7 essential features for your stock control solution

Posted on by cmarson

“A place for everything and everything in its place.”

This saying is at the heart of what stock control solutions should achieve, ensuring that the stock an organisation carries is always there when it is required.

But, for companies carrying a significant amount of inventory, across multiple sites, with levels changing day after day, stock control systems have to deliver so much more than the bare essentials.

With this in mind, we’ve collected what we consider to be 7 critical components you should look for in a stock control solution, to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of how you manage inventory.

What is a stock control system?

At its core, a stock control system allows you to track products and equipment throughout your company’s supply chain. Through this, you should be able to map the entire journey of a product, from the moment an order is placed to when it leaves your stock for good.

However, the very best stock control solutions can offer so much more than this, as we’ll illustrate further in the article. We are constantly refining our own solution to give customers not only complete oversight of their stock levels, but can generate data to help them plan and project for the future.

Why is a stock control solution so important?

Imagine a vital piece of equipment in your building, perhaps a generator or server, suddenly fails. Without a replacement in stock, or the right parts to support the repair of this equipment, you will be left waiting for these to arrive.

This downtime could compromise how efficiently your team can work, causing costs to creep up while you can’t function as you normally would. This is a worst-case scenario, but it is a very real possibility for companies that don’t have a handle on their inventory at any given point in time.

Which makes it worrying that, as of 2017, only 18% of SMBs employed a form of this software.

Plus for industries such as retail, the warehouse is the backbone of their organisations. When 70% of online shoppers will typically look elsewhere for an item rather than wait for it to return to stock at the original destination, it is critical they have total oversight of their inventory levels to make sure they don’t miss out on potential business.

Because of how critical these systems are for organisations worldwide, below we have identified 7 essential functions that your stock control solution should incorporate to bring the biggest benefits to your business.

1. End-to-end, real-time inventory monitoring

The primary objective of any stock control solution is to give you complete insight into all goods and items you have in stock at any moment in time. Not last week. Not even yesterday. Right this second.

A Cloud-based, real-time solution is vital because whenever changes are made, you need to know. As noted earlier, if an emergency situation demands an asset or component that is no longer in your possession, the wait for a replacement can be painful for productivity and your budget.

Whether stock has been ordered and acquired by your customers, or utilised by your FM team for work across your site, this needs to be tracked and noted immediately, so that purchase orders can be sent out to restock these.

In addition, an effective stock control system should allow you to establish your own parameters for when a category of items needs to be replenished. Once it dips below a certain level, a notification can then be delivered to those responsible for arranging reorders, or better yet, a purchase order can be automatically sent out by your system, freeing more burden from your team.

Why you need this: To ensure your stock is always at appropriate levels, allowing your team and facilities to operate at optimal efficiency.

2. Instant tagging and barcode scanning

In order to enhance your ability to keep tabs on what assets are in stock at any given time, a stock control solution should allow you to tag every individual item, and log it within the system. This allows you to identify when a product arrives, throughout its time in storage, and when it is either delivered to a customer or taken by someone on your team.

By tagging assets, and using these tags to group these together into fitting categories, it makes it far faster for your team to perform accurate stock takes and valuations.

This can be improved further by incorporating a barcode scanner. Using a mobile device, someone can scan the barcode of any asset and be presented with all its essential details and history. Through this, you can determine how long an asset has been in storage, and whether it requires replacing due to this.

Furthermore, effective tagging will also give your team a clear sense of what items need to be replenished most often, and which are barely (if ever) taken, which could then guide your approach to restocking these for the most cost-effective outcome.

Why you need this: To reduce asset downtime and build a complete understanding of the assets you have in stock at any given time.

3. A single, easy-to-use interface

A stock control solution is only as useful as your team’s ability to use it. Therefore, ensuring your solution is straightforward for your employees is crucial to reaping the full benefits of this technology, and guaranteeing it will be used consistently.

You shouldn’t need to give your team weeks upon weeks of training and hand them a bulky, incomprehensible manual to use the system day-to-day. Instead, its various functions and features should be simple to pick up, and the data it delivers be easy to understand.

This is why our own stock control solution features an intuitive interface and dashboard, providing all information in a digestible manner to best support workforces worldwide.

Why you need this: To empower your teams to use the system as intended, and feel its benefits to their day-to-day productivity.

4. Firm financial management

Of course, using a stock control system should carry its own financial benefits for your organisation, with research indicating that companies employing these solutions enjoy:

  • 25% increase in productivity
  • 20% gains in space usage
  • 30% more efficient stock usage

But beyond this, a solid stock control solution will also have distinct financial management capabilities. We’ve already discussed the capacity to automatically trigger purchase orders when a particular asset or asset category falls below the acceptable threshold. This removes a burden on your financial team and makes sure any potential issue is dealt with instantaneously.

Furthermore, the system should allow you to make any changes to your pricing structures (both temporary and permanent) and stock costs when necessary. This enhances your ability to budget with confidence, and make immediate adjustments in relation to any trends or indicators your solution picks up on.

Why you need this: To increase overall operational efficiency and enhance the relationship between those responsible for inventory management and your financial team.

5. Integration with pre-existing software

When acquiring a stock control system, you don’t want this investment to be the catalyst for the cost of replacing your existing data assets and infrastructure. The solution should instead be able to seamlessly integrate itself with any current software or hardware you utilise, something that our own technology excels at.

Plus, to extend the functionality of your system even further, using it in tandem with dedicated Workforce Apps allows your workforce to capably monitor and control both your static and mobile stock from anywhere, at any time.

With this, you can reassure yourself that, regardless of time or location, your team has total insight into your stock levels, so you always stay well prepared and well supplied.

Why you need this: To guarantee that introducing stock control software doesn’t compromise your existing systems and technologies.

6. Remote management across multiple sites

If you are responsible for multiple sites, each with their own dedicated stock, the all-encompassing nature of a powerful stock control solution is even more valuable.

Bringing your distinct sites into one central platform not only allows you to more easily monitor stock levels across your entire organisation, but it also allows sites to help each other in times of difficulty. For instance, if one site has recently used their last of a certain asset, rather than immediately order a replacement, you can look across your sites to see if any have this asset spare.

Transferring assets between your sites might be a major cost-saver for your business in the long-term, saving you from unnecessarily splashing out on assets you already have to hand.

Why you need this: To manage stock across all locations without difficulty, and improve collaboration across your organisation.

7. Auditing and reporting capabilities

Finally, your stock control system should have the capacity to present custom-made reports, containing clear, valuable data to guide the present and future of your inventory management.

From compiling histories of your most and least frequently used items, to detailed snapshots of your present position, these reports should help you forward-plan your stock requirements well in advance, boosting your operational efficiency.

For retailers, the data in these reports may also inspire decisions on what assets might benefit from being discounted if their sales are lower than anticipated, as well as guide you on what popular items you should be investing in more heavily in future.

In addition, a stock control platform with built-in audit function will allow your team to examine any weaknesses to your existing approach to inventory management before they become critical issues, so you can invest your budget into the right areas.

Why you need this: To provide your team with the data they need to optimise your stock control as much as possible.

Find Success with the Right Stock Control Solution

As organisations take responsibility for more and more assets, each with different specifications and functions, the importance of an effective stock control system is more pronounced than ever.

Our Stock Control Module at MRI offers 360º visibility across your entire inventory, whether this is found in a single site or multiple locations. Providing accurate, up-to-the-minute stock information, our system ensures that costs are contained, actions are automated and your team is prepared for any eventuality.

Gain total visibility, tracking and management – talk to our team today.

Posted in FSI

Research shows attitudes to the future of work continue to evolve along with the pandemic

Posted on by Brian Zrimsek

There is little doubt the pandemic has had an irrevocable impact on workplaces worldwide, accelerating the switch to remote working and the adoption of new digital technologies to help manage the transition. But are we really going to see a homeworking free-for-all from now on? Despite the fact the sudden mass shift to home working demonstrated to most businesses that staff and executive teams could continue to be productive outside of the office, companies are managing the changes to the structure of work carefully.

Attitudes and concerns to remote working are still changing

Interestingly, a survey by MRI Software and CoreNet Global, the leading association for corporate real estate professionals, revealed that commercial occupiers were, in fact, tightening remote working policies. At the same time, landlords – initially shown to be more complacent than their tenants about the long-term damage by the pandemic in similar research in Q1 of 2021 – were growing more alarmed about the impact of remote working on their business when surveyed again at the end of Q3.

The Q3 survey of a group of nearly 200 tenants and landlords from a range of industries worldwide found that commercial occupiers’ willingness to allow all employees the choice to work remotely fell significantly from 39% to 26% between March and September 2021. Indeed, 70% of survey respondents planned to institute policies limiting remote working eligibility while increasing requirements to be onsite – up from 60% in March.

Despite the fact some corporate occupiers appear to be reconsidering the degree to which they will allow home working, the research also showed that landlords’ apprehension over the rise of remote work increased significantly over the same period. It revealed that 43% were concerned about its impact on their business compared to just 26% in March.

These findings indicate that corporate views on remote working are continuing to take shape at each new phase of the pandemic – as companies digest learnings and see how their operations are affected as the situation continues to play out.

Remote working is still reshaping workspaces

Nonetheless, the report findings make it clear that the wholesale shift to remote working since March 2020 has had a transformative effect on ways of working and the future of the office.

The analysis contained in the full research report, entitled MRI Software Market Insights: Views from Real Estate Occupiers and Landlords on the Return to Office, demonstrates that while attitudes to home working are still adjusting, the working world remains a much different place in the wake of COVID-19. The survey results show that, overall, nearly 80% of responding commercial occupiers have increased the availability of remote work since the pandemic. It also shows that 69% of respondents said that the worldwide shift to remote working during the crisis has fundamentally changed their long-term approach to space usage – only slightly down from 71% in March.

The key consideration for business leaders is how to better utilize their physical spaces. Tenants and landlords have an opportunity to partner on ways to return to the office safely and effectively. As more employees return to the workplace, both commercial occupiers and landlords realize that PropTech tools will be essential to planning and maximizing space usage, meeting the requirements of a hybrid office, keeping the workforce safe, and developing the best real estate strategies for the future.

Q1 2022 target for getting more people back to the office

The report also shows that commercial occupiers expect to see more employees returning to the office to collaborate and make use of resources as soon as it is feasible. In fact, 57% of corporate tenants expected to have more than half of their workforce back in the office by the end of Q1 2022. Landlords were even more optimistic, with 67% expecting the majority of workers to be back onsite by the end of Q4 2021.

Other key findings indicate that fewer companies saw a need for wholesale change in the Q3 survey than earlier in the year:

  • 42% of corporate tenants indicated in September that they would require less space after the pandemic, down from 56% in March
  • 49% of commercial occupiers were converting or expanding their use of hot-desking, down from 54% in March
  • At the same time, 61% of landlords expected their tenants to lease the same or more space despite the prospect of more remote working in the future, but this figure was also down from March (67%)

Clearly, while the fact that successful remote working in just about every corporate sector has opened eyes to the potential of a brave world of home working, as the pandemic continues to play out and more normalcy returns, many are now expecting less of a radical change to the status quo. As the prospect of getting people back into the office seems more practical, more occupiers and landlords seem to reconfirm its value.

Tapping PropTech to support change

Although wholesale support for an entirely new work dynamic going forward appears to be softening somewhat, there is little doubt that attitudes both among managers and employees to remote working will never be the same – and that companies will have to deal with that reality. The research demonstrates that the vast majority of corporate occupiers do realize that and see a strong need to adopt technologies to handle the changes they face in managing the workplace. The survey showed that 70% of companies occupying business premises plan to adopt new technologies to address changes in space usage.

More strikingly, the survey showed that an increasing proportion of landlords are beginning to see that they need new technology tools to deal with the workplace of the future. The percentage of landlords that thought their existing technologies were sufficient to manage changes in space usage dropped from 61% to 45% between the March and September surveys. The Q3 results also reveal that 61% of landlords expect to adopt new technologies to handle changing space needs, compared to 55% in the previous survey. The top functions named by landlords planning to adopt new technologies going forward included the ability to:

  • Track and manage who is onsite (employees, visitors, contractors) – 63%
  • Strategically manage long-term space utilization and layout – 53%
  • Schedule and reserve desks – 47%
  • Better enable hybrid meetings between onsite and virtual attendees – 42%
  • Reserve and manage meeting space – 21%

The pandemic continues to see new phases as it develops. At the same time, businesses’ views on how to manage it and how they will reshape the way the office functions will continue to evolve as we move into 2022. Pandemic-driven technology adoption has enabled people to stay connected and collaborative no matter where they work and will continue to do so. However, organizations still recognize the benefit of bringing employees back to the office as part of hybrid working arrangements that support engagement, workplace culture and productivity. And to make a success of hybrid work, organizations need to put the right technology tools in place – like the MRI @Work solution set – to help inform decision-making and ensure businesses can continue to thrive in the face of all future challenges.

See the full survey results in the report here.

6 Features of facilities management software that will transform your business

Posted on by MRI

Explore the essential features of facilities management software that will leave a huge positive impression on the efficiency, productivity and quality of your business.

As commercial and residential facilities become more complex, expansive and sophisticated, we move further and further away from a time when “traditional” methods of facilities management were still applicable.

Clunky spreadsheets. Cabinets packed with documents. Tasks written on pen and paper. The industry has evolved past these slow, impractical approaches. Now, optimising the way you look after your properties and those who use them is only achievable with the right facilities management software.

With the right solution in place, facilities management software can resolve a variety of problems and enable FM teams to be more proactive, more efficient and more informed in how they approach managing their organisations.

But, what is worse than having a problem to solve? Believing you have found the solution, only to later discover it isn’t fit for purpose. Not all examples of facilities management software are created equal, with some lacking the features and capabilities that can truly transform your business for the better.

With an ever-growing list of options on the market, finding the software that fits your needs is becoming tougher and more time-consuming.

To help streamline your search, we have identified 6 of the most critical features and functions that quality facilities management software should include to have the most transformative impact on your business.

1. Asset Management

What is it?

A company’s assets, be they physical or digital, are the cogs that keep businesses running like clockwork on a daily basis. The asset management component of your facilities management software should produce a clear, comprehensive picture of the assets across your organisation, and the details that engineers need to know to run these most efficiently.

How does it make a difference?

Modern facilities are responsible for thousands of assets at any given time. Trying to track all of the unique details behind each component manually is practically impossible. It is incredibly time-consuming, will require multiple people to be solely responsible for monitoring and updating data when necessary, and heightens the risk of errors and oversights.

The right facilities management software should allow you to map the assets throughout your buildings, with critical information such as their model number, date of installation, vital specifications, and expected life expectancy.

This will make it faster and easier for your engineers to locate assets when maintenance work is done, give you a complete grasp over everything under your domain, and help guide strategic decisions over what assets your purchase and use on a regular basis.

For the best results, your facilities management software should:

  • Track assets’ locations in your facilities, perhaps in combination with BIM modelling
  • Contain all necessary specifications and imagery in an easy-to-access manner
  • Monitor and provide data relating to performance in real-time
  • Centralise all of your asset data into a single location
  • Enable you to set consistent asset classifications to organise data far better
  • Allow you to tag particular assets with unique identifiers
  • Prioritise asset registers based on maintenance requirements and other factors

2. Preventative Maintenance

What is it?

Preventative maintenance is work actively performed on assets and equipment on a regular basis, with the aim of keeping them in peak condition for longer and reducing the likelihood of failures occurring.

How does it make a difference?

While reactive maintenance will always be an important consideration in any organisation, more often than not it is just a temporary bandage for a potentially gaping wound. By only performing maintenance on equipment when it fails or at arbitrary dates, this can:

  • Greatly reduce the longevity of your assets
  • Increase expenditure on replacement parts and equipment
  • Lead to costly periods of downtime while repairs are made
  • Reduce overall operations depending on the significance of the affected asset

Instead, your facilities management software should incorporate modules that allow you to be proactive in how your assets are maintained. By putting you on the front foot on PPM schedules, your assets will run more efficiently for longer periods of time, over time saving you money on needing to acquire replacements and downtime.

For the best results, your facilities management software should:

  • Allow you to create clear, trackable maintenance schedules
  • Automatically suggest updates to PPM schedules based on asset behaviour
  • Manage and track facility inventory and vendor relationships to secure replacements
  • Keep tabs on your compliance with industry maintenance standards
  • Enable engineers to upload images and files related to maintenance tasks
  • Deliver automatic notifications and alerts of when tasks must be performed
  • Store an easy-to-follow audit trail of maintenance performed on each asset

3. Workflow Organisation

What is it?

Your team of engineers, both directly part of your business and those brought in from external contractors, are the lifeblood of how your organisation operates day-to-day. To ensure their time is being applied most effectively, workflow management is vital for tasks to be completed smoothly and at the right time.

How does it make a difference?

Prior to the development of facilities management software, it would be all too easy for task lists to become lost, muddled or disorganised. This meant important tasks could often be missed or delayed, and engineers’ schedules are shattered by picking up on these mislaid duties.

Consequently, this can lead to faulty assets impacting the performance of your business, and areas of your facilities becoming unclean or dishevelled due to a lack of care, which in turn creates an unwelcome environment for employees, residents and visitors.

By including a workflow organisation tool within your facilities management platform, this synchronises and centralises all aspects of task management. Engineers are clear on what needs to be done and when, and their days can be coordinated more succinctly to ensure they are working at peak efficiency.

For the best results, your facilities management software should:

  • Be accessible across all devices, especially on mobile
  • Have a system that determines the priority of tasks based on feedback
  • Automatically distribute tasks to relevant engineers to fit their schedules
  • Include a sign-off process when tasks are completed to ensure accountability
  • Present easy-to-understand dashboards for users to track their workload
  • Link all systems together into one integrated system for seamless performance
  • Open up the same capabilities to subcontractors to keep them accountable

4. Space Management

What is it?

Whether your facility extends across multiple floors and locations, or is contained in a single building, it will have space that needs to be put to use. Space management is focused on making the absolute most of this available space to minimise waste and drive efficiency.

How does it make a difference?

In our experience working with FM professionals worldwide, a lot of organisations don’t take full advantage of the space it is afforded. This covers situations where certain rooms or meeting areas are left vacant 95% of the time, to the complete opposite – spaces that are typically crowded or booked out, causing confusion within teams and a drop in productivity.

Effective facilities management software should include a space management solution to capture the spatial data across your site and pinpoint opportunities where space could be better managed. This will mean you aren’t wasting money on maintaining and powering unused spaces, and identifying areas that could be better employed as storage or meeting spaces.

Particularly in a post-COVID landscape where businesses need to be more conscious of areas that are often overcrowded in their facilities, space management technology is a vital component in enhancing efficiency and protecting employee wellbeing.

For the best results, your facilities management software should:

  • Gather real-time data relating to occupancy of your rooms, desks and other areas
  • Support automatic, seamless room scheduling across your company
  • Allow interactive floor plans to be drawn up and stored for ongoing analysis
  • Present space utilisation data in clear, easy-to-digest dashboards
  • Welcome and monitor visitors and others during their stay on-site
  • Track and schedule people and assets’ movement throughout your facilities

5. Smart Building Integration

What is it?

Buildings are becoming smarter with every passing day. As assets become more interconnected and capable of capturing a substantial amount of data that may be harnessed to optimise performance, it is important that facilities management software is able to help FM teams put this data to work.

How does it make a difference?

From the use of sensors in plumbing infrastructure to verify the cleanliness and quality of your water, to tracking energy usage across your spaces at various points of the day, today’s smart buildings can deliver incredibly valuable data to inform how it operates.

By providing a central space to track and collect this useful data on a daily basis, the right facilities management tool can take the efficiency and productivity of your business to new heights, and implement change that saves you significant sums of money over time.

Plus, again in the post-COVID landscape, features like the ability to track air quality and adjust ventilation levels based on the number of people within a space at a given time will offer a lot of reassurance to employees, residents and others over their safety.

For the best results, your facilities management software should:

  • Connect and communicate with smart sensors and monitors across your facilities
  • Capture key data and present this in a straightforward, digestible format
  • Seamlessly integrate with 3rd-party software
  • Help create the conditions for a more comfortable, welcoming workspace
  • Monitor energy usage and automatically adjust this according to occupancy
  • Reduce the helpdesk workload through automated alerts to FM professionals

6. Reporting & BI

What is it?

Data drives today’s businesses forward, depending on how much of it you are able to capture and utilise. Facilities management software should be able to lend a hand through its BI (Business Intelligence) and reporting capabilities, allowing FM professionals to take complete control of their data, publish their findings, and strategize for the future.

How does it make a difference?

At any point in time, there will be a vast amount of data generated by devices across your properties – data that can be a powerful guide on ways to reduce running costs, optimise efficiency and make working environments better for employees. However, if this is not collated together and formatted in an easy-to-understand way, that information can go to waste and the business is left running in place.

The best facilities management software on the market should remove that prospect by making seamless containing all of this data in one place, and projecting it in an actionable way for FM professionals. Through this technology, your teams should be able to access and gain insight into key performance trends, which can then form the basis for strategic discussion.

In addition, it should then be just as simple to convert this information into clear, custom reports, that can be immediately passed onto relevant internal and external recipients. Again, by taking the hassle out of producing standalone, facilities management software enables your staff to work more efficiently and devote more time to analysing and discussing reports rather than creating them.

For the best results, your facilities management software should:

  • Capture critical business data in real-time into one manageable, filterable location
  • Present data in comprehensible digital dashboards, with a simple user interface
  • Make it possible for users to locate and interact with data in a matter of clicks
  • Allow for reports to be customised and branded based on your team’s requirements
  • Automatically schedule and send reports to relevant people at pre-set times

How MRI Evolution Can Transform Your Business

In order for your facilities management software to have the revolutionary impact on your business that it should have, it must incorporate these 6 critical features. These factors contribute to a truly game-changing building management solution – one that takes control of the increasingly complex demands placed on FM professionals, and enables your organisation to be at its most efficient and productive.

MRI Evolution delivers these essential features and so much more. By bringing teams, data and processes together in one simple-to-use solution, MRI Evolution is empowering teams to plan, manage and maintain their facilities more effectively than ever before. It’s one wholly integrated ecosystem, configured to your exact requirements.

  • End-to-end insight over your operations
  • Comprehensive task management across your facilities
  • Total oversight over your budgets and spending
  • Completely branded to match your business

 Talk to our team today and get started with MRI Evolution.

Posted in FSI

5 ways your business can win at hybrid working

Posted on by Nicholas Frank

As businesses continue to redefine their return-to-work plans, corporate real estate professionals are returning to in-person industry events. In the fourth quarter of 2021, groups like BOMA, IFMA and most recently CoreNet Global have begun welcoming back industry specialists at a time when many pivotal decisions are being made about their office spaces, data and remote-work policies.

MRI Software was thankful for the opportunity to moderate a panel at the 2021 CoreNet Global Summit in Seattle titled, “Leveraging Technology for Strategic Workplace Decisions”. The panel featured Kay Sargent of HOK, Simon Davis of Impec Group, and Alecia Chandler of EBUSINESS Strategies. Andy Welkley, Senior Product Marketing Manager at MRI, moderated the discussion on the continued evolution of the office, the need for flexibility in a hybrid environment and how people are a pivotal part of a successful office transition. The conversation maneuvered down some interesting paths – let’s take a look at five takeaways from the panel.

Going hybrid provides an opportunity to cut costs

All organisations with a physical footprint are determining the best working model for their employees. A majority of the businesses we’ve spoken to are implementing hybrid work scenarios, which provides flexibility for the employees but creates new challenges for employers. The short-term problem of flexible working has been addressed with a short-term solution: hybrid work. However, the longer-term need for businesses is to evaluate the space they have for future decisions about their footprint.

If you are eliminating the need for all staff to be in-office all week, there is an opportunity for cost savings through various channels. Do you close the office on certain days to save on operational expenses like janitorial services? Do you re-evaluate the lease you have on your physical space to something more suitable to your new work environment? Do you shut down some offices? Take this opportunity to find cost savings during this period of monumental shift for your employees and your business.

Your meeting room problem is actually a booking problem

How often do you look for a meeting room at the office only to find they’re all booked? How frustrating is it to then walk through the office and see empty conference rooms, or one employee leveraging it as an office by themselves? The answer shouldn’t be to simply add more conference room space – the problem that needs to be addressed is how to book the space. This can free up under-utilized areas and also provide extra freedom for employees.

Setting parameters around who can book particular spaces, as well as setting requirements for occupancy can help alleviate some of these issues. Room booking software that enables you to not only see booking data, but also empower staff to easily view, book and modify meeting rooms can become a real advantage to getting people back into the office. The last thing an employee wants to do is come into the office for collaboration and not have the ability to collaborate.

You can’t manage what you can’t measure

Hybrid working models present opportunities to evaluate the places we occupy and the trends of how people use them. If you don’t have a means to measure the usage of offices and the trends of your staff, your business is likely leaving money on the table. Using access control systems, employee and visitor management sign-in software and physical sensor technology allows you to collate new data points that have never been more relevant. Operationally, it makes the management of buildings more efficient.

Data is only valuable if you know how to use it

Now you have data points, but what good is data if you can’t act on it? Hybrid working models give businesses a chance to constantly re-evaluate how people work. Today’s “return to work” plan may look nothing like your work practices two years from now. Many CEOs even see the shift to remote working being a temporary event and still want to see fully utilised offices post-COVID. Your data matters. Tracking your space utilisation can effectively shape your long-term corporate leasing strategy, which in many cases, may swing expenses by millions of dollars. But you also have the opportunity to use this data to impact your employees’ lives. Knowing how they work allows you to cater to your most important asset: your people.

Space is cheap compared to the price of people

It’s hard to recruit and retain talent. The flexibility of working from home during COVID changed the perspective of many employees about not only what they want to do, but how and where they want to do it. Putting technology in place that makes working from the office even easier than working from home gives your staff a reason to want to work at your company. It can be hard to sell employees on culture when they are absorbing it virtually. Businesses need to put real value not only on the costs associated with flexible spaces, but also on the cost of losing talent for lack of flexibility. Commuting into an office can be burdensome, but for an employee to know they can easily and effectively book a desk and a meeting room for collaboration allows your company culture to shine through – keeping your employees satisfied.

Facilities Managers, Directors of Real Estate, and Building Managers have the ability to truly impact the future of the business both financially and culturally with the decisions that they make over the coming months. Putting your people first has never been more important, and the ability to leverage technology to also save money in the process brings this area of an organisation to the forefront of future executive-level decisions.

CoreNet Global was a fantastic educational conference, and you could feel that all in attendance were thrilled to finally get back together in a safe environment. CoreNet members will have free access to the audio recordings of the sessions, so check out the panel discussion. Next year’s CoreNet Global Summit in Chicago will be another great opportunity to evaluate the progress made in the industry toward reinventing the workplace. Learn how MRI Software can help you make the most of your hybrid work policies.

5 ways your business can win at hybrid working

Posted on by Nicholas Frank

As businesses continue to redefine their return-to-work plans, corporate real estate professionals are returning to in-person industry events. In the fourth quarter of 2021, groups like BOMA, IFMA and most recently CoreNet Global have begun welcoming back industry specialists at a time when many pivotal decisions are being made about their office spaces, data and remote-work policies.

MRI Software was thankful for the opportunity to moderate a panel at the 2021 CoreNet Global Summit in Seattle titled, “Leveraging Technology for Strategic Workplace Decisions”. The panel featured Kay Sargent of HOK, Simon Davis of Impec Group, and Alecia Chandler of EBUSINESS Strategies. Andy Welkley, Senior Product Marketing Manager at MRI, moderated the discussion on the continued evolution of the office, the need for flexibility in a hybrid environment and how people are a pivotal part of a successful office transition. The conversation maneuvered down some interesting paths – let’s take a look at five takeaways from the panel.

Going hybrid provides an opportunity to cut costs

All organizations with a physical footprint are determining the best working model for their employees. A majority of the businesses we’ve spoken to are implementing hybrid work scenarios, which provides flexibility for the employees but creates new challenges for employers. The short-term problem of flexible working has been addressed with a short-term solution: hybrid work. However, the longer-term need for businesses is to evaluate the space they have for future decisions about their footprint.

If you are eliminating the need for all staff to be in-office all week, there is an opportunity for cost savings through various channels. Do you close the office on certain days to save on operational expenses like janitorial services? Do you re-evaluate the lease you have on your physical space to something more suitable to your new work environment? Do you shut down some offices? Take this opportunity to find cost savings during this period of monumental shift for your employees and your business.

Your meeting room problem is actually a booking problem

How often do you look for a meeting room at the office only to find they’re all booked? How frustrating is it to then walk through the office and see empty conference rooms, or one employee leveraging it as an office by themselves? The answer shouldn’t be to simply add more conference room space – the problem that needs to be addressed is how to book the space. This can free up under-utilized areas and also provide extra freedom for employees.

Setting parameters around who can book particular spaces, as well as setting requirements for occupancy can help alleviate some of these issues. Room booking software that enables you to not only see booking data, but also empower staff to easily view, book and modify meeting rooms can become a real advantage to getting people back into the office. The last thing an employee wants to do is come into the office for collaboration and not have the ability to collaborate.

You can’t manage what you can’t measure

Hybrid working models present opportunities to evaluate the places we occupy and the trends of how people use them. If you don’t have a means to measure the usage of offices and the trends of your staff, your business is likely leaving money on the table. Using access control systems, employee and visitor management sign-in software and physical sensor technology allows you to collate new data points that have never been more relevant. Operationally, it makes the management of buildings more efficient.

Data is only valuable if you know how to use it

Now you have data points, but what good is data if you can’t act on it? Hybrid working models give businesses a chance to constantly re-evaluate how people work. Today’s “return to work” plan may look nothing like your work practices two years from now. Many CEOs even see the shift to remote working being a temporary event and still want to see fully utilized offices post-COVID. Your data matters. Tracking your space utilization can effectively shape your long-term corporate leasing strategy, which in many cases, may swing expenses by millions of dollars. But you also have the opportunity to use this data to impact your employees’ lives. Knowing how they work allows you to cater to your most important asset: your people.

Space is cheap compared to the price of people

It’s hard to recruit and retain talent. The flexibility of working from home during COVID changed the perspective of many employees about not only what they want to do, but how and where they want to do it. Putting technology in place that makes working from the office even easier than working from home gives your staff a reason to want to work at your company. It can be hard to sell employees on culture when they are absorbing it virtually. Businesses need to put real value not only on the costs associated with flexible spaces, but also on the cost of losing talent for lack of flexibility. Commuting into an office can be burdensome, but for an employee to know they can easily and effectively book a desk and a meeting room for collaboration allows your company culture to shine through – keeping your employees satisfied.

Facilities Managers, Directors of Real Estate, and Building Managers have the ability to truly impact the future of the business both financially and culturally with the decisions that they make over the coming months. Putting your people first has never been more important, and the ability to leverage technology to also save money in the process brings this area of an organization to the forefront of future executive-level decisions.

CoreNet Global was a fantastic educational conference, and you could feel that all in attendance were thrilled to finally get back together in a safe environment. CoreNet members will have free access to the audio recordings of the sessions, so check out the panel discussion. Next year’s CoreNet Global Summit in Chicago will be another great opportunity to evaluate the progress made in the industry toward reinventing the workplace. Learn how MRI Software can help you make the most of your hybrid work policies.

7 problems solved with workforce management software

Posted on by cmarson

Discover how introducing workplace management software resolves numerous problems affecting employee satisfaction and overall business performance.

Today’s top-performing companies understand the influence their work environment has on employee productivity and wellbeing.

A welcoming, well-structured atmosphere will boost morale and engagement. A disorganised, demanding environment will have the opposite effect. To avoid falling into the latter category, organisations must introduce systems to overcome workplace management issues and achieve the agility and stronger user experiences they desire.

This is where workplace management software enters the picture. Below, we will explore the variety of workplace problems this technology resolves, and the positive difference this can make to businesses of all sizes and industries.

What problems can effective workplace management software solve?

1. Wasted space

Space is a valuable resource in any workplace. Yet, many companies are unaware of just how much space across their facilities goes to waste:

  • Approximately 60% of available office space is used in a typical workday

  • The average company has 30-50% more space than needed

  • Workstations are often vacant 50-60% of the day

  • Just 13% of companies say their workplace is utilised over 80% of the time

Statistics provided by iOffice

Poor space utilisation can cost businesses thousands annually, cutting a sizable chunk into their operating costs. Having no solution in place to oversee the organisation of space can also be the catalyst for several further workplace management problems, including:

  • Poor space design, hurting workplace collaboration and making it harder for people to navigate their surroundings

  • Overcrowding in certain areas or rooms, while other space is left completely unoccupied

  • Overlapped bookings of desks and workstations, particularly for companies with hybrid working models

Workplace management software overcomes these hurdles by capturing real-time spatial data across your facilities. This will identify any areas of your buildings that are left unoccupied most of the day – and the costs attached to these.

With this data in clear view, you can improve space planning significantly, whether it’s repurposing rooms or adjusting layouts to make these more efficient and collaborative. This will help you cut down unnecessary overheads and create a better environment for your teams.

2. Inability to harness BIM data

In a similar vein, BIM technology is playing a bigger role in building construction and management with each passing year:

The NBS 2020 BIM Report demonstrated that BIM adoption has risen to its highest level yet, with 73% surveyed saying they currently use BIM

When harnessed effectively, the data generated by BIM can help FMs understand facilities with absolute accuracy, and use this to maximise the lifecycle of buildings and the assets within them. However, all too often this data is left untouched, or cannot be comfortably translated into their existing FM software.

Effective workplace management software helps you reap the full benefits of BIM, allowing you to translate this data across all project document types, including COBie, wexBIM and IFC files. With this, FM teams can integrate this data into one, manageable 3D model, and gain total oversight over the lifecycle of buildings, facilities and assets.

3. Disorganised meetings and bookings

Few things grind productivity to a halt in the workplace like a poorly organised meeting. In fact, it is estimated that these cost UK companies over £43 billion annually.

On top of costs involved in meetings that overrun or aren’t run optimally, this can also cause a great deal of frustration or tension among colleagues. From a double-booked meeting room for two crucial client meetings, to arguments over who has dibs on a shared workstation, the lack of reliable facility booking software can cause a deeply unpleasant atmosphere.

Workplace management software can eliminate this problem by making room bookings straightforward and self-managed. Employees can always know what rooms are available and seamlessly communicate details to all attendees. With these systems in place, meetings run like clockwork, so people get the most out of them.

Find out more by reading ‘8 Ways Room Booking Solutions Boost Business Efficiency’.

4. Minimal data-driven decision making

Data drives modern businesses forward. However, if this cannot be captured or kept under control, it offers no value in how companies strategically plan their next steps.

That is a problem that many organisations face – they need data and analytics to guide their path, but these aren’t kept in one central location. This means that they tend to lead with assumptions, which will not reap the same benefits for company finances and overall growth.

Solutions like Live View, part of our workplace management software package, ensure that all crucial information is displayed in clear, easy-to-digest visual displays. With this oversight, teams are empowered to use this data to guide meaningful improvements to business processes.

Plus, by setting custom parameters for areas such as asset performance, stock levels or task completion, this helps you monitor whether your workplace is performing optimally according to your business goals.

5. Health and safety struggles

Part of creating a positive, productive workplace is reassuring employees that it is clean, safe and secure. If they feel uncomfortable in their surroundings, or that they might be at risk of either hazards or illnesses, then this will have a negative impact on their happiness and performance.

Workplace management software goes a long way to guaranteeing the cleanliness of a workspace is never in question. Through it, organisations can establish cleaning schedules that maintain a hygienic environment for everyone.

It can also give employees full vision of what activities are happening at what times. This provides them with reassurance that their workplace facilities are being looked after, which will encourage them in their approach to work.

For examples of how these solutions can tackle health and safety struggles, check out a number of our dedicated workforce apps:

  • Cleaning Now

  • Task Manager

  • Adhoc Tasks

6. Uncoordinated workflows

Workplace management solutions can also play a powerful role in organising the tasks that keep workplaces in top condition. If the workflows of engineers, cleaners and other technicians are not coordinated effectively, the core functions and cleanliness of a building can gradually decline.

This will hurt employee morale and, if left unchecked, could inspire them to walk away. To prevent this possibility, this software helps to arrange and automate the delivery of these tasks. As a result, duties aren’t missed due to human error, and engineers have all the information they need to fulfil their role in making the workplace as welcoming as possible.

This means:

  • Better workplace environments, allowing team members to thrive

  • Boosted employee satisfaction, leading to stronger productivity

  • More structured, less intensive experiences for technicians and FM teams

  • Minimal unplanned downtime or disruptions

7. Poor project management

Approximately only 22% of organisations use a form of project management software (Workamajig)

Project managers are tasked with handling challenging processes with the aim of achieving positive results. Unfortunately, between them and these results is an extensive list of obstacles that may make or break the entire project.

Problems managing projects can emerge due to internal or external factors. But no matter the source, without a system in place to monitor and manage all aspects, this can cause costly delays and mistakes that send project planning completely off the rails.

This is another area where workplace management software can make a massive difference. A fully integrated Project Management solution can help teams oversee each milestone of a project through a straightforward, single task grid interface.

With this single, unified view of all activities, obstacles can be navigated smoothly, potential risks can be rectified, and profitability is preserved.

8. Overburdened helpdesks

Operating a helpdesk can often feel like a thankless, burdensome task. It is all too easy for requests and calls to overwhelm these teams, making life more difficult for the operators and causing jobs to bottleneck, delaying work from being completed.

Workplace management software can ease the strain on helpdesks and make their position more agile, while at the same time empowering employees to initiate maintenance tasks themselves.

Solutions like our Integrated Services Module (ISM) raise the responsiveness of helpdesks, enabling them to easily assign tasks through a simple drag-and-drop system, and rapidly complete data entry and task assignment.

Furthermore, apps such as ChatLog give employees the ability to directly report workplace issues to the FM team. This alleviates the burden on the helpdesk, and gives them a clearer indication of how tasks are progressing, improving their own wellbeing.

What is an IWMS (Integrated Workplace Management System)?

Integrated workplace management systems (IWMS) is an all-inclusive solution to support modern facilities management responsibilities. It fulfils five fundamental areas of FM:

  • Real estate management

  • Facilities/space management

  • Maintenance management

  • Project management

  • Environmental sustainability

Through this, IWMS software covers every aspect of making workplaces as comfortable and efficient as possible, both for those working within them and the organisation overall. It is why MRI Evolution is designed to be a combined CAFM/IWMS solution – to be a total business management platform, sitting at the core of all FM operations.

Workplace management and workforce management

Our overarching workplace software incorporates a wide range of workplace management and workforce management apps – all built with the aim of streamlining operations, improving connectivity and creating the best possible workplace environments.

Workplace management

Our workplace management apps focus on engaging with people within a workplace, encouraging them to be actively involved in maintaining the quality of their environment and supporting overall employee satisfaction.

Together, these uphold a positive company culture, reinforce the cleanliness of workspaces, and inspire greater communication between employees and their FM teams.

Explore our applications below for more information:

  • Our Info

  • Our Say

  • Our Events

  • ChatLog

  • Visitor App

  • Book It

  • Our Classified

Workforce management

Our workforce management solutions meanwhile concentrate on creating a smart network that connects your entire workforce, no matter where they are. This enables your remote engineers and teams to focus on their tasks without the need for constant in-person supervision.

Through this flow of data from remote sources directly and instantly into your CAFM/IWMS solution, you will be faster and more responsive, while everyone in your organisation has access to real-time information at their fingertips.

Explore our applications below for more information:

  • Cleaning Now

  • Task Manager

  • Audit Now

  • Adhoc Tasks

  • Asset Manager

  • Portering App

  • Supervisor App

Is IWMS software suitable for small businesses?

Often, smaller businesses and start-ups will overlook the need for workplace management software, presuming that this technology is more applicable to larger organisations with broader property portfolios. Although their needs may be less pressing, ensuring employees have the best physical environment to work in applies to companies of all sizes.

Therefore, in order to compete with larger companies for talent and market share, smaller businesses should be seriously considering their workplace management solutions. This technology will help give their employees ideal workplace conditions, support recruitment and retention, and enable them to work at their most productive.

Plus, with access to space management software, this enables organisations to scale-up personnel or effectively restructure their environment to maximise efficiency as their business evolves over time.

Unlock the benefits of workplace management software

This article merely scratches the surface of the advantages that successful workplace management software can deliver to organisations at any scale. We hope that this has given you a stronger understanding of the problems this technology can resolve, and encouraged you to seek out the full benefits for yourself.

If you are ready to start that journey, speak to our experts at FSI. For over 30 years, we’ve helped businesses run smarter, empower their workforces to take ownership of their environment, and streamline facilities management duties into simple, effective solutions.

Get in touch today for more information on our workplace management solutions.

Posted in FSI

3 ways return to office plans have evolved for landlords and tenants

Posted on by Brian Zrimsek

In the spring of 2021, the commercial real estate sector looked ahead to a bright future as the global vaccine rollout was underway, and businesses everywhere considered how best to bring their employees back into the office.

But just as all things in today’s world are subject to change on a moment’s notice, so has the thinking of landlords and tenants in the face of unexpected speed bumps in the return to “the new normal,” including the rise of the delta variant and discussions surrounding vaccine and health requirements.

MRI conducted two surveys – the first in March and the second in September 2021 – to see how landlord and tenant views on return to office plans have changed over time. Now that businesses have 2022 in their sights, let’s take a look to see where both parties stand today.

Firming up return to office timing

Our first survey from Q1 2021 indicated that a large percentage of tenants were unsure as to when they’d bring more than 75% of their workforce back into the office, and landlords, didn’t expect to go back into the office until later in the fall or winter.

Data from the Q3 2021 survey, however, shows that tenants and landlords now have stronger ideas as to when employees will be brought back into the office. 57% of corporate tenants expect to have more than half of their workforce back in the office by the end of Q1 2022, while landlords were more optimistic, with 67% expecting the majority of workers to be back onsite by the end of Q4 2021.

Return to the office policies are being cemented

In our survey from the first half of 2021, landlords and occupiers alike agreed that some time in-office should be required for employees, but plans were not yet set in stone. Our data from Q3 2021 shows that 70% of respondents planned to institute hybrid work policies that include onsite requirements, formalizing plans as return dates get closer.

Policies around hybrid work and office requirements have largely firmed up across the board, with nearly 80% of all respondents increasing the availability of hybrid work. We also see that 69% of respondents said that the worldwide shift to remote working during the pandemic has fundamentally changed their long-term approach to space usage, which is consistent with the initial survey. Nearly half of the respondents plan seating capacity for less than 75% of their workforce.

Occupiers and landlords need flexible technology to meet new challenges

In Q1 2021, landlords felt mostly confident that they had the technology in place to handle a return to the office, but this is no longer the case. With changing space requirements and the need to better understand the health of employees and visitors that enter the building, both occupiers and landlords now see a strong need to adopt technologies to handle changing requirements.

According to the data, 70% of corporate occupiers plan to adopt new technologies to manage changes in space usage. The percentage of landlords that thought their existing solutions were sufficient to manage changes in office usage dropped from 61% to 45% between the two 2021 surveys. The most recent results reveal that 61% of landlords expect to adopt new technologies to handle changing space needs, compared to 55% in the previous survey.

The latter half of 2021 is not turning out the exact way that many predicted, but landlords and tenants are adjusting their expectations and assessing new technologies and their own space requirements in order to facilitate a successful return to the office. As we continue into 2022, communication between all parties and solutions that flex to a business’s individual needs will be crucial in transitioning into a new normal.

Get the full survey data from the report:

MRI Software Market Insights: Views from Real Estate Occupiers and Landlords on the Return to Office, by MRI Software and CoreNet Global