5 Tips On How To Teach Your Facilities Technicians To Use Technology

by Kenton Gray on July 13, 2015
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In your workplace, your facilities technicians work hard to ensure that everything runs smoothly. They use the technology that they’ve always used to make sure that room bookings, assets, inventory, and maintenance needs are all cared for all of the time. However, when you want to move to a new facilities management system, you may find resistance. Here’s how to move past the worries of your facilities technicians and train your workforce to use updated technology for your facilities management needs.

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Show Them How It Will Make Their Job Easier

New technology can seem like a big leap when you’re used to the way that the older technology works. Your facilities technicians may wonder what the benefits of this new technology might be. Before you embark on training, get them to buy into the new FM software by showing them a demonstration of the software. They’ll see how it can be applied to their everyday work life and how this software will make work easier.

When you're training your facilities technicians, how can you get them to buy in and stay motivated to use your new technology

Highlight Flexibility

Often, older software products or spreadsheets are not able to flex and accommodate the diverse needs of today’s businesses. When you’re training your employees on new technology, highlight the diversity and flexibility of the software. Show them how it can not only help with space and inventory management but also manage data in the long term, so that your facilities employees can watch for long-term trends.

Provide Time to Transition

When you’re moving to a new technology, it’s hard to adopt it if you have to do so in a rush. Give your technicians time to play with the new system and see what questions they might have. Once some of the questions and problems have been worked through, everyone will feel more comfortable with the transition. That will make moving to the new facilities management software easier.

Develop a Network of Ongoing Support

Training is essential, but all too often training takes place once, and then the support is gone. Allow your employees to ask questions over time. Choose a facilities management software product that offers ongoing support, so that the first time your technicians use a particular part of the system, they can ask for help, even if it’s months down the line.

Show technicians how to use the cloud-based, mobile aspects of your technology.

Move to the Cloud with SaaS

SaaS-based FM software is a huge boon to your company. It allows your technicians to access information wherever they might be, and it allows other employees to place room bookings or technology requests from outside the office. When you’re training your facilities technicians on the new software, make sure that they know how to access it on different platforms so that your workplace can take full advantage of Saas-based technologies.

When you’re looking for new facilities management software, look for diverse software that helps you manage the needs of your facility, from moves to inventory to space management. Seek out ongoing training so that your technicians can learn more and ask questions about the software over time. With support, you can help your facilities technicians appreciate and reap the benefits of your new technology. 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kenton Gray

Kenton joined iOFFICE in 2002 as the company’s Chief Technology Officer and now manages a team of ten developers and programmers. When we develop a new module or do a major upgrade, Kenton is the one who envisions the project and designs it from scratch.

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