Guide to help facility managers tap tech for productivity gains
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At the launch of International Facility Management Conference 2019 yesterday were (from far left) Mr Tony Khoo, president of Singapore International Facility Management Association (Sifma); Minister of State for National Development Zaqy Mohamad; Dr Teo Ho Pin, patron of Sifma; and Mr Edward Liu, group managing director of Conference & Exhibition Management Services.
PHOTO: CEMS
Rachel Au-Yong
Companies that manage estates and facilities can consult a new guide to see what technologies are available for them to raise their productivity.
The Consortium Operations and Technology Roadmap is being put up by a local association for facility managers - Singapore International Facility Management Association (Sifma) - and government agencies such as the Building and Construction Authority and Enterprise Singapore.
In all, the roadmap has 50 emerging technologies as well as key learning points on upcoming trends put together by facility management firms, researchers and government agencies. The technologies include virtual reality and voice-to-action commands.
The announcement was made yesterday by Minister of State for National Development Zaqy Mohamad, who said that the guide was especially important given that more than half the buildings in Singapore will be 30 years or older by 2025. They will hence need more maintenance.
Facility management services, which include the upkeeping of greenery, lifts and building facades, are manpower-intensive and rely heavily on a Singapore workforce that is ageing.
Mr Zaqy was speaking at the launch of International Facility Management Conference 2019.
Mr Tony Khoo, president of Sifma and chief executive of facility management firm EM Services, said there are three stages to getting companies to embrace technology over the next 10 to 12 years.
These comprise getting them to go digital, to make sense of data, and to innovate for the future.
Many small and medium-sized enterprises are still in the "going digital" phase, he added.
"There are huge productivity gains to be made here if they adopt the available technologies that are becoming more affordable," he said.
One firm currently offering such technology is IDA Technology, whose software can be used by all involved in the building process - from architects to contractors to facility managers.
The virtual reality representation of a building would help to anticipate issues, said the firm's chief technical officer Gerard Teo.
"One issue about having lots of data is the high barriers of entry to interpreting it," he said.
"Our software 'converts' the data into a virtual reality format so that everybody can 'read' it."
