During any time in which an organization is looking to update or expand its current internal offerings, the one thing that often hinders you from moving forward is budget. Budgetary considerations, especially when it comes to technology, can be a large hurdle for any team to overcome, but in the long run, generally allows you to reap extensive benefits. Automations and modern software not only streamline a variety of daily facilities management tasks but improve many core functionalities of your business to ensure an efficient, lucrative process is put in place. So, you’re probably wondering, how do I budget for these types of updates? Here, our workplace management software experts at SCLogic discuss ways your team can create a comprehensive budget plan for investing in our facilities management software, Intra.

 Consideration 1: Influx of Employees & New Jobs Post-COVID

As we reacclimate to normal life post-pandemic, returning in-person to your office or university is likely a huge change from what your past year has looked like. While this coming year may feel like a time to get back to what your office or university was like pre-pandemic, the coming years will be filled with an influx of new jobs, leading to larger organizations, and a more difficult time managing daily workflows. When investing in an in-building logistics platform such as Intra, you want to make sure that you are accounting for a growing team of employees, as well as additional partners and clients in the coming years. This means that your facilities management software should be powerful and user-friendly, innovative, and comprehensive to ensure that your daily tasks can be accomplished efficiently.

Now, you may be thinking that this seems counterintuitive to budget planning. Expanding employees means adding additional salaries, leaving less room to budget for new platforms. However, an in-building logistics platform like Intra is designed to expedite processes that previously took a substantial amount of time, leaving your employees time to expand your customer base extensively, ultimately garnering more revenue for your business. While the investment upfront requires planning from your team and superiors, the long-term benefits reaped from this change will absolutely outweigh the initial costs.

Consideration 2: Standing Out in the University Sector

At SCLogic, our Intra facilities management software is split into two categories, Intra Enterprise, used primarily for large companies, and Intra EDU, a specific software dedicated to helping universities expand their offerings and manage a variety of daily tasks to assist students and faculty. Unfortunately, during the COVID pandemic, universities saw an unprecedented drop of 13% in first-year enrollment. Additionally, two-year institutions such as community colleges saw a drop of 18.9% in first-year enrollment compared to the year before. This decrease in enrollment may be frightening to faculty and higher-ed administration, but thinking from a solution-oriented perspective, investing in technology is an area that seldom shows poor results.

While it is understandable that budgets will have to be altered to adjust to the changing times in the higher education realm, one area that should not be overlooked is technology. Students and faculty alike have all adjusted to virtual learning and other technology-based initiatives that will only continue to grow in the coming years, and they expect their university to remain innovative in its offerings. By offering amenities such as smart lockers or self-service kiosks for students and faculty that integrate seamlessly with your in-building logistics software, you set your school apart and provide a modern environment for students and faculty to thrive in. Additionally, while community colleges are often overlooked when it comes to technological integrations, we work with many two-year colleges across the country to simplify their daily processes, so that you can focus on getting students back in the classroom.

 Consideration 3: Previous History of Success & Gap Identification

Ultimately, when looking to increase your team’s budget for any reason, a superior, partners, or stakeholders are likely going to want to see a previous history of success or concrete reasoning as to why this investment is worthwhile. With no centralized system in place to track KPIs related to your team’s goals, it makes it difficult to provide a concise yet comprehensive view of how your team has pivoted and improved in recent months or years. It is important that before you create a budget plan to bring to stakeholders, you and your team analyze time spent on each of your daily workflows, and how this impacts efficiency overall. For example, say you are the mailroom manager for a large university, but you currently are working with outdated inbound package tracking software. Your team may be spending hours scanning and sorting these packages and manually notifying students and faculty that their packages have arrived for pick-up. With no self-service kiosks in place and extensive manpower needed to complete tasks, you are left with a long line of students, a frustrated team, and ultimately, an inefficient work environment.

While this may seem minimal during the span of a few weeks or months, over the course of a year, outdated software, maintenance fixes, and excessive costs for employee retention is losing your team money. Now imagine that you have access to top-of-the-line software, a comprehensive analytics dashboard, extensive integration options, automated workflows, and more at your fingertips. Sounds pretty great, right? When we created Intra, we worked with our customers to create unique workflows configured for their needs, without sacrificing user experience. At the end of the day, our software bridges the gap between lengthy manual facilities management processes and a lucrative business or university that is technology-oriented. Preparing a presentation or list of the long-term benefits Intra brings to your daily job will be a huge step in additional budget allocation.

Learn More About Intra’s Benefits from Our Team

As you begin budgeting for the coming year, we understand that this is a difficult time for many. Higher education and workplace norms have shifted, technology is continuously evolving, and teams must adapt to a new way of working. In the same respect, we have worked in the realm of facilities management software for over a quarter-century, and if there is one thing we know, it’s that software isn’t going away, it’s just getting better. Investing in a comprehensive software platform early on allows your team to establish an effective routine and enhance departmental and company revenue. When you work with SCLogic, this means more than just installation and implementation, it means a team of hard-working, knowledgeable, friendly people that you build relationships on for life. Interested in learning more? Email [email protected] for more information, or schedule a demo with one of our team members today!