Follow these five steps to move from AI-ready to generating results
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just a nice-to-implement tactic for facilities management. It’s a must-have for facilities that want to become safer and more efficient, as well as save money and remain attractive to tenants, employees, and guests.
As UG2 Director of Technical Solutions and Transitions Nick Leighton explained in Facility Executive Magazine, “The experience, institutional knowledge, and interpersonal awareness FM teams bring cannot be replicated by algorithms.”
But what AI can do when used correctly is amplify that expertise.
Nick laid out a five-step AI action plan that FM leaders can follow to achieve success and enhance their facilities.
1. Preparation Before Implementation
To ensure success of AI initiatives, make sure you’ve taken the following preparatory steps:
Identify what problems AI will solve for your organization. Examples include reducing maintenance costs, improving space utilization, and enhancing occupant satisfaction.
Ensure data quality. Integrate data sources—building management platforms, work order systems, and IoT sensors—to ensure you’re feeding AI accurate information.
Set policies on how AI systems collect, store, and use information.
Empower staff to use AI. Identify skill gaps and train teams to use AI as a tool in their workflows.
Prioritize AI initiatives that will deliver the fastest and most measurable value.
2. Start Small
Once you’ve completed step one, Nick urges teams to move quickly to pilot projects that allow you to test outcomes, measure ROI, and refine processes before scaling.
Use cases he recommends include:
- Predictive maintenance
- Energy optimization
- Space utilization
- Intelligence service requests
- Safety and compliance
3. Keep an Eye on the Now and the New
As you focus on initiatives that can provide immediate ROI, you also need to plan for new innovations.
Emerging applications are already shaping the next generation of AI in facility management. These include:
Digital Twins: Integrating real-time sensor data, 3D modeling, and AI analytics, digital twins allow your team to simulate “what if” scenarios in living virtual replicas of physical facilities.
Autonomous Operations: Facilities Command Centers will replace planner/scheduler and work request desks. Human oversight will remain crucial to these centralized centers, but allow facilities to adapt faster.
Predictive Capital Planning: With the ability to forecast when major assets like roofs and elevators will need replacement, FM executives can proactively plan budgets and make the data-driven case for sustainability and modernization investments.
4. Keep the Human in the Loop
The judgment and empathy of your teams can’t be reduced to an algorithm. That’s why the best teams use AI as an advisor, not a replacement for FM professionals. By integrating AI into daily operations, you can move from fire fighting to strategizing.
5. Focus on Results
You’re AI ready. Now, it’s time to move to results driven. Start with one pilot project and build from there.
For the complete AI action plan, read the full article in Facility Executive Magazine. To learn more about how leaders in your field are benefitting from AI in facility management—and how you might, too—contact us today.