What can facilities managers use to improve their space management?
For facilities managers who are asked to manage space, it can be difficult to make the most of every room in their offices. Office buildings are like budgets – just as financial managers look to squeeze value out of every single dollar they have at their disposal, facilities managers must similarly look to extract utility from every last square inch on their floors. Wasted space, just like wasted money, can be a company’s undoing.
Luckily, facilities management solutions can help managers make decisions about using their spaces optimally. By using software to analyze their allocation of space, companies can find out which rooms are being used too much or too little, making important decisions about how to reconfigure their floor plans.
Below are a few examples of insights that space management solutions can reveal to facilities managers.
Identifying underused spaces
According to IWMS News, companies typically leave 45 percent of their space portfolios vacant at any given time. This can happen for any one of a number of reasons. Perhaps the company planned poorly for the amount of space they thought they needed. Perhaps they anticipated having a certain number of employees in the office, but that figure dropped off because of firings, resignations or employees choosing to work from home. In any event, that is an alarming amount of empty space, and yet companies consistently waste money renting this space and paying for utilities as well. Facilities management solutions can help companies identify spaces that are underused, which is the first step in helping them reallocate room and use it optimally.
Re-evaluating utilization plans
When a company or a department first moves into an office space, it generally begins with a specific plan – which department will use which floor, who will sit where and so on and so forth. Over time, companies tend to deviate gradually from these plans, and they find themselves using their space in suboptimal ways that they may not have anticipated. Using facilities management software, though, companies can compare their planned space utilization strategy with their actual one, identifying how perception differs from reality. If something has gone wrong, managers can identify where the plan broke down and how to fix it.
Streamline the moving process
Moving a company into a new office building can be an expensive process in more ways than one. Not only does it cost a great deal of money to buy or rent a new building, and another pretty penny to pay movers to pick everything up and transfer it to the new location, but additionally, corporate leaders often find their businesses declining in productivity because the moving process is a significant drain on time, resources and energy. Facilities management software can smooth out this process, making it easier for companies to plan ahead and ensure that their moves go as quickly and smoothly as possible.
Working toward larger business goals
By using facilities management software to ensure the efficiency of your office space, you’re ultimately improving the efficiency of the entire company. Less time and money is spent on moving offices around, and companies are thus able to focus their resources on their overarching business goals. Today’s firms are looking to become more efficient, cost-effective, mobile and eco-friendly. Space management software tools can help in every one of these areas, and in turn, businesses can take the savings and invest them where they really matter.
No company wants to be bogged down by office space concerns, too busy relocating offices or rearranging desks to get things done. By using space management solutions, the corporate world can become more efficient and ultimately more productive.
