These 3 Things Will Transform Your Facilities Management Help Desk

Your facilities management help desk doesn’t often get the credit it deserves, but it’s the hub that helps keep your workplace running smoothly. Now, it’s a crucial part of your return-to-work strategy, too.

Employees may not be in the office every day, but when they are, they need to be able to request cleaning services, equipment repairs, and technology fixes at a moment’s notice.

Here are three basic things that will make a big difference in the efficiency of your facilities management help desk.

How to make your facilities management help desk more efficient

1. Invest in cloud-based facilities maintenance software

Your facilities team is constantly in motion, performing preventive maintenance, taking care of unexpected repairs or installing new equipment. They are rarely at their desks, but they need visibility into service requests at all your locations.

That’s why cloud-based facilities maintenance software is essential. With a cloud-based solution, your FM team can easily manage workloads, check the status of repairs, and get real-time insights on the performance of your building.

All requests are organized into a single, centralized queue, giving technicians at-a-glance snapshots of the total number of assigned and unassigned tickets as well as the status of each ticket.

Since they can sort tickets by request type, location, and need, your maintenance team can properly prioritize requests. They can also update tickets on the spot (including adding notes and photos) to make the job easier for the next technician.

Facilities maintenance software that includes a mobile app makes it even easier for your team to manage requests. With a mobile app, they can create, view, accept, and track work orders from anywhere.

Once they complete a job, they can close out the ticket and immediately get started on the next request in their queue.

A service request mobile app also gives facilities managers transparency into what their team is working on so they can optimize scheduling to maximize productivity. It also decreases the risk of miscommunication.

Cloud-based maintenance FM software is easier to deploy across multiple locations and easy to scale because it doesn’t require IT infrastructure investments or a dedicated tech team to manage it.

Your monthly subscription fee covers licensing, hosting, support, and unlimited users, as well as regular upgrades.

2. Streamline service requests with an employee mobile app

Along with an app designed for managing work orders on the go, your facilities management help desk needs an employee mobile app that allows the workforce to easily submit and track their own service requests.

When it’s difficult to submit service tickets, employees are more likely to ignore a problem or attempt to fix it themselves, which can lead to bigger issues.

With a mobile service request app, they can instantly see the status of a work order. The app can even be integrated with communication tools like Slack so employees can receive immediate notification when the request is complete.

Employees can use the app to request everything from the repair of a flickering overhead light — to specific conference room technology to accommodate them for an upcoming meeting. This gives employees greater autonomy and more control over how they engage with the workplace.

It also simplifies the process of managing work orders for your facilities team.

Rather than being overwhelmed with dozens of requests over the phone, via email, and on sticky notes, your facilities management help desk can use a single channel for all communications.

An employee-facing mobile app also provides you with greater visibility into how employees interact with their environment.

For instance, you can see which conference rooms they use most often, which technology is the least reliable, and even what temperature range is most comfortable for everyone.

With this insight, your team can make data-driven decisions about how best to maintain and optimize the workplace.

Integrate your help desk with an IWMS

A facilities management help desk cannot exist in a vacuum because your facilities team does not operate in a vacuum. To be successful, your facilities team needs to work closely with IT, HR, and other departments.

That’s why it’s important for your facilities management help desk to be part of a larger technology ecosystem, such as an integrated workplace management system (IWMS).

An IWMS allows your team to communicate and share data across departments. Putting multiple different business tools within the same platform simplifies workplace management and optimization. By combining data from multiple sources into a single cloud-based system, an IWMS becomes a remotely-accessible digital repository, as well as a simple way to manage your workplace.

An IWMS can also be integrated with space management software and Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to track actual space utilization, which is especially helpful as you develop your return-to-work strategy and manage safe distancing measures in your workplace.

The benefits of iOFFICE’s facilities maintenance software

If your workplace has reopened, your facilities management help desk is probably busier than ever.

Your team may be bombarded with both IT requests and requests for additional cleaning. Fortunately, iOFFICE’s facilities maintenance software and Hummingbird workplace app makes it easy to manage both in one place.

Employees can use the Hummingbird workplace app to select the type of request they want to submit, which will then be routed to the appropriate team. That’s much easier than trying to track down the right person at each department and hoping they respond in a timely manner.

Our software integrates with sensors for intelligent, demand-based cleaning. With sensors, your team can easily see which spaces have been used each day and adjust the cleaning schedule accordingly, rather than cleaning and sanitizing every inch of the office daily when only half your workspaces have been used.

It also integrates with other software solutions to help you manage:

• Asset tracking and performance
• Conference room technology
• Copiers and printers
• Inventory

With data analytics, you can even compile reports on the performance of your maintenance team, monthly or annual maintenance costs, and more.

This combination of technology empowers your facilities management help desk to be more efficient and responsive to the needs of your workforce.

And as your team plays a greater role in keeping employees safe and healthy, it’s never been more in demand.

Ready to see how our facilities maintenance software transforms your help desk? Watch a short video demo now.