It’s no secret that sustainability has become a massive part of the modern workforce. As companies grow, their desire to improve sustainability efforts and reduce their carbon footprint has, too, expanding their impact beyond their product or service and to the community. When you think of sustainability, the primary aspect that comes to mind is working with charitable partners in the sustainability space. Still, there are so many ways that companies can meet their sustainability goals outside of monetary work. So, how can your facilities management technology help you reach your sustainability goals? Here, our team of enterprise FM software experts discusses the impact of sustainably focused FM software like Intra and how you can implement this as part of your digital transformation plan for the future. 

Invest in Preventative Maintenance Technology

FM technology can encompass a wide variety of solutions, and choosing software that was made with sustainability in mind is critical. One of the most considerable resources and energy expenditures comes from reactive asset maintenance. Did you know that nearly 20% of companies spend 40 hours or more per week on maintenance? That’s an entire work week spent just on equipment and asset maintenance. Investing in predictive or proactive maintenance provides the resources for your team to track asset lifecycles, identify when replacements or checks should be made, and gather data on the average lifecycle of your assets. According to Andy Hancock, Global VP of SAP’s Digital Supply Chain Center of Excellence, “predictive maintenance has huge sustainability benefits because assets cost less to run over their lifetime. Also, longer maintenance cycles mean fewer journeys for maintenance personnel, which cuts down on carbon emissions.”

Through Intra’s Asset Logistics Workgroup (for both Enterprise and EDU clients), predictive maintenance is the new normal. Ultimately, the energy and resources saved from predictive maintenance can significantly impact your carbon footprint, especially with maintenance in high-energy industries such as Oil and Gas. You can monitor every asset in your facility, measuring detailed KPIs including, but not limited to:

• Average Age of Hardware Assets
• Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
• Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)
• Assets without Lifecycle Status
• Missed Asset Inspections and Audits

Begin the Building Information Modeling (BIM) Process for Growth

As the hybrid workforce grows, physical offices are rethinking their designs. No longer is it acceptable just to have those plain gray cubicles; modern offices with collaborative spaces and biophilic design elements are used to create a cohesive approach to in-office work. According to Autodesk, BIM is the holistic process of creating and managing information for a built asset based on intelligent models. In just one year, 145 million tons of construction and demolition materials were sent to the landfill, resulting in a massive waste of resources. By using BIM throughout the expansion process of your facility, giant steps can be made toward reducing waste and carbon emissions. According to Richard Sherman, leader of Mott MacDonald’s BIM strategy, BIM assists with sustainability in the following ways: 

• Pooling knowledge – technical, operational, construction, and manufacturing, to optimize facility expansion or design throughout every stage.
• Design changes can be made flexibly using digital modeling materials, resulting in a faster turnaround time and fewer materials used.
• Collaboration is utilized by gathering solutions from all disciplines present in the project when a change is made.
• BIM allows for clash detection, identifying potential issues prior to them arising. 
• Coordination of cost planning so that accurate materials and equipment are ordered. This is especially important during a time in which the supply chain continues to fluctuate. 

Utilize Digital Tools for Your Mailroom

Now we know what you’re thinking with this one, how important is a digital mailroom? Investing in facilities technology can improve sustainability throughout the entire mail process, from inbound mail to outbound delivery. Using our Mail & Parcel Workgroup, SCLogic customers have seen a 78% decrease in downtime and a 66% improvement in their delivery time with Intra. So, how does digital mailroom management assist with sustainability? 

Beginning in the inbound mail stage, mailroom teams can sort and identify document types through various integrations, saving ample time by removing the need to sort each package manually. Furthermore, facilities software like Intra can automatically collect and insert the data required for delivery or outbound shipping, reducing the use of technology assets and the potential for human error. We also offer a virtual mailbox tool and address forwarding that assists your mailroom by automatically sending a notification to the recipient when a package arrives and allowing them to decide what they want to do with it. This saves mailrooms from using additional resources and building space for extra storage. 

Our carrier integrations also play a significant role in improving sustainability efforts. For large facilities using multiple carriers for delivery, our analytics dashboard is entirely configurable so that you can monitor metrics like delivery routes and times and adjust these as needed to reduce fuel consumption. Finally, our analytics dashboard allows you to monitor internal KPIs and SLAs with partners and carriers. With everything going on in your facility, you may not be aware of partners and carriers who are not meeting their delivery SLAs or continuously failing to deliver matched purchase orders. Not only are those mistakes costing your team time and money by no fault of your own, but they are doubling the resources and fuel used to get you what you need. By identifying these gaps quickly, you can assess your partnerships and adapt as needed.

Dive Into Sustainable Digital Transformation with SCLogic

These are only a few ways that FM technology helps you reach your sustainability goals. As companies enter the digital transformation process to prepare for the new era of the workforce, sustainability efforts are at an all-time high. No longer is sustainability a plus for a company when hiring, but an integral part of their mission and long-term strategy for growth and expansion. Sustainability must be a top priority in all aspects of facility design, development, and maintenance, and sustainable FM software like Intra simplifies this process. To learn more about our software and sustainably-focused workgroups, email [email protected] or schedule a demo with one of our team members today.