How Facility Services Teams are Successfully Integrating Artificial Intelligence
UG2 operates at the forefront of innovation and technological advances in the facility services industry, and our experts have been leading the way in understanding how artificial intelligence can propel our work to new heights.
Matthew Deehan, who manages UG2’s facility management solutions team, recently published a five-step readiness guide in Facility Executive to help organizations prepare for AI and make the most of its potential. The article comes at a critical juncture—extraordinary change is on the horizon, and the time for leaders to act is now.
AI Done Right: The 5-Step Readiness Framework outlines a number of components that are key to a successful AI adoption strategy:
1. Create a stakeholder task force. The immediate need is to establish a cross-functional task force. This initiative should be led by facility managers but should include active representation from all critical parties. That means involving: the facility services experts who know the day-to-day operations AI can impact; IT personnel who are positioned to weigh in on technical, informational security, and data integrity concerns; representation from your legal team to speak to compliance and governance; and external facility services provider partners who oversee service delivery.
2. Establish AI objectives. Because the sheer number of places AI can intersect with our work is overwhelming, the work of the task force should begin with identifying and prioritizing goals and objectives. The discussion might yield a strategy that emphasizes, for example, decreasing costs by a certain percentage, reducing unplanned equipment downtime and lengthening life cycles, and enhancing tenant relations with tools that improve communication and response times.
3. Assess your data availability and integrity. Facility services, like most industries, is increasingly data driven—but ensuring that you are using data to your greatest advantage can be a challenge. Leveraging the tools and capabilities that allow you to access useful data in real time requires intention, expertise and a strong data-strategy foundation that answers questions like whether you have adequate sensors in operation, what it would take to budget for the most strategic data collection, and how to approach and implement related training for employees.
4. Prioritize security. Leaders and decision makers must take a security-first approach to AI. This involves a wide range of issues, from establishing policies to protect confidential company information and individuals’ personal data and ensuring vendors’ data is protected to developing and updating data privacy training for all employees and ensuring compliance with regulations such as those dictated by HIPAA and OSHA.
5. Evaluate AI solutions as they emerge. Solutions are emerging faster than we can keep up with them. That means the work of your task force will be ongoing, and urgent. Every facility has unique needs, goals and vulnerabilities. Ensuring your approach continues to serve your organization and stakeholders will require continuous evaluation. Relatedly, the cost implications of AI implementation must be considered going forward. The cost-savings promise of AI has long term potential, but initial setup and ongoing integration will create new expenses.
While the challenges of thoughtfully planning and integrating AI can be daunting, its benefits will be transformational to the industry and may bring advances and improvements at an unprecedented pace. We encourage you to read Matthew Deehan’s full article in the December 2024 issue of Facility Executive, and we will continue to grow and share our expertise as these exciting developments play out.