< Previous COVER STORY www.fm-middleeast.com20 March 2021 they create relatively more value in the market than the traditional way of doing business. IoT devices and machine-learning-based systems are the main digital trends to focus on in terms of value creation and value capture which shall be leveraged to build an FM effective digital strategy. These digital disruptions will create new services to clients around energy management including energy audits, energy management plans, targets and guaranteed savings. “That being said, technology is the only way forward in FM. When agility and productivity are the goals, yesterday’s FM spreadsheets and workflows will no longer apply. FM teams must become proficient at using technological tools to help the rest of the business respond quickly to changing conditions and be comfortable with using predictive analytics and business condition, some of which were not a priority for facility managers. Nizameddin says a wide variety of these risks exist within the built environment, including but not limited to, life and safety issues (which are more pressing in a facility that caters to the public), compliance with codes, legislations and regulations, environmental hazards and the potential exposure of an organisation’s image, brand and reputation. He says: “The key word behind this pandemic is ‘business continuity’ which is directly associated with the type of facility and the pertinent level of risks. As a case in point, within a health care facility, the failure of an emergency clinic is more crucial than the failure of an office building. In addition, for a university, the failure of classroom buildings has most likely a greater impact than that of administration buildings. “The O&M costs should no longer be the sole area of attention in front of the FM service providers. It’s time to consider other key tools and techniques of the likes of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), sustainable O&M procedures and the emerging technologies.” DIGITAL TRENDS The UAE Government is steering the digital transformation process within the country and with the increasing influence of environmental NGOs, it’s expected that, within 5 years, most of the key facilities in UAE will be deploying AI-based technologies to achieve the following: (1) Optimising the asset life cycle; (2) Reducing energy consumption; and (3) Cutting down greenhouse gas emissions. Nizameddin says: “New digital trends will not be ‘disruptive’ unless COVER STORY Control room at Ejadah. COVER STORY www.fm-middleeast.comMarch 2021 21 intelligence for informed decision- making.” With the adoption of technologies and the dependency on systems, especially the Robotic Process Automation, a lot of admin and office jobs will be obsolete. Moreover, with the introduction of robots, drones and AI in operation, the number of workforce required for most of the functions will be reduced. The industry will require a different skillset to cater to these technologies such as specialised technicians, robotics engineers and technicians, data analysts and scientists, cyber security experts, and software developers. He adds: “We are among the pioneers who are streamlining strategic innovation in such a changing digital world by moving to data-driven decision making and operations. That’s why Ejadah is racing to be the first movers in this space in order to capitalise on the size and value of data which will create a compelling value proposition in this digital disrupted world.” In addition, Nizameddin believes that service management shall be considered as a key component of a successful facility manager of the future. Strong leadership skills with the ability to create employee motivation, engagement, respect and development are vital ingredients in any successful service model. THE EJADAH FOCUS Talking a bit about applying some of the strategies at Ejadah, Nizameddin says: “We, at Ejadah, believe that maintenance shall move from the traditional planned and preventive maintenance, and top of the shelf standards such as SFG 20, to a smart predictive maintenance and a reliability based maintenance (RBM) which is a step-by-step instructional tool on how to analyse a system’s all failure modes and define how to prevent or detect those failures early. “RBM will ensure greater safety and environmental integrity, improved operating performance and greater maintenance cost-effectiveness. Unfortunately, our plans were disrupted by the pandemic in 2020. Regardless of the conflicting reports that we are hearing about the future of Covid-19, we are very optimistic when it comes to the upcoming months, especially with the humongous success of the local vaccine drive. In addition, we are planning to start the implementation of multiple technologies and innovative solutions within the current year (2021) that will sustain Ejadah’s endeavors to scale new heights.” Ejadah’s focus will always remain on three core areas: Its people and customers; technology and innovation; and integrity, transparency and stakeholder management Nizameddin concludes by saying: “Successful companies are those that embrace challenges, and since every cloud has a silver lining, the two main things that FM companies should focus on revolve around resilience and sustainability, which should refine the mindset of all partners in an ecosystem.” Ejadah's predictive maintenance dashboard. www.fm-middleeast.com PLATINUMSILVERCATEGORY 22 March 2021 NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR FMME AWARDS 2021 Nominations for the 14th edition of the Facilities Management Middle East (FMME) Awards are now open. Nominations for the 13th edition of the Facilities Management Middle East Awards is now open. The FMME Awards 2021 will be held on 16 June, in Dubai, at the JW Marriott Marquis. This year we have introduced one more category ‘Supplier of the Year’. The Supplier of the Year award recog- nises any Middle East-based supplier involved in the FM supply chain that includes and is not limited to CAFM providers, plumbing and sanitary- ware, security systems, firefighting and alarm systems, IAQ (indoor air quality) specialists, cleaning suppli- ers, and others. Companies looking to send in nominations for the awards ceremony are requested to take note of all the guidelines and procedures in order to meet the deadline with eligibility. This year there will be a total of 16 categories, namely Young Facilities Manager of the Year, Unsung Hero of the Year, Facilities Manager of the Year, FM Executive of the Year, Cleaning Company of the Year, FM Consultancy of the Year, Sanitation & Waste Management Company of the Year, Security Company of the Year, Sustainability Initiative of the Year, Education & Development Initiative of the Year, Technology Implementation of the Year, Health And Safety Initia- tive of the Year, Overall FM Company of the Year, Property Management Company of the Year, Engineering Service of the Year, and Supplier of the Year. Last year given the uncertainty due to the ongoing pandemic, FM Middle East Awards 2020 was held virtu- ally. ITP Media Group and Facilities Management Middle East were agile in adapting to the status quo and pio- neered the first successful virtual FM awards in the region. The event last year was streamed online on 10th June 2020. Giving a recap of last year, Ejadah bagged the Overall FM Company of the Year awards, with Emrill taking home the Highly Commended. Gary Reader, general manager of ServeU, was crowned FM Executive of the Year 2020. There were two Highly Commended in the same category with the individuals being Engineer Ansari, CEO of Adeeb Group and Stu- art Harrison, CEO of Emrill. A big winner was Emrill, with the firm bagging 8 awards in total: four wins in Health and Safety Initiative of the Year, Engineering Service of the Year, Young Facilities Manager of the Year and Facilities Manager of the Year, and four highly commended in Education and Development Initiative of the Year, FM Executive of the Year, Unsung Hero of the Year and Overall FM Company of the Year. The FMME Awards have come to be seen as the benchmark of success for FM companies in the region and the trophy pieces sit proudly on the mantel pieces of the leading FM con- sultants and contractors working in the Middle East, long after the night itself. The awards celebrate their 14th year in June and promises to bring the FM industry out in force. For enquiries related to awards sub- missions, please contact rajiv.pillai@itp. com. For awards sponsorship and table sales get in touch with vinay.ravindran@ itp.com and anthony.chandran@itp.com, respectively. More details can be found online at: http://fm-middleeast.com/awards THE FMME AWARDS 2021 WILL BE HELD ON 16 JUNE, IN DUBAI, AT THE JW MARRIOTT MARQUIS COMPANIES LOOKING TO SEND IN NOMINATIONS FOR THE AWARDS CEREMONY ARE REQUESTED TO TAKE NOTE OF ALL THE GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES IN ORDER TO MEET THE DEADLINE WITH ELIGIBILITY. www.fm-middleeast.com PLATINUMSILVERCATEGORY March 2021 23www.fm-middleeast.com24 March 2021 PLATINUMSILVERCATEGORY FMME AWARDS 2021 GALLERY Computer-aided Facility Management or CAFM systems have never been more pertinent during these times TEN TIPS The 10 most important factors to take into consideration for a successful CAFM implementation p30 plus A SP EC IA L R E P O R T F R O M FACI LITI ES M A N AG E M E N T M I D D L E E A ST CAFM SYSTEMSA CELEBRATION OF EXCELLENCE IN FACILITIES MANAGEMENT Wednesday 16th June 2021 - JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai, UAE NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR THE 14TH ANNUAL FACILITIES MANAGEMENT MIDDLE EAST AWARDS FOR SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES VINAY RAVINDRAN Group Sales Manager T: +971 4 444 3155 GSM: +971 55 810 1197 E: vinay.ravindran@itp.com FOR NOMINATION ENQUIRIES RAJIV PILLAI Editor T: +971 4 444 3262 E: rajiv.pillai@itp.com FOR EVENT ENQUIRIES EBONIE PLATFOOT Events Manager T: +971 444 3689 E: ebonie.platfoot@itp.com FM-MIDDLEEAST.COM/AWARDS #FMMEAwards PLATINUM SPONSORSILVER SPONSORCATEGORY SPONSOR Awardswww.fm-middleeast.comwww.fm-middleeast.comMarch 2021 27 INTRO DIVING INTO CAFM Has the pandemic accelerated the use of CAFM systems in the region? To which Eashak Ali, director at Nanosoft, says that the race for embrac- ing technology has been underway for years as the business environment grows more complex and the pace of change increases. He adds: “Covid-19 has cast an unbearable strain upon every facet of our society, undoubt- edly influencing the way we will live, interact, and conduct business for years to come. It has made us depend more on technology-based services and further create awareness to accelerate the CAFM digitisation journey to establish a digital platform for FM businesses where technology helps the team to process and manage daily FM-related tasks with ease and timely responses.” Ali adds that this region specifically was quick to adopt and rollout busi- ness-critical functionalities like provid- ing mobility solutions for technicians/ housekeepers who were the frontline heroes with GIS enablement and ac- cess to reference documents with alert mechanism. He says: “We [at Nanosoft] also provided tools such as Smart FM bot, dashboard access through smart phones and online reporting tool to enable the end clients to have access to KPI’s and SLA’s with annotate func- tionality to make communication effec- tive between key FM stakeholders. “Most users in a CAFM system are the field staffs and this is usually overlooked due to operational costs. Our focus with all our clients was to strengthen the field activities using our Smart FM Reach mobile applica- tion to eliminate back office manual entries. We have witnessed an increase in the usage by 99% and clients adding more users. Also, critical fault alarm data from BMS & IoT systems were interfaced to provide the FM team with predictive work orders. In a nutshell, FM businesses have started looking for establishing digital platforms at differ- ent levels to simplify the maintenance tracking activities.” Ali says that the focus has also shifted to the FM consumer market and Nanosoft offers home maintenance apps with end-to-end solution with the best industry functionalities built in. Nanosoft delivered 16 CAFM projects from medium to large FM companies that included one in KSA, one in Bah- rain and one in Qatar over the last 12 months. 80% of these projects were of- fered as SaaS model hosted in the firm’s private smartfm.cloud platform. Ali adds: “A couple of projects were kept on hold during the lockdown; however, when the lockdown was partially lifted in the month of June 2020, we were able to restart the activities. All the im- plementations where delivered online with only 20% of activity carried out at site for field staff mobility training. We followed all the safety standards set by authorities to ensure safe access to site to implement and train them to use the Smart FM tool effectively. Our tool is built for a seamless and successful rollout.” Integrated CAFM systems can deliver cost savings from 5% to 15% for an organisation, says Ali. Talking more about its Smart FM system, he says: “As software developers, we made a Smart FM system to integrate with many third-party systems using microser- vices to get insightful data across the building operations. Tangible benefits include improved operational efficien- cy, real-time monitoring and control, planning, real-time performance tracking and asset life cycle track- Eashak Ali, director at Nanosoft, says there is an increased awareness in CAFM digitisation ing. Intangible benefits include better customer experience and prevention of incidents.” Nanosoft’s focus has been always providing with full functionality of the FM software at competitive pricing strategy to enable its clients to benefit from the software. The firm is migrat- ing its software platform to React JS & React Native with Mongo DB, Postgre SQL on demand for faster and secure processing of data while reducing the costs of its IT infrastructure. It has also added software development projects to its service offerings. Ali concludes: “Our customers are our partners and we believe the success is when a product is fully utilised to its capability. We continuously enhance and support their growth.” Eashak Ali, director at Nanosoft . INSIGHT 28 March 2021www.fm-middleeast.com How CAFM can save businesses time and money? C omputer-aided Facility Management or CAFM is a growing technology in the facility management and operations sector to digitise the assets and streamline essential tasks through the use of real-time data and automated processes. For any business serious about efficiency and productivity, CAFM is absolutely necessary. Today, the load on facility managers is ever-increasing and has moved beyond just the traditional requirements of buildings and assets management. Some other services which may be required of them are property management, asset tracking, maintenance planning, users’ interface, space management and more. Facility SAVING TIME AND MONEY Managers can no longer rely purely on static information and Excel spreadsheets to deliver advanced facilities management solutions, and this has naturally resulted in the evolution of CAFM systems. Thanks to the several benefits it can offer, CAFM has over the years, become more a necessity than a tech luxury. In fact, studies show that in 2019, the global CAFM market was valued at $830m and it is expected to reach over $1.4bn by the end of 2026, with a CAGR of 8.24% during 2020-2026. Dr Anas Bataw, director of the Centre of Excellence in Smart Construction (CESC) at Heriot-Watt University Dubai, discusses the several benefits that businesses can reap through the deployment of CAFM. • DRIVING DOWN COSTS All businesses look to bring costs down in order to maximise productivity and that is exactly what CAFM does. The comprehensive reporting capability in various CAFM systems available today allow Facility Managers to use data for efficient and informed decision making, which can result in resources being used more productively. For example – CAFM could potentially track spaces in offices that require a great deal of lighting and recommend use of energy-saving light bulbs and double-glazing on windows for these areas. While such a solution may require some initial investment, it is an investment that pays back over INSIGHTINSIGHT March 2021 29www.fm-middleeast.com time on a company’s energy bill. Studies by EPA state that approximately 35% of a building’s energy costs are spent on lighting alone, and CAFM could help you reduce these costs. Predictive maintenance is another area where CAFM can help businesses cut costs. It is a well-known fact that reactive maintenance always cost far more than taking a preventive or predictive maintenance approach. This could be because replacing a broken part could be more expensive than undertaking maintenance or a damaged piece of equipment could compromise efficiency or worse - employee safety. In fact, according to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, predictive maintenance can generate substantial savings by reducing overall maintenance costs by 18 to 25%. A sophisticated CAFM system will be capable of pulling together a central database, which can then be used to schedule maintenance tasks going forward. • OPTIMISED SPACE MANAGEMENT Many functions of CAFM systems are designed to help with various aspects of space management. For example – analysis of how various assets are placed in a facility, workforce management or allocating a space for a particular use. Post-pandemic, space management has become even more critical. Businesses may have fewer employees than before, working from home has become the norm, social distancing requirements could mean the same space will now be used differently where health and safety requirements have taken centre stage. Unutilised space often does nothing beyond costing money to maintain. CAFM can determine better ways to allocate space and make the workplace a safer and more manageable place for everyone and most importantly, ensure no money is wasted on vacant locations. • INTEGRATION WITH BIM Apart from the traditional benefits of CAFM, in recent times we are seeing a trend of integrating Building Information Modelling/ Management (BIM) with CAFM. Linking the two greatly increases operational efficiency, reduces costs and generates even more useful, and standardised data. In other words, BIM and CAFM together are even more powerful than just CAFM by itself. The first advantage of this integration is a smooth handover between different teams, where traditionally building design and construction is followed by the handover from contractors to subcontractors to owners and finally the occupants and facility managers. This process can be made much smoother by integrating BIM and CAFM to ensure maximum utilisation of space and assets at each stage. It also allows Facility Managers to access extensive information with BIM – this usually contain comprehensive database with objects, graphics, and linked processes to govern the management from the initial to the final stage without any discrepancy. Which will also result in minimising the use of papers and manual handling of information during handover stages and throughout the maintenance and operations of assets, ultimately improve sustainability in Facility Management and operations. In this regard, Heriot-Watt University’s Centre of Excellence in Smart Construction (CESC) is committed to advancing industry-led innovations in construction by partnering with like- minded organisations and government entities. It also aims to provide a creative environment for collaboration between multidisciplinary researchers, industry and government to solve challenges faced by the construction sector. Many of the solutions emerging from these partnerships help businesses in the region find solutions to a broad spectrum of issues, including optimising and automating daily property operations. Dr Anas Bataw, director of the Centre of Excellence in Smart Construction (CESC) at Heriot-Watt University Dubai. CAFM CAN DETERMINE BETTER WAYS TO ALLOCATE SPACE AND MAKE THE WORKPLACE A SAFER AND MORE MANAGEABLE PLACE FOR EVERYONE AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, ENSURE NO MONEY IS WASTED ON VACANT LOCATIONS. Next >