SUCCESS STORY

iOFFICE HELPS SIMPLIFY COMPLICATED INDUSTRY PROBLEMS

Headquartered in Houston, with offices in 23 countries, the business has a continued commitment to “green facilities.” One veteran facilities executive knew that managing this footprint required cutting-edge technology that would support executive-level reporting and strategic planning, and would be supremely easy to use by every employee member around the world.

The oil and gas industry is dynamic and fluid — both figuratively and literally. As the market changes, energy companies adapt both their workplaces and workforces in real time. From the standpoint of a facilities executive, this means a lot of people and assets moving around to accommodate the business’s ever-changing needs. Energy companies, more than others, experience high churn rate that can be a nightmare for leaders who don’t have the right technology to support them. Without a reliable Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS), it was impossible for the top facilities executive at this energy company to show the C-Suite that moves could be done with minimum disruption to employee productivity and business continuity.

But his primary goal is to ensure that each facility encourages people to come to work every day to a clean and collaborative work environment.

PROBLEM

Recognizing that the old system of using phone, email and spreadsheets was at its breaking point, this facilities executive needed a technology platform that would accommodate the fast-paced environment of the energy business. With 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, he knew he needed an integrated workplace management system (IWMS) that would provide real time data and could be implemented quickly, with minimal training to the delight of his global workforce.

DECISION

While attending an IFMA conference, the manager met the iOFFICE team and knew they were the solution to his problem. He had originally planned on using another system but heard from colleagues that there was a steep learning curve. The facilities executive did not have the time or resources to go through tedious training, so he selected iOFFICE, who could guarantee a frustration-free training and implementation process. Another huge factor in choosing iOFFICE was the need for reliable data and a better understanding of the company’s changing workplace in a highly competitive market.

IMPLEMENTATION

iOFFICE, the only 100% SaaS-based modular software, allowed the FM leader to deploy only those products he needed, test them and grow the program. He decided to move forward with the space management, move management, service request/work order management and asset management modules.

RESULTS

Since implementing iOFFICE seven years ago, the FM leader has been able to significantly decrease headcount, saving his department on data entry staff. iOFFICE’s unique reporting and dashboard features maintained in real-time have given him the power and confidence to plan strategic moves with the executive team. Thanks to iOFFICE, he is equipped with the accurate data he needs to be seen as a major player in the company’s overall success. Additionally, the company has seen results in the following areas:

• Space Management: Before using iOFFICE, there was no space reporting. The building executive of one 2,000-employee facility would often find employees “squatting” – working at any open desk or moving freely throughout the workplace. With the iOFFICE space management module, he was able to view space occupancy and vacancy, plan and assign space to eliminate squatting or unscheduled moves.
• Move Management: With a high churn rate, a top stress for employees in this company was moving. Many just didn’t want to do it. In order to move people efficiently and without disrupting employee productivity, the FM leader implemented iOFFICE’s move management module. This allowed him to strategically plan the move beforehand and ensure that employees were accommodated with virtually no hiccups. Employee satisfaction soared and he now has metrics to improve efficiencies in single, group and organizational moves.
• Service Request: Before working with iOFFICE, employees would call or email service requests, and the FM leader would assign them to his staff. Now, employees can upload photos of broken equipment and submit their requests via the iOFFICE mobile app, which are instantly sent to the FM team. The app also helps the team traffic service requests to the building owners when they are beyond the company’s domain. All of these requests are now tracked and analyzed to determine better outcomes in the future.
• Asset Management: This energy company has a lot of assets—printers, copiers, computers, artwork and custom furniture—all of which were being ineffectively tracked in Excel spreadsheets. Now the FM can easily track its assets as the company’s needs expand and contract and attach SLAs for each asset within iOFFICE.

FUTURE

In the future, the building manager of this energy company plans on using iOFFICE to usher in his most mobile workforce — the millennials. Knowing that they want to be a part of a company that is flexible, forward-thinking and focused on technology, this executive plans to use iOFFICE’s visitor module to manage “hot desks” and its reservation module to confirm conference and collaboration spaces. While the FM team currently takes reservations over the phone, in the future, he’d like to empower the workforce to do it themselves.

As the company continues to grow, the FM leader plans to put iOFFICE in the company’s facilities worldwide, especially in emerging markets, where workers constantly move between offices, and assets become more difficult to track. In time, he expects to roll out iOFFICE across all locations to have one consistent data set for himself and his team at their fingertips, worldwide.