Green Building Community
What are some ridiculous things that facilities managers shouldn't need to deal with in the year 2016?
Posted by: kevinkononenko // Facilities Management Team at CrowdComfort
After working on a corporate campus, I was shocked at how many things in the realm of building performance are STILL done with pen and paper or a long email chain. It strikes me that there should be quite a few things that are automated by software, but have not gotten there yet. This recent article from the Wall Street Journal reminded me: http://www.wsj.com/articles/let-the-office-thermostat-wars-begin-1465319614. What do you think? What are some aspects of facilities management and property management that are still somehow operated like its the 20th century?
Jason L. // LEED AP O+M
As a building service contractor, we see every aspect of FM functions at client facilities. Although there are some progressive operators who embrace innovation...most appear unwilling to allocate time & effort in the beginning to reap the financial, social and environmental benefits in the long term.
Allison Friedman // Rate It Green Admin
This article is so true. Whether out of concern for the environment and/or a desire to save money or just not waste, it's hard to believe that offices and schools pay through the nose to freeze people in the summer so much that they put on sweaters and heat people so much in the winter that they have to dress for summer to be comfortable! No one wins, and I am confident we can prevent this.
I recall spending much of college with the window outright open because we could not regulate our blasting heat - and no one could do anything about it. I am so excited about all of the emerging smart technology that is here to help us feel more comfortable and be happier and more productive.
To Jason L.'s point, how to we get Facility Managers truly excited about these smart changes? How can we get them to slow down first to speed up and improve? We need to be able to confidently show the productivity and cost benefits - and how they will save their time and energy - and be thanked for the improvement. We have to remove the risk to these decisions.
Fake doesn't cut it either. I smiled, sort of, when i read about Facility Managers installing placebo "dummy" thermostats! We can do better, and we have to have information and honesty!
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