The early 1920’s have often been described as “The Roaring Twenties.”
In both the 19th and 20th centuries, these decades brought with them both change and growth.
With it came a time that required flexibility and a need for anticipating the results of new ideals.
The 2020’s will likely follow in this trend of change.
And So Begins the Decade of Transition…
1.From 30-year Employees to 5-year Employees
According to a recent article written by Drew Desilver for the Pew Research Center, for the first time Millenials have the highest number of individuals in the labor workforce.
With a new generation of employees flooding the job market, often comes an era of higher turnover.
As Millenials, who according to an article by Andrew Martins written for Business News Daily are more open to “job hopping” at this stage in their life than older generations, enter companies, employees must anticipate and prepare for retirements, new employee trainings, and also short-term employees.
In anticipation of more experienced generations transitioning out of the workforce or opening themselves up to the concept of “job hopping,” businesses must capture institutional knowledge to avoid costly gaps in understanding as well as to save time when training or transitioning employees into new roles.
2. From Tech Challenged to Expecting Availability and Utilization
A result of much of the workforce transition is that businesses must now expect a generation of individuals who have grown up with technology at their fingertips and who have witnessed its ever evolving capabilities.
These generations and many others now look to technology, as an article from Deloitte Insights describes, to “provide advice and insights” into their fields.
Additionally, many individuals in the workforce now enter positions expecting technology to be integrated into their positions in order to maximize efficiency and to cut costs.
Not only this, but the integration of technology also meets the needs of a generation of employees who anticipate workplace flexibility and remote office capabilities in order to complete tasks and to fulfill the need for a work/life meshed together versus it being balanced or separated.
3. From Employee Centric to Outsourcing
In recent years, Ray Steeb of eFacility has noticed a move toward outsourcing maintenance. David Tan wrote in an article for Small Business Daily that some businesses are making this move due to cost cutting measures as well as to provide some built-in flexibility.
According to Tan, outsourcing maintenance can allow for companies to rely on people who are more skilled in particular fields; it also can lead to a higher quality of work as companies can end partnerships with certain vendors if they are not satisfied with the work product.
Steeb reports that this is not a trend that will be going anywhere anytime soon. He notes that with this trend comes the greater need and importance for capturing all of the information related to work done by contractors to ensure that members of companies and organizations can continue to maintain the facility even after they end a relationship with a service provider.
In addition to vendor transitions, it is important to capture that various needs and expectations of the individual businesses and organizations inhabiting the facilities in order to more clearly communicate to outside contractors their goals.
In the advent of outsourcing, there may be multiple service providers who must communicate among themselves in order to efficiently complete preventative maintenance or to solve unpreventable issues that arise along the way.
4. To Digital Twins for Facility Maintenance
According to an article written by Craig Caryl for SmartCSM, with the development and expectation of technology integration into the workforce has also come the incorporation of cloud-based technologies.
From this advancement the term Digital Twin has become widely accepted across various industries. Maintenance is no different. According to Ray Steeb of eFacility, over the next few years we will see a focus on developing the digital twin for facilities.
eFacility is the digital twin solution that allows users to capture all the information and access it from anywhere. Steeb describes the digital tool saying, “It’s like Google Maps for a specific facility.” Users have the capability to easily access an organized and searchable database of information that has captured the various road maps for troubleshooting and anticipating the various needs of a facility.
As stated in Caryl’s article, the facilities industry has for years relied on paper copies and easily misplaced or damaged versions of storing information that do not allow for comprehensive management of assets.
With tools such as eFacility, documents and other data can be stored and updated to more quickly share information with the numerous individuals required to adequately support a single facility or multiple under the management of the same organization.
Embracing Technology In The Next Decade
In welcoming the next decade, facility managers must also open the door for transitions that can ultimately be better managed through embracing the technological tools at their fingertips.
References
Caryl, Craig. (2019, June 11). How Digital Twin Technology is Changing Facility Management. SmartCSM. Retrieved December 30, 2019, from https://smartcsm.com/how-digital-twin-technology-is-changing-facility-management/.
DeSilver, Drew. (2019, August 29). 10 facts about American workers. Pew Research Center. Retrieved December 30, 2019, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/29/facts-about-american-workers/.
Kark, K., Briggs, B., Terzioglu, A., & Puranik, M. (2019, June 10). The future of work in technology. Deloitte Insights. Retrieved December 30, 2019, from https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/technology-and-the-future-of-work/tech-leaders-reimagining-work-workforce-workplace.html.
Martins, Andrew. (2019, June 6). Study Says Millennials Embrace Job-Hopping. Business News Daily. Retrieved December 30, 2019, from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15099-millennials-job-hopping.html.
Tan, David. (2019, January 17). 8 Reasons to Outsource Facility Management. Small Biz Daily. Retrieved December 30, 2019, from https://www.smallbizdaily.com/8-reasons-to-outsource-facility-management/.
