Facilities managers have faced various challenges throughout 2024, including sustainability, labor shortages, and innovations in technology, all while ensuring building compliance standards.
As sustainability efforts and technology innovations grew this year and labor shortages continued, facilities managers needed to ensure that they had the right tools to monitor and optimize their resources and chart the right course forward. Throughout the year, there has been a shift toward smart facilities and technology, which will help address many trends and predictions heading into 2025.
Leveraging these technologies is essential for success in 2025. Adopting these tools will help facilities managers make an immediate impact and lay the foundation for a more sustainable, flexible, and efficient future.
Sustainability and Green Building Practices
The popularity of sustainability and green building practices is on the rise, and as a result, facilities managers are tasked with staying in compliance once these initiatives are set. Facilities management teams will need to face the challenges of navigating complex regulatory requirements and integrating energy-efficient technologies to meet building goals and standards. To track these goals efficiently, facilities managers need to have the proper tools and resources. Emerging tools, such as real-time building performance monitoring, energy systems, advanced data analytics platforms, and integrated smart building systems, will play a key role.
As businesses leverage these new tools, they will be able to stay ahead and effectively manage and identify efficiencies including carbon footprint tracking and automating sustainability metrics, such as water usage optimization, sustainability performance, renewable energy integration, and waste management metrics. Monitoring these processes in real-time will enable quicker and better-informed decision-making on resource management and environmental impact. As sustainability is ever-evolving, scaling these solutions will be essential as green initiatives become a standard.
Technology in Facilities Management
With smart building and Internet of Things (IoT) technology growing and becoming more integrated, businesses need to unify their systems into an integrated digital platform. In doing this, facilities teams will be capable of managing everything from energy usage to asset health in real-time.
By consolidating these various technologies into a single, easy-to-use interface, managers will gain access to analytics and automated processes, allowing their teams to operate more efficiently. In doing this, they will be able to predict maintenance needs and optimize building performance proactively. As this technology continues to improve, it will eventually provide deeper insight, reduce operational costs, and improve the user experience.
Workplace Flexibility and Space Utilization
In 2025, smart occupancy tracking and space optimization tools will be transformative for the facilities management industry. Coinciding with the broader trend of flexible workplace environments, facilities managers will be able to optimize their environments with this technology.
Real-time monitoring allows facilities teams to quickly make adjustments and improve energy efficiency. Using tools to gather data on how facilities can be optimized will allow facilities managers to adjust layouts and manage resources effectively. With access to this data, facilities managers will gain insight to understand how spaces are being used and make data-driven decisions to automate future planning and energy usage decisions. Ultimately, this will enhance cost savings and the overall employee experience.
Labor Shortages and Workforce Development
With labor shortages facing the facilities management workforce, the ability to work more with less is essential. In 2025, shifting to platforms that support automation and the capability to streamline processes is key. By utilizing tools such as mobile task management and real-time reporting, there will be less of a need for managerial oversight and facilities managers will have the freedom to address more pressing issues.
With these tools, facilities managers will be able to automate processes such as preventative maintenance and compliance, allowing them to focus on more strategic initiatives. Having tools in place to simplify these processes will be essential for operating efficiently and handling tasks more effectively and supporting the smaller workforce.
As we saw in 2024, success in the evolving facilities management landscape will require a proactive and technological approach. Embracing smart building technology will be pivotal in overcoming future obstacles. By leveraging real-time monitoring and automation tools, facilities managers can optimize energy usage, reduce costs, and improve overall building performance.
Leveraging these operational tools will be critical for success in the new year and lay the foundation for a more sustainable, flexible, and efficient year.
Fred Whipp is the vice president of business development at process management app company mpro5.