible issues before they occur, hence handling the matter before the worst-case scenario happens. This also ensures the assets last and serve longer.

AI-Powered Energy Management Systems – AI-powered systems for energy management help in analyzing data, real-time energy usage, and weather patterns to optimize lighting, HVAC, and other systems. While the strategy enhances energy saving, it also promotes sustainable operations within the facility, which creates a healthy environment.

Conclusion

Tech advancement and digital solutions continue to transform many sectors. As an entrepreneur, it is important to keep your business moving with the trending technologies and digital solutions.

With facility management software solutions, your business processes will be streamlined and beat the competitive market, ensuring you stay ahead of the rest. From automating processes to enabling third-party integrations, facility management software is the ideal resolution for your big business.

Want to develop a facility management software? Get in touch with us today and get a quotation at no cost.