As facilities teams face increasing pressures in relation to compliance, safety, and efficiency, it is becoming clear that manual methods and siloed systems are falling short of the requirements that are needed.
For this reason, digital transformation is profoundly reshaping facilities management. Automation, cloud tools, and real-time data are all moving from being “nice to haves”, to becoming essential features.
This brings us onto the subject of integrated workplace management systems, otherwise known as “IWMS” platforms. This is the term for a unified software package that effectively brings compliance, audits, assets, and risk together in a single place.
In this guide, we will not only give you some practical insights into what IWMS platforms are; we will also set out how they drive transformation and solve key challenges.
Furthermore, we will outline how your own team can start its journey with IWMS software, working alongside Vision Pro Software as your trusted partner.
What is IWMS software and why does it matter for facilities today?
An integrated workplace management system, or IWMS, is a comprehensive software platform that centralises facilities management tasks. These tend to encompass such elements as compliance, asset management, audits, and risk assessments.
Organisations and facilities managers, both in the UK and across the wider world, are increasingly shifting away from the use of fragmented, siloed tools such as spreadsheets and standalone apps.
Instead, they are looking to invest in just one cloud-based system that integrates these functions in a single place, while providing real-time insights and streamlined workflows.
The provision of a unified view of operations by a reputable IWMS platform allows for facilities managers to make informed decisions so much quicker. This is an especially important in highly regulated sectors such as healthcare, education, construction, and logistics, where compliance with safety, environmental, and operational standards is non-negotiable.
How does IWMS enable digital transformation in facilities management?
In the context of facilities management, digital transformation entails moving from reactive and manual processes to proactive, data-driven operations.
IWMS is the backbone of this shift. It delivers automation, mobility, and centralised data to transform the ways in which facilities are managed:
- Automation: an industry-leading IWMS solution eliminates repetitive tasks such as manual data entry or audit scheduling. Vision Pro Software, for instance, automates compliance tracking. This minimises the scope for human error, and frees up time for strategic priorities.
- Mobility: the leading IWMS platforms are also very much “mobile-first” ones. This means they are designed and optimised to enable teams to carry out inspections, log risks, or update asset records “on the go” – even online. As a result, real-time data capture is possible, without reliance on paper or desktop systems.
- Centralisation: the IWMS’s consolidation of data into a single platform breaks down traditional silos. The overall effect is a holistic view of compliance, assets, and risks across multiple sites.
Vision Pro Software, for example, achieves all these impacts through its features and functionalities encompassing digital inspections, NFC/RFiD asset tagging, risk assessments, and compliance tracking.
Such a coherent blend of capabilities in one platform empowers facilities teams to move from fragmented chaos to streamlined control.
What compliance and risk challenges do facilities managers face without IWMS?
In the absence of IWMS in the environment of the 2020s, facilities managers are often left to grapple with significant challenges. These can include:
- Missed audits: dependence on manual screening can easily lead to overlooked deadlines, which can heighten the risk of non-compliance.
- Siloed data: “blind spots” commonly arise when systems are disconnected rather than integrated, which can make it difficult to track risks or assets across sites.
- Regulatory penalties: in the healthcare sector, a failure to address risks such as legionella or fire safety can culminate in hefty fines and legal action. Similar threats can be posed to educational institutions that mismanage asbestos risks on their premises.
- Excessive paperwork: manual processes are time-consuming and susceptible to human error. So, dependence on such an approach to facilities management can easily divert resources from core tasks.
If, for example, your healthcare facility relies on paper-based legionella audits, there can be a higher chance of critical checks being missed over time, compared to if a reputable IWMS had been adopted. Such missed checks could then risk the safety of patients and staff.
Meanwhile, a significant number of UK schools still have buildings on their sites that date back to before the year 2000, which means asbestos is likely to be present in some way. If the school in question only uses spreadsheets to oversee and manage asbestos risks, this could lead to the institution’s records being incomplete, which may invite regulatory scrutiny.
How does IWMS streamline compliance, audit, and risk management?
Through its centralisation of critical functions, IWMS transforms an organisation’s compliance and risk management:
- Centralised platform: a cloud-based software package allows for all audits, risks, and documentation to be stored and accounted for in a single place, accessible across teams and sites.
- Customisable templates: industry-leading IWMS platforms such as Vision Pro Software offer templates tailored to specific audit types, encompassing the likes of fire safety, asbestos, and legionella.
- Automated notifications: when your facilities team has a system in place that sends reminders for upcoming audits or compliance deadlines, this can greatly help lessen the risk of oversights. Furthermore, automated reporting simplifies regulatory submissions.
- Efficient audits: to cite fire safety audits as an example, inspectors can use Vision Pro Software on their mobile devices to complete digital checklists, upload photos, and flag issues instantly. The system automatically generates reports, which significantly drives down the amount of time required for auditing, compared to manual methods.
When you implement the most suitable IWMS for your organisation’s requirements, you can greatly streamline processes. A solution like Vision Pro Software can play an instrumental role in minimising administrative burden while ensuring facilities stay compliant.
In what ways do real-time dashboards and mobile tools transform decision-making?
The combination of real-time dashboards and mobile tools is already proving to be a game-changer for facilities management in the following ways:
- Mobile data collection: the most sophisticated IWMS platforms make it easy for inspectors to log data on-site using mobile apps, even offline. This ensures accurate and timely information without the need to depend on paper or later transcription.
- Instant visibility: the dashboards incorporated into cloud-based IWMS platforms can provide an “at a glance” live snapshot of audit plans, compliance status, and open issues. This empowers managers to track progress across multiple sites while not having to sift through multiple reports.
- NFC/RFiD asset tagging: the integration of these technologies for the tagging of assets is a major attraction of Vision Pro Software. It allows teams to simply scan assets to bring up real-time data on maintenance history, location, or condition, thereby contributing to reduced downtime and enhanced accuracy.
- Proactive risk management: the analytics component of an IWMS software package can help draw attention to trends and potential risks, such as recurring maintenance issues, before they escalate. This means that well-judged, data-driven decisions can be made in good time.
For example, a logistics company using Vision Pro Software’s dashboards can spot equipment failures across sites, prioritise repairs, and avoid costly disruptions, all in real time.
What should facilities leaders look for when choosing an IWMS solution?
If you are a facilities leader, you should consider the following key criteria when comparing different IWMS platforms and looking to select the right one for you:
- Is the given platform cloud-based and scalable? If the answer is “yes”, this will give you not only the convenience of using an accessible platform, but also the confidence of knowing it can easily and smoothly grow as your organisation does.
- Is the IWMS solution customisable and industry-specific? When a given software package features modules tailored to the needs of your sector, such as healthcare or education, this will serve as a further “green light” signifying a potentially excellent choice.
- Is the software mobile-first and offline-capable? This will be a particularly critical aspect for the benefit of on-site teams working in low-connectivity areas.
- How secure and integrated is the IWMS? You should expect any software package of this type to offer robust security and seamless integration with existing tools.
Vision Pro Software is a purpose-built, all-in-one platform that excels in all these areas. So, as the user of this platform, you won’t need to choose between prioritising compliance, rapid and convenient asset management, or risk mitigation – our solution “does it all”.
How can facilities teams start their digital transformation journey with IWMS?
To ensure a successful and trouble-free IWMS journey, you and your organization will need to embark on a strategic approach, involving the following steps:
- The auditing of current processes. This will entail work to identify gaps in compliance, asset tracking, or audit workflows.
- The setting of digital goals. Through your prioritisation of such areas as automation or real-time reporting, you can help ensure alignment with business objectives.
- Adoption in phases. You can ease the transition by beginning with audits, before expanding to asset management and risk tracking.
- Investment in training. It will be crucial to help ensure your teams are comfortable with the platform through the delivery of targeted training and change management.
Choose Vision Pro Software as your partner, and you can be ideally placed as a facilities team to simplify compliance, enhance efficiency, and embrace digital transformation with confidence.
Are you ready to take the next step? If so, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Vision Pro Software team. From there, you will be able to request a demo and find out more about the transformative impact that Vision Pro Software can have on your facilities management approach.
