Last week, we began our series on ROI, providing insight on how to determine your ROI for digital transformation. Today, we’re continuing our series by discussing ways to determine your ROI for your facilities management software. Implementing new software can be challenging, and when investing in your business, you deserve detailed, clear-cut data outlining your return on that investment. Not all FM software is the same and choosing the right platform for your team requires a strategic and research-oriented approach. Today, our team of enterprise and higher education software specialists discuss how you can determine the ROI of your FM software and use this data to propel continued growth for your business.

Consolidating from Point Solutions to Platform

When it comes to determining your ROI for your FM software, the first thing your team should do is evaluate your current technology setup and see where improvements can be made. While some facilities have little to no technology access, many are in the digital transformation process and may have chosen point solutions over a software platform. So, what’s the difference between a point solution and a platform? While somewhat similar, point solutions and platforms differ significantly in two areas: flexibility and scalability. Point solutions are generally used for quick implementation to solve a specific pain point within your facilities, such as mail sorting or hot desking. Platforms combine these point solutions, providing one comprehensive software for multiple facilities’ pain points. For example, Intra offers workgroups like Mail & Parcel or Asset Logistics, with the capability to assist with package tracking and asset management in one. 

Did you know companies use an average of 37 different tools or software platforms to run their daily operations? You might think this is beneficial, seeing as these companies have access to various technology solutions, but the lack of consolidation reduces potential ROI. With all these tools, you are spending on subscriptions, hardware, technical support, and more, all while using additional time to train employees on various applications. Many of these point solutions can’t integrate, leaving you to update each point solution as needed manually and merge data, which is potentially inaccurate due to the increased likelihood of human error in data transfer. By consolidating your point solutions into one platform, you can save extensive amounts of money by utilizing a full-scale platform focused on integrations, such as Intra. 

Space Optimization & Asset Management

After consolidating your point solutions into a comprehensive platform, your team can focus on other areas of facility management that can improve your ROI. One of the significant areas of improvement we’ve seen is asset and inventory management. For many asset managers, the struggles of inventory oversight, poor communication, and lifecycle management are common. Unfortunately, these issues can cost your business significant revenue, especially for small to medium-sized businesses at a rapid growth rate. A study from Dartmouth found that 60% of companies using spreadsheets for inventory management contained errors, with close to 30% of those companies seeing losses between $4 and $110 million in revenue. With comprehensive asset management software like Intra, these worries fade away and are replaced with a revenue-generating platform.

Platforms like Intra were designed to enhance asset management by providing the data you need to keep track of assets across your entire facility confidently. From barcoding warehouse shelves to assisting central receiving managers in space optimization to courier tracking with biopharmaceutical materials for hospitals, Intra can do it all. The result? Your team can manage the location and track the history of all assets, view where assets are in their lifecycle, and create an asset maintenance schedule to adopt proactive maintenance and minimize reactive costs. Additionally, you can generate revenue by organizing assets for recycling, disposal, or resale, allowing your team to generate additional income from unused assets. 

Optimize Employee Tasks Across Your Facility

If there is one thing that frustrates a facility manager to no end, it’s inefficient task management. Sure, slow software and unfortunate maintenance cause frustration, but watching employees work tirelessly to complete a simple task or even wholly overlook assignments due to ineffective management strategies takes the cake. Did you know that project managers spend an average of 36% of their day looking for and consolidating information, and 44% of that time, they don’t find it at all? That is over a third of their day spent on task management, and close to half of the time leads to lost revenue. One of the most significant ways to see a strong ROI on your FM software is to focus on one with robust task management capabilities, such as Intra.

Our task management capabilities include streamlined workflows that allow users to create requests through our CSP, which are then added to the FM’s work schedule via the CSP fulfillment screen. These tasks are then assigned to relevant team members. They can even be customized through configurable task management forms, with built-in automation tools to compel conditional performance triggers, keeping your team working as efficiently as possible. You can centralize requests into a single, searchable database, minimizing employees’ time searching for requests. Furthermore, you can enhance ROI by optimizing your team after implementing Intra. You may find that with these automations, you require fewer employees in a particular department and can move a portion of the team to another department to help further goals you previously did not have time for. 

Using Analytics to Minimize Costs & Strategize for the Future

If you know anything about us, it’s that we can’t leave analytics out of any list we create. As technology use increases in almost all industries, analytics are essential for feedback and strategic growth. Business intelligence has become an integral part of the workforce, and we can see why. For starters, data analytics makes decision-making 5x faster for businesses, with 70% of organizations thinking that data discovery and visualization are vital. It is incredible to take data points from designated areas within your facility and turn them into ingestible content. Regarding ROI, there is no limit to what data management can do. 

As this relates to Intra, we worked diligently to produce data-driven software. When you implement Intra, you have access to a configurable analytics dashboard, which is customizable to fit your facility’s unique needs. Monitor internal KPIs to assist with growth and identify current SLA metrics to ensure that external partners meet minimum requirements. This can significantly impact ROI by showing which partners exceed their existing agreements and which are considerably falling short. As a result, you can negotiate expansions and reductions of contracts as needed to maximize ROI.

Maximize Your ROI with SCLogic’s Intra Software

The options for choosing a new software platform to optimize your workplace are endless. With the ever-growing technology, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, finding a modern and user-friendly solution can feel overwhelming. For over two decades, our team has continuously improved our platform, Intra, through an Agile development model based on client and industry feedback. We’ve heard your pain points, we’ve seen you succeed, and we can’t wait to watch you grow. If you’re ready to maximize your ROI by implementing Intra, email [email protected] or schedule a demo with our team.