How flexibility is driving the reinvention of the workplace

Posted on by Brian Zrimsek

In March 2020, when the pandemic hit and a state of emergency was declared, a large portion of the workforce, especially office-based staff, decamped and quickly transitioned to working from home. Business processes pivoted to embrace paperless processing, digital signatures, and video conferencing. Zoom meetings became the rage and “You’re on mute” was the phrase of 2020.

As 2020 wore on, it became clear that working from home was possible, and even successful, at scale. Naturally, this led to the more recent conversation about what we now need from an office, if we need one at all. While some small, satellite offices have been rationalized, the consensus is that an enterprise needs a home and its people need to come together…but maybe not like they did previously.

Considerations for the future of the workplace

While each enterprise must assess what is best for them, discussions and decisions will center around the following:

Density – Space per employee has been shrinking, as has distance from others, and the pandemic will surely drive against that trend, creating more required space per person and raising the importance of space planning and flexibility.

Assigned desks vs. hoteling – The days of assigned seating may be behind us, especially if a significant part of the workforce continues to work from home with increasing frequency.

Meeting rooms and collaborative space – We’ll also have to rethink meeting rooms as it is unlikely that people will be excited to overcrowd any given space just to be part of a meeting. These rooms need to give way to better collaborative spaces as teams return to the office together.

Flexible space – Both indoor and outdoor open spaces have grown in popularity. In order to drive collaboration and culture, having large spaces that can be quickly repurposed will be of increasing importance as ways to bring larger groups together safely without sacrificing utility during more normal business activities.

Space as a service – Ancillary income can be brought into the organization by making some of your space available on marketplaces like WeWork. Similarly, space needs outside of non-core office areas may be met with the use of flexible space from similar marketplaces and providers. The ability to quickly flex space up and down to meet needs is a growing trend.

How technology can transform your office environment

In addition to defining how space will be used, there are a number of opportunities to leverage technologies for space access and usage:

Space planning tools – These can help your organization clearly and visually understand space layouts, staff density, flow and other elements of the configuration and to create alternatives that provide for the space options listed above.

Workspace reservation systems – As space becomes more fluid, technology can be used to facilitate workspace and collaboration space reservations, including in-space displays of current and coming reservations.

Entry/exit timing tools – There are certain high traffic moments that must be addressed when returning to the office. Interestingly, the lunch period is often more densely trafficked than the start or end of the day. To better ensure social distancing, some organizations are using time blocks to manage peak traffic to better address employee safety.

Access control and on-location awareness – Understanding who has access to a space, where they are allowed and, most importantly, if they are on-location is increasingly important. Presence management is key for:

  • Air quality and other HVAC/climate sensors – Air quality and efficacy of filtration functions should be added to existing systems to ensure temperature is economically managed in conjunction with space usage.
  • On-location messaging – Broadcast or individualized messaging can better facilitate entry and exit windows and space assignments while also providing a method for communications about various safety alerts and visitor services.
  • Wayfinding – With more fluid use of space, employees may need wayfinding assistance to get to and from their key locations or to a colleague.
  • Health and safety tracking – Unfortunately, contact tracing will still be an important topic as we get back to the office.

In-room video conferencing tools – Given the success that has been enjoyed with video conferencing capabilities, meeting rooms and other collaborative spaces will need to be fit with updated technologies that allow for in-person and remote staff to be equally included in collaborative experiences as the days of poor audio over a speakerphone are long gone.

As we continue further into 2021, the workplace will be reshaped not through incremental evolution, but with the lessons of a prolonged pause, a rapid adoption of technology and much thought about what a mobile, distributed, hyper-connected workforce really needs.

Learn more about the future of the workspace and how technology can help you prepare.

Your technology partner – through COVID-19 and beyond

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It’s been a full year since Boris Johnson’s dramatic address from Downing Street, when people across England were told categorically to ‘stay at home’. The journey from then to now has been long and difficult, but the vaccine rollout and phased easing of restrictions provide hope that a return to some semblance of normal is coming.

Throughout the pandemic, it’s been our goal to keep you fully informed and updated through various communications and resources. For this latest business update, we share insights from Dermot Briody – MRI’s Executive Managing Director for Europe. Dermot reflects on an unprecedented 12 months, discusses how MRI has continued to serve and support clients, and looks ahead to what the rest of 2021 has in store.

How have COVID-related restrictions affected MRI’s ability to deliver software?

“We’ve actually delivered more software projects in the past year than ever before in the European region. So, I must say thank you. Thank you to my MRI colleagues, and most importantly to you, our valued clients. We couldn’t have done what we’ve done without our teams and our users adapting so successfully to remote working – continuing to collaborate and innovate despite the obstacles in place.”

Has working from home been problematic for MRI users?

“There’s no denying this past year has been challenging, but today’s technological capabilities have made it possible for teams and individuals to operate effectively from home. For example, we’ve certainly seen the benefits of recent investments in our data centres. More and more clients are relying on our world-class SaaS infrastructure, and that infrastructure has stood up to the test. As a result, we’ve been able to help clients quickly migrate from on-premise setups to a hosted environment – minimising disruption to their business.”

Has the pandemic impacted MRI’s growth and business performance?

“As many people will have heard, our business has expanded significantly in the region over the last year – most notably in the social housing sector. I’m proud to say we are now more than 750 people strong (out of 2,000 globally), serving all of the major asset classes in the UK real estate industry. But, while we have continued on our growth trajectory despite the uncertain market, what matters most is our commitment to being a trusted technology partner and advisor for our clients. It’s what we strive to deliver every day.”

What measures has MRI put in place to ensure client engagement during the first half of 2021?

“Our comprehensive client interaction programme quickly moved to an online format when the pandemic was declared – with various user events, webinars and virtual seminars running throughout 2020 and into the start of this year. Across our teams we’ve created more digital content, free training, resources and various other materials in a bid to provide as much support and guidance as possible. The mantra is, and will continue to be, ‘we’re here to help in any way we can’. To demonstrate, we’ve just announced that our MRI Ascend Europe client conference will be taking place in May – delivered via a dedicated virtual event environment. While we (hopefully) can look forward to a return to an in-person exhibition in 2022, the virtual format has a number of benefits and we’re tremendously excited to be bringing you a fantastic set of sessions covering the full depth and breadth of real estate technology.”

Looking further ahead, what is the longer-term vision for MRI in Europe?

“Simply put, we want to be the best – delivering world-class software, services and support each and every day. You’ll see more organic and acquisitive growth as we continue to enhance our offering. You’ll see further innovation as it pertains to a single software experience across our ecosystem of MRI products and Partner solutions. And we’ll continue our relentless focus on client satisfaction – measured in both qualitative and quantitative terms. There are challenges yet to come, of course. But there are also opportunities. I am confident in the ability of the MRI team to deliver for you, and I believe our partnership will see us succeed together.”

Dermot, and other executive leaders from the MRI team, will be sharing much more on our company vision and software innovation at the upcoming MRI Ascend Europe virtual client conference. Visit the dedicated event website to learn more and view the full agenda.

3 trends to consider when planning the return to the office

Posted on by Chris Vroman

Real estate occupiers have been rethinking the traditional workplace even before the COVID-19 pandemic. A year into the “new normal” of working from home, attitudes and market trends have shifted dramatically, and it’s become increasingly clear that the workspace will not look the same when employees are invited back into their respective offices.

Tenants need to meet the new and changing expectations of their employees, and organizations are being challenged to rethink their use of office space, consider the safety and well-being of their staff, and understand how hybrid and flexible work models impact the future of office planning.

1. How will offices be used once employees return to work?

Bringing employees back into an office setting won’t be as easy as it sounds. Some employees have settled into this “new normal” and believe that returning to the office full time would be detrimental to productivity, while others look forward to going back to the traditional workplace. As companies navigate changing attitudes, the office space will have to be made appealing again. The office won’t just be a place where work gets done – it will be a place where people come to collaborate. Rows of cramped desks might need to give way to new spacing requirements, and small common areas that once brought employees together for lunch could be expanded into large spaces that focus more on community than rest.

2. Ensure staff safety and wellbeing on a global scale

While companies look to turn their offices into more collaborative, spaced-out environments, many of them will still have to contend with frequently changing health and safety regulations across multiple continents, countries, and cities. In additional to keeping up disparate safety requirements, the culture of work is likely to impact different office locations. While some in the US and the UK may not be comfortable returning to the office, many employees in the APAC region have already returned to their offices comfortably. This will present a unique challenge for global companies.

3. Explore flexible, hybrid workplace models

Taken together, these dynamics paint a picture of a future workplace that focuses on flexibility and adaptability above all else. Each company, region, office, and employee has dealt with the impacts of the pandemic differently, and workplaces will need to throw out the traditional “one size fits all” office layout in order to best accommodate all of the disparate needs and changing market trends.

How technology can help you plan the future of the office

In response both to health guidelines and market trends that favor space, flexibility, and collaboration, workstations across the office will need to be spaced out, and in many cases, rearranged altogether with the help of space management tools. Creating enough space between desks won’t just help the property remain in compliance with local health guidelines, but it can also provide employees with peace of mind, boosting productivity. In addition, visitor management solutions can help offices cut down on foot traffic and manage all non-employee staff that enter the building – a huge step toward ensuring the safety and security of everyone on the property.

On the subject of desks being rearranged, organizations may also have to accommodate employees who don’t want to return to the. office. One of the things we’re seeing in the return to the office is that many people want to remain either fully remote or on a hybrid work schedule, meaning that not every desk within the office will be filled at all times. Taking on an approach of “hotdesking” – where several employees might be assigned to one desk at different times throughout the week – can help offices consolidate desks and desk space.

With companies using fewer desks as a result of hotdesking or even hoteling, commercial tenants might come to find that they no longer need as much office space as they once did. In these cases, landlords and tenants will need to potentially reevaluate lease obligations and reach new lease agreements. Before taking on this process, both parties will need to have clear understandings of what’s in their leases so they can effectively communicate and agree upon new terms moving forward.

As landlords and tenants both look ahead to a time when offices will reopen, both need to be prepared to collaborate in order to address changing market trends and disparate needs among employees and other staff. Learn more about the trends impacting the return to the office.

How Touchstone’s digital transformation strategy drives efficiencies and improves the customer journey

Posted on by mdursham

Property management company Touchstone has undergone a digital transformation process, improving its customer experience and internal operations to gain a strategic advantage in a competitive sector.

Touchstone is a large property management company with offices in Bath, London, Milton Keynes and Scotland. They manage over 16,000 properties up and down the UK, with a wide portfolio covering student accommodation, retirement stock, Build-to-Rent schemes, agent solutions (which includes back-office services for letting agents), and lender services. The company has been operating for over 20 years.

Analysing their business objectives, Touchstone identified a need for the company to undergo a digital transformation that aligned with their core beliefs. These include:

  • To continue to grow the business – in order for the company to continue to grow and remain viable, adopting new technologies both in internal operations and in customer-facing situations was vital.
  • Achieve operational excellence – new systems and technologies provided opportunities to drive efficiencies within the business’s operations.
  • Always be customer focused – introducing digital customer portals and improving the technology within the business’s call centres would provide a smoother, more positive experience for customers and applicants.
  • Be a brilliant place to work – by providing teams with digital tools to ensure their work was unhindered by a lack of resource, Touchstone could improve the workplace experience for colleagues.

At the end of 2019, the business created a new role to lead the digital transformation within the company, appointing Stacey Phillips as Director of Technology and Innovation.

Stacey and the team drew up a digital transformation strategy which looked at every aspect of Touchstone’s work and considered the benefits that implementing new technology, systems or software could bring.

The main goals within the strategy were:

  • To create an entire online customer journey – from applications for rental properties, through to managing their tenancy, and communicating with the Touchstone customer services teams.
  • To ensure the integration of their internal management systems – any customer portals and client-facing systems needed to be supported by efficient and seamless processes behind the scenes to ensure a smooth customer experience and streamlined workflows.

The approach

As a long standing user of MRI Software’s comprehensive solution suite, having relied on its powerful platform for operational property management and accounting, Touchstone approached our team to work collaboratively on the transformation process. Sharing their strategy with their MRI Account Manager, we worked together in partnership to identify where Touchstone could further leverage products and services, and where other specialist providers could deliver value.

Stacey also took time to research the industry and the world of proptech by attending a range of conferences and organised events, inquiring about what other businesses had done and what technology could be adopted by Touchstone.

Stacey says: “When I started in this role, I asked how would I go about digital transformation if I ripped up what existed and started with a blank page. That’s the approach we took, and it requires a lot of research into the industry.”

Stacey also looked at Touchstone’s clients, concentrating on their portfolios and looking at ways in which the company could improve their service and provide solutions to client problems or inefficiencies.

Creating an online customer journey

This goal included a number of smaller objectives, required to ensure a smooth and seamless online customer experience:

  • Implementation of a mechanism for customers to sign up and apply for tenancies online.
  • Improvements to the existing customer portal to include expanded functionality and a more user-friendly experience.
  • Integrate other systems into the customer portal, such as utility management, to allow for fuller visibility and more options for customers to manage their account online.
  • Create a seamless system both externally and internally, ensuring that an attractive and polished customer portal is supported by a fully integrated internal system.

As a result, Touchstone has adopted tenant portal capabilities from the MRI ecosystem – and has launched the solution for its landlords. The implementation creates a fully integrated experience, from the applicant portal for new customers, through the new functionality for tenancy management and into the customer portal once the resident is moved in. It also allows for full integration with Touchstone’s internal management systems.

Driving efficiencies internally

“A big part of our strategy is to find the balance between having an amazing front-end that delivers for the customer, but also has efficient internal systems with no loss of data integrity,” Stacey explains. “If you’re not delivering an efficient internal service, then you can’t be delivering value for money to your clients, either.”

To ensure the business was internally robust and efficient, the Touchstone team worked collaboratively with MRI to identify the best solution. Through MRI’s partnering ethos, Touchstone was recommended Fixflo, the provider of market-leading lettings, block and commercial repairs and maintenance management software. The Fixflo application can be fully integrated within the MRI software suite, and the partnership between the two companies has enabled Touchstone to implement an intuitive, integrated system.

Stacey and the team embarked on a multi-phase project, with emphasis placed on ensuring that the in-depth integration was done thoroughly and the diagnostic tools within the system were calibrated to suit Touchstone’s operations. A number of bespoke elements within the system are also being built and integrated within Fixflo, which is still being worked on by the two teams.

The system was rolled out client-by-client and, now the integration is complete, Touchstone is working with Fixflo to ensure the system is optimised in a way that ensures the maximum benefit is reaped from the solution both internally and by the customer.

Benefits

The team at Touchstone has received excellent feedback against the changes they’ve implemented. The integrity of the internal systems within the company has become a USP of the business, and the team takes the time to demonstrate to potential clients how the seamless and integrated internal system provides a huge benefit to customers.

“MRI refer to it as an ecosystem, and we’ve started mirroring that language because we agree that it’s a perfect way to describe it,” Stacey says.

For customers, the use of Fixflo has allowed them increased visibility of their tenancies and better communication with the Touchstone team in real-time.

Internally, the new systems have allowed for improved workflows and streamlined processes. The increased pressure on property managers from health and safety legislation and new regulations being introduced regularly requires a lot of resource from property managers to ensure client portfolios are kept active and customers are safe. The implementation of the new systems within the business has resulted in teams working more efficiently, saving time, and allowing them to redeploy their focus into other, value-adding areas.

Digital transformation has also meant ensuring that colleagues within Touchstone have all the tools they need available to them, something that has been intensified by coronavirus restrictions. Incorporating co-working and communication systems such as Microsoft Teams, Power BI, and other products has enabled colleagues to access all the tools the need to do their jobs efficiently wherever they are. For Touchstone, digital transformation is about having large-scale systems that make processes either easy or automated, but also a workforce that have everything they need to do what they need to do.

Learnings and next steps for Touchstone

For peers who are also considering digital transformation, Stacey offers this advice: “Invest time in your strategy, and don’t make it too long. There’s no point in trying to guess what the technology landscape will be in five years – it doesn’t seem like a long time, but in tech it’s a very long time indeed. Research your industry, your competitors, and different providers. Work out why you’re doing it and what you want to achieve through digital transformation.”

Looking to the future, Stacey says it’s difficult predict the next few years, but she expects technology will advance to include much bigger things than portals and apps, “but for now that’s what we’re really concentrating on.”

The team is working through every aspect of the business, from improving internal telephone communications to exploring the possibilities of VR for marketing purposes, to ensure that Touchstone is prepared for the next stage of its digital journey and whatever new developments the future brings.

The Right People in the Right Homes

Posted on by MRI Social Housing

In the UK the demand for social and affordable rents is high; housing providers are under pressure to deliver homes for more people and ensure existing tenants are moved into more suitable housing as their needs change. There are, however a minority of tenancies that are held fraudulently across the sector, costing housing organisations and the taxpayer money and withholding existing stock from legitimate residents.

Tenancy fraud is on the out. In 2019 it was estimated that tenancy fraud in the UK cost the taxpayer around £1billion per year. This may seem hefty, however the equivalent 2011 figure was £2billion. Reports in 2019 from The Chartered Institute of Public Finance (CIPFA) show that over the course of a year, fraud fell in local authority homes by 23%. With shifting priorities due to the COVID pandemic however, it remains to be seen whether this trend will continue through 2020 and beyond.

These numbers infer that the actions taken by local authorities and housing associations alongside the impact of housing reform over the last decade, are coming to fruition. So, what changed? The biggest shake-up in social housing regulation, including the introduction of Universal Credit for a start. In addition to this, the Social Housing Fraud Act (2013) made subletting rooms in council homes illegal and that same year the Bedroom Tax was introduced, aiming to eliminate the under occupation of badly needed family homes. Across that decade the digitisation of public services and acceleration of data-led organisations also brought the ability to investigate fraud out from the realm of dusty filing cabinets, helping to connect the dots.

Some alternative approaches are being taken to tackle tenancy fraud. Last year Southampton City Council announced a month-long ‘key amnesty’ for those committing housing fraud to pass back their keys. While this strategy does not recoup arrears, it brings homes back into circulation and may prevent a property falling into costly disrepair if it’s sitting vacant. This type of intervention can be undertaken before a housing provider goes on a dedicated campaign to identify those committing fraud.

The consequences for offenders who are caught rather than voluntarily surrendering the home can have lasting impacts on their lives. One example is a solicitor who unlawfully sublet their home in South London for three years. They were struck off, served a 12-week custodial sentence and were ordered to pay pack to the council in excess of £8,000 for costs and unlawful profits.

Stories like these are often caught up and widely publicised in the media, but the true proportion of housing fraud is representatively small. In 2015 for example, it was estimated that around 1.5-3% of Right to Buy applications submitted to local authorities were fraudulent. Bold headlines capturing the worst offending though, can contribute to the stigmatisation of social housing residents and the unfair tarnishing of the sector.

Despite these low figures, the stakes for uncovering fraud are high. Bristol City Council have estimated that per home recovered, £93,000 is recouped when costs like temporary housing are taken into consideration. Previously we’ve spoken about how housing providers can measure their impact across society by measuring how their work can make savings to the public purse and demonstrate value for money (VfM). One MRI Software customer, Metropolitan Thames Valley Homes (MTVH) have been using the Tenancy Analytics solutions to identify fraudulent tenancies in their homes. Over two years, a saving of just under £1.1 million was made to the public purse.

“Tenancy Analytics has proved invaluable for the Income team. In 24 months the product supported the recovery of 126 homes, which we have been able to reallocate to those most in need.”

Tim Millns, Director of Income & Leasehold Services, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing

We spoke to Greg Andrews at MRI about why housing providers are investing in fraud prevention and in the MRI Software solution, Tenancy Analytics. “Housing providers are in a situation where demand outreaches supply for social housing properties. There are over 1 million households on official waiting lists for homes and when somebody is illegally subletting, there is a family in need somewhere that isn’t getting the opportunity to live in a home.” Being faced with mounting challenges, Greg expresses “That getting the right people into the right homes is the priority for our customers.”

Within the sector Greg has found that customers are split. There are “those who are really on top of fraud; this may be because their stock is in towns and city centres, and these urban areas are more sensitive to subletting, for example. Those organisations are normally looking to make their processes more efficient.” Andrea O’Callaghan, Head of Business Improvement and Allocations at Swan Housing has observed that the identification of potentially fraudulent activity is one of the benefits of using Tenancy Analytics. Another is the gathering of robust evidence to enable swift solutions in cases of suspected fraud.

“As a registered provider we are unable to prosecute those we find guilty of tenancy fraud, as only local authorities have this power. Legal action would be required, which can be both lengthy and expensive, so our preferred solution is to encourage surrender of the property. As our knowledge increases, the number of cases of the tenant surrendering the tenancy has been growing.”

Andrea O’Callaghan, Head of Business Improvement and Allocations, Swan Housing

The other type of customer that Greg encounters are those that have yet to engage in a proactive campaign to drastically reduce fraud in their homes. Greg recalled that, “in a meeting recently a customer said, ‘we’re sure fraud is happening, but we just don’t know where.’ For some customers this may not be a priority because the resources aren’t there to investigate.” Engaging Tenancy Analytics first and foremost can establish that the people living in each home are who they say they are.

“Where housing associations and local authorities may not have the capacity to investigate where fraud is occurring, technology can help identify instances, such as whether somebody wrongly has a mortgage for another property or has been in receipt of a home by giving false information. Many organisations still receive leads for fraud from residents reporting suspicious behaviour to them or from housing officers going out and investigating proactively.” These door-to-door checks are strategies, which the current COVID environment has put a stop to for now.

Once keys have been returned from homes that have been fraudulently sublet – or otherwise – the next step for a housing provider is to undertake stringent pre-tenancy checks. These ensure that customer information on housing applications is correct and those coming into the home are given the right support in order to build sustainable, successful tenancies, ultimately continuing the consistent downward trend in fraud across the sector.

Removing fraudulent tenancies is the single most effective way of providing homes to those who need them from existing housing stock. Yet, over the past year, tackling fraud has taken a back seat for many housing providers as the COVID pandemic shifted immediate priorities. In Greg’s words, “Staff are so busy dealing with more pressing issues than fraud.” But analytics tools don’t need to prioritise; they continue working underneath an organisation’s day-to-day activities, uncovering potential fraudulent behaviour and alerting to false information without drawing heavily from an organisation’s resources and utilising the wealth of information that they already possess.

For more Information on how MRI’s Tenancy Analytics tool can support with the recovery of homes and revenue, please contact us at MRI today.

The 5 crucial foundations of a successful asset management strategy

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Explore the key components of effective asset management strategies, giving you complete control of their performance over time.

Among the many duties today’s facilities management teams are responsible for, tracking, maintaining and getting the most out of an organisation’s assets is one of the most critical.

Modern facilities will typically hold hundreds upon thousands of assets at any given time. All with different specifications. Different costs. Different lifecycles. Different degrees of importance in relation to overall facility performance. All of this needs to be accounted for and addressed in order for these assets to operate at peak efficiency.

With this in mind, an asset management strategy is vital for FM professionals to have to hand. Within this document should be all the information necessary to locate and understand every asset on site, optimally maintain them, replace them where necessary, and more. The complete guide to your assets and how you interact with them.

Here, we outline the essential elements these strategies should include to work successfully, and the role that CAFM software plays in making asset maintenance management more effective in today’s landscape.

Why is an Asset Management Strategy Important?

Fundamentally, a fully fleshed-out asset management strategy is the key to optimising operational performance, unlocking asset performance and keeping costs to a minimum.

It is giving your team peace of mind on how they are expected to approach asset management in-line with your overall business objectives, and how you intend to maximise the productivity and efficiency of this process.

How do you benefit from having a plan in place? Tangible benefits include:

  • Consistent asset performance: Having a strategy in place greatly reduces the risk of an asset’s drop in performance or quality falling under the radar, which could lead to productivity issues and costly downtime in the future
  • More efficient maintenance: Rather than deal with the costs and inconvenience of regular reactive maintenance work, an asset management strategy should provide structure in when and how these tasks are conducted
  • Better inventory management: A secure strategy should account for the times and processes when items need to be replaced or restocked, again helping these tasks to be completed more efficiently and with less hassle
  • Clear asset identification: With thousands of assets spread across large organisations, your asset management strategy should provide reassurance on how to locate them and how to interact with them once they’re identified
  • Reduced workforce demand: If everyone is aware of the strategy behind your asset management processes, your team’s days can be scheduled around these, ensuring they can be at their most productive

Of course, to unlock these advantages your asset management strategy should follow these 5 essential principles:

  1. A comprehensive asset inventory
  2. A consistent standard of classifications
  3. A set of relevant performance indicators
  4. A clear, well-structured maintenance plan
  5. A proactive asset replenishment strategy

1. Complete an Asset Inventory

The first step in a successful asset management is conducting a thorough audit of your facilities. After all, it is impossible to form a usable strategy if you don’t have a clear understanding of all the assets found within your facilities.

Within your asset inventory, you should include details such as:

  • The name and specifications of each asset
  • Where they are located within your facilities
  • Their cost/value
  • When they were acquired/built/installed
  • Their estimated lifecycle
  • Any important regulatory information

As the volume of assets within facilities has expanded and become more diverse, it is practically impossible to perform this accurately and efficiently without the use of a CAFM solution.

Tracking this information on multiple different software or spreadsheets is problematic for several reasons:

  • It increases the risk of data being unnecessarily duplicated
  • It takes longer to find an asset’s details when updates need to be made
  • There is a greater chance of information being misplaced or lost if it’s not tracked closely

Instead, inputting this asset data into a centralised CAFM system will ensure everything is in one place and is straightforward to access for the development of your strategy.

Rather than rely on multiple different software or spreadsheets to track this information, which can create a lot of redundancy and confusion, inputting asset data into a CAFM system will ensure everything is centralised and straightforward to access for the development of your strategy.

Plus, with real-time tracking and updates, utilising a CAFM system as part of your audit will make it significantly faster and easier to add, edit and remove assets when necessary, ensuring information is always up to date.

2. Ensure There’s Consistent Classification

Just as important as capturing all of the information about your assets in one place is ensuring that they are classified correctly.

Asset classification is the crux on which your asset management strategy will succeed or fail – and with vast amounts of data to keep control of, this is incredibly challenging without the right CAFM system in place. Again, these solutions offer a complete picture of the assets you expect to have within your facilities and those you don’t, so your strategy is grounded in completely verifiable data.

To best support your strategy, we recommend that your asset classifications are stored in a dynamic structure based on the attributes and properties you feel are most fitting for your organisation. This could be the date they were introduced, the type of model the asset is, their specific maintenance needs, or a range of other factors.

The key is consistency – regardless of which metrics you classify your assets against, ensuring consistency throughout will make it simpler to build your strategy and for your team to implement it going forward.

3. Establish Your Performance Indicators

Knowing whether or not your assets are operating better or worse than you anticipate is dependent on the performance indicators you assign to them.

Within your asset management strategy, these will likely vary depending on the type of asset or asset group you are referring to. But, again it is about making sure that these indicators are consistently applied and tracked over time.

Indicators you might consider within your own management strategy include:

  • Average time it takes to perform maintenance/repair work
  • Average downtime of an asset per month/per year
  • Time between failures
  • Typical downtime following a failure
  • Running costs of assets over a set period of time
  • Availability of assets at different times of day

In order to give your strategy and team clear goals to fulfil and an obvious signal if assets are failing to perform as expected, performance indicators are a vital component to incorporate.

4. Determine Maintenance Plans

One of the biggest objectives of your strategy should be to add structure to your asset maintenance management.

Using the asset data you now have at your disposal, you should be in a strong position to plot out the most fitting times for your assets to receive maintenance to keep them running optimally, restrict any downtime and extend their lifecycles to their limits.

This push towards predictive or proactive maintenance can be a significant cost-saver in the long-term. As assets are regularly checked and treated over the course of their lifetime, they will subsequently operate better for longer, and reduce the risk of inconvenient and costly failures or breakdowns. This means less frequently paying out on replacement parts or components.

Furthermore, your strategy should also establish the process of how maintenance work will be distributed to your relevant engineers. Again, this is where a system like MRI Evolution can be a valuable ally – a solution like Regime Manager can distinctly define the maintenance rules across all your assets, and then automatically distribute any subsequent work to the most appropriate engineers. This makes implementing your strategy infinitely more streamlined.

Without an effective CAFM solution in place, maintenance work becomes a primarily reactive measure. While it is near-on impossible to avoid reactive maintenance in the day-to-day management of any site, leaning too heavily on this approach:

  • Makes engineers’ days more erratic and disorganised
  • Increases downtime between failures being identified and rectified
  • Leads to more costly repairs or replacements in the long run

 

5. Organise Asset Replenishment

Alongside maintenance requirements, your asset management strategy should also include the process behind replacing and restocking items.

While proactive maintenance can significantly extend the active usefulness of a wide variety of assets, everything breaks down eventually – and this aspect of your strategy should look to minimise the disruption this can cause.

Fundamentally, there are two areas to focus on here:

  1. Disposable, often-used items and assets that are relied on regularly
  2. Replacements for business-critical assets and components

For the first category of assets, you’ll want to determine a minimum stock level that, once reached or surpassed, acts as the catalyst for that item to be replenished. When paired with a solution like 360º Stock Control, which can automatically order assets once they fall below the determined threshold, this makes your strategy immediately actionable.

In the second scenario, your strategy should utilise the data you hold on the expected lifecycle of these assets, and then use that to plot out an appropriate time to acquire a replacement. This means you won’t feel compelled to hold these critical items on-site for months or years at a time, which will lead to their useful lifecycle being shortened by the time they replace the existing asset.

It also reduces the risk of needing to look after potentially expensive or fragile assets before they need to be put into action, and leaves you more freedom to source potential upgrades on the market should they become available at a later date.

Support Your Asset Management Strategy with the Right Software

With the number of assets FM teams are responsible for consistently climbing, creating and implementing an asset management strategy is a more pressing concern than ever.

If organisations want to run as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, be it in how they maintain and monitor their active assets or their approach to restocking and replacing these over time, a clearly defined strategy is pivotal. It limits confusion and inconsistencies, and gets everyone on your team on the same page.

We hope that this insight into 5 crucial considerations for your asset management strategy is helpful in developing your plan, or reimagining your existing one. But, as we’ve identified throughout, how effectively you can gather the information required for this strategy and putting into practice will depend on the software you employ for the job.

MRI Evolution is the ultimate building management platform. Connect and control your entire facility and the people within it through one intelligent, flexible ecosystem, including our unmatched approach to asset maintenance management.

Our globally-recognised solution is designed to proactively identify and remedy maintenance issues across your properties:

  • Optimise asset efficiencies and lifecycles
  • Achieve complete compliance at all times
  • Push towards maximum profitability
  • Guide engineers’ workflows with total ease

Get in touch with us today to discover how the Evolution range can take your approach to asset management to another level.

Posted in FSI

Leveraging facilities management software to reopen commercial properties

Posted on by MRI

2021 has started with more uncertainty than many had hoped for despite the development of multiple COVID-19 vaccines. The spread of new, more transmissible variants of the coronavirus has left many who were looking forward to a return to the office now facing further doubts and fresh restrictions aimed at controlling the pandemic while the new vaccines are rolled out. Indeed, it will still be months before we see a return to something even resembling the “old normal.” For a facilities manager in charge of building maintenance and ensuring staff and tenant safety, that means making ongoing adjustments for both sites that must remain open and those that plan to reopen as circumstances improve.

As the situation continues to evolve, commercial property operators need to re-evaluate the way they carry out day-to-day operations to ensure everyone is safe and healthy – and technology can play a crucial role in meeting new challenges. Given the ongoing necessity of social distancing, facilities managers need to continue to provide updates on health and safety procedures and communicate what steps are being taken to protect everyone working or visiting a workspace. These include deep cleaning processes, building security measures and efforts to minimize physical proximity.

It has become clear that, as restrictions change and the COVID situation continues to shift, effective facilities management in the commercial sector will be vitally important. It becomes critical not just in providing safe working environments for those who must venture back to offices and other workspaces, but in instilling confidence that everyone onsite is safe. Indeed, the task of managing facilities maintenance (FM) will become more complex and increasingly important to efforts aimed at a safe return to normality in the long run.

Managing the workplace as restrictions ease

When more people begin returning to offices, facilities managers will shoulder an important responsibility. They need to ensure any and all new requirements are being met during any transition period in the coming months when people may feel safer returning to buildings, but there are still concerns about the spread of the virus. The need to work with occupiers to make certain the workplace offers an environment that meets all safety standards and guidelines – such as one-way systems or desk placements.

Indeed, we will likely see numerous examples of how organizations will need to rethink and repurpose their use of space, both to meet interim requirements and in fact, on a permanent basis in many cases. This could include areas that are isolated or “out of bounds” for specific individuals or groups – or may even stretch to areas for testing facilities. What’s more, many FM departments and workplace managers will be tasked with completely reimagining their organization’s use and utilization of real estate given shifts in working patterns and increased numbers of remote employees.

Technology will play a critical role in handling the changing nature of work. Paper-based, manual methods are not robust or reliable enough to manage this evolving situation. They cannot be relied on to guide well-informed, strategic decision-making which is required.

Digitalizing the facilities management process

The need to plan spaces more effectively means facilities managers have to rely on complete and accurate information – and have the right solutions in place to visualize and manage their space and related workplace data – so they can take all necessary steps. To properly address these challenges, space management solutions that offer visibility of room layouts, seating configurations and calendar bookings in one place will help ensure that locations are utilized in the best and safest way. Through software, actions or assets can be assigned to users, and can all be tracked on the system, while requests, assignments and approvals can be applied and automated. In what has the potential to be a confusing and sensitive time for stakeholders, this clear communication will be vital.

Furthermore, building security and safety will continue to be a significant issue as conditions change in the coming months. There is a growing need for facilities managers to look at how to streamline visitor management and lobby traffic. Knowing the who, when and where of everyone in a commercial property – whether visitors, contractors, tenants, or FM staff themselves – will be more important than ever in ensuring the safe operation of facilities and complying with any government track and trace requirements.

Facilities managers can utilize technology that allows the capture and analysis of real-time data on new working patterns and visitor activity to ensure commercial properties’ smooth running. For instance, visitor management solutions that offer an intuitive interface to quickly check in staff and register visitors will be critical to ensuring the overall safety for everyone, while efficiently managing the process.

Employing technology that ensures effective measures are in place and enables organizations to communicate that to all staff will be important in inspiring confidence and assuring those returning to work that their health and safety are being protected.

Opening clear lines of communication

The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of communication across estates and property teams today. Corporate occupiers and building staff alike need information on everything from social distancing and cleaning, to procedures for maintenance and contractors, to visitor management and where to enter/exit. Tenants, employees and customers, as well as FM teams and contractors, need to be made aware of all new rules, restrictions and actions taken in every physical working space, and digital solutions are a quick way to communicate up-to-date information to ensure safety.

Utilizing online portals, for instance, not only enables facilities management teams to maintain clear and consistent lines of communications, but they also provide a straightforward, agile way to handle day-to-day queries, as well as urgent issues – particularly those raised by COVID-19. Issues that might have previously been considered non-urgent could suddenly become critical in the context of maintaining a COVID-secure environment. FM teams will want to rely on their software’s flexibility to track and monitor new and ongoing issues.

Workplace communications have already taken on a new level of importance, and this will continue as new requirements develop. For example, FM managers will need to have digital tools for ensuring that engineers and contractors have all the information they need. They will also need to run an effective multi-discipline helpdesk to deal with reactive jobs and manage COVID related issues. Facilities managers will likely need to have procedures in place, for instance, if a COVID case is reported at their location. With an appropriate FM system, they could have built-in workflows of the steps needed to manage and respond to such an incident.

The pandemic and its fallout also continue to impact how teams communicate and execute planned work. For example, suppose there are simultaneous jobs at a building. In that case, measures might need to be taken to prevent separate teams or engineers from being in a building together and to allow for cleaning to occur between their visits.

Boosting efficiency and agility through FM technology

The impact of the coronavirus crisis on facilities management will reverberate for some time, even once the rollout of vaccines signals that it is safer to return to workspaces. Facilities managers were already facing mounting pressure to provide better customer service than ever while also cutting costs, and that will continue as people filter back into workplaces.

Everyone coming into offices and other workspaces today has high expectations on the use of digital technology to live, work and play. Investing in the right digital solutions not only improves the working and customer experience but boosts efficiency by optimizing the use of staff and time needed to deal with tenant issues – leading to savings.

COVID-19 has drastically accelerated technology adoption and, as the remit of facilities managers continues to broaden, going digital will be an essential component for commercial properties looking to optimize facilities management and ensure the safety of all involved.

Understanding your residents

Posted on by MRI Social Housing

Developing an understanding of who residents are, what their situation is and how they behave and react to disruption both before a tenancy begins and during one, is key for housing providers to build sustainable tenancies and tailor support.

Social housing providers have become a sector of experts in dealing with a shifting operational environment with limited resources. Challenges faced by housing associations and local authorities over the last few years, such as the roll out of Universal Credit or rent reduction made the impact of 2020 acutely felt by housing providers and residents alike.

In November 2020, Greg Andrews and Joanna Lewis from the MRI Social Housing team presented a webinar exploring ‘Tenancy and Arrears Management’. The session touched upon MRI Housing Analytics software solutions and their ability to offer insights into individual residents’ behaviours as well as any risks they might be vulnerable to, ensuring organisations not only secure tenancies but sustain and support them.

The MRI Housing Analytics suite supports our customers to understand their residents at two key stages of the tenant journey.

  1. Pre-tenancy: MRI Safestart
  2. In-tenancy: MRI Tenancy Analytics & Income Analytics

Pre-tenancy and in-tenancy analytics can help to build a rounded understanding of a resident and the pressure points they might face. Experian, one of the external data sources used in the MRI Tenancy Analytics tool, estimate that 50% of adults in the UK are potentially financially vulnerable, with 3 million people unable to pay debts when they are due.

Building the Bigger Picture

For social landlords, one of the biggest risks for rental arrears recognised by Income Manager, Alison Myhill at North Devon Homes is “at the start of the tenancy.” Robust analytics can provide income teams with real-time data to assist informed decisions and establish sustainable tenancies.

Before a social housing tenancy begins, pre-tenancy assessments can provide significant benefits in building a picture of who a resident is and what services they may need to access across their time in a home. In our Senior Solutions Architect, Greg Andrews’ experience, “We hear from lots of our customers that engagement with residents happens at a much higher rate when the right support is offered before they move into a property.”

For organisations, pre-tenancy analytics solutions should be used as a springboard for human investigation; an opportunity to co-create with the resident a structure that can enable them to have a long, thriving tenancy with open, honest communications. If those channels are opened before a missed rent payment, timely customer engagement can also help to improve the mental health of residents by alleviating some of the stress caused by debt.

As part of our application process we carry out a Safestart affordability assessment which looks both at the customer’s incoming and outgoing monies as well as any current debt or liabilities they may have.
This enables us to have frank and honest conversations with our customers on how they might afford the rent and costs of living in their new home and support them best by signposting them to additional support when needed.

Holly Edwards, Head of Lettings, Stonewater

During a tenancy, a resident may fall into rent arrears seemingly suddenly and without communication with their housing provider as to the context. For some housing providers, a missed rent payment may be the first signal of someone in financial distress. Using data analytics, which harness externally available data sources, organisations can track the financial performance of an individual. These tools can flag the first signals of hardship months in advance and thereby mitigate the possibility of rent arrears, while highlighting those most at risk due to circumstances such as welfare issues, vulnerabilities and fuel poverty.

When external data points are accompanied with internal information gathered by the housing provider, officers can approach communications with a broad understanding of a resident and their needs. Additional context, such as whether a resident has accessed a food bank, what their employment status is or if an individual requires support around literacy will influence the approach that officers take with interactions and the mediums they choose.

Listening to Resident Preferences

Feedback from MRI Social Housing customers using the Income Analytics tools have shown that residents generally prefer SMS communications and are more likely to respond to calls for action when they are received via that channel. Pertinent questions are – knowing this – where else can SMS be applied? – and how can housing providers rightly serve or train those who are not comfortable with that method of communication?

Using every touchpoint to listen to residents can transform the relationship that a resident has with their housing provider. Utilising the MRI repairs and maintenance tools, organisations can compile information around the best time of day to reach residents in order to ease everyday interactions, for example if a resident works unsociable shift patterns or are more available once children have been dropped at school.

As digital self-service becomes more prevalent across most consumer and public services, having a grip on the type of platforms residents are comfortable with will be paramount to conducting fruitful two-way communications.

The past year in particular, has seen many people’s earnings and security come under threat. Grampian Housing Association in Scotland found that 30% of residents asked were slightly worse off than before 2020 and just over 20% were significantly worse off. Understandably, the self-employed in particular, were the people most at risk of financial hardship during this period. In addition to these findings, 15% of residents asked, who were previously self-sufficient had now applied for welfare and benefits.

To provide a quality response, effective landlord services must be holistic in approach, with fit-for-purpose integral data and systems that are integrated with professional skills and expertise.

Inside Housing

Looking to the future: Predictive analytics

For the housing sector, the ability to assess financial stress across the whole resident journey is essential. Philosopher Marshall McLuhan said, “We march backwards into the future”; the ability to look back at financial behaviour across years of data collection can indicate patterns and moments where arrears are likely to increase because of other financial commitments.

Christmas is a good example of this; most people’s spending stretches to account for presents, luxury food and rising heating bills, leaving other outgoings to fall short. Data across multi-year stretches showing proof of financial difficulty during those winter months can help officers instigate conversations in autumn and plan solutions alongside their at-risk residents. When analytics and customer modelling are utilised in a customer-centric manner they can be tools to prevent hardship.

Speaking Directly to the Resident

Last November, the publication of the Charter for Social Housing Residents from central government made clear that the voice of the resident is predicted to become statutory practice in order to influence operations directly.

For housing providers, undertaking in-depth analysis and investigations beyond fulfilling basic customer satisfaction measures will take extra working bandwidth and levels of empathy and insight that technology is yet to offer.

The ramifications for not paying close attention to the lives of residents are serious from a human, as well as a cost savings perspective. Alongside analysing, identifying and predicting behaviours that kickstart actions to prevent hardship, housing solution analytics tools have the ability to further enrich the picture an organisation has of each resident. In turn this will enable housing providers to approach individuals for feedback using their preferred channels and talking about the topics that impact them.