Dubai, UAE, 31 March 2019: Industry representatives suggest that facilities management (FM) companies today are making a conscious effort to understand technology, in addition to how it can help smoothen FM processes. Uros Trojanovic, General Manager, Strategy, Elitzam Asset Management Group, said, today we are conscious of the opportunities and challenges our company has, with reference to — community management, customer engagement and FM service contracting. He said: “In the last 12 months, we have developed a mobility solution for FM, and as a result, today the maintenance process has gone paperless.” In addition, he said, we have achieved greater efficiency, due to which our productivity has also increased.

Echoing Trojanovic, Suhas Inamdar, Head of planning and technical Support, Asset Management, Wasl Properties, said that in addition to contributing to growth, technology has helped determine the level of engagement, while bringing forth the challenges within the system. “Old properties,” he added, “are always a challenge, and there is a need for strategic direction.” In order to be more connected, he said, we have introduced a mobility solution, where technicians have a mobile on which service reports can be conducted. “With the help of barcodes,” he added, “technicians then get notifications, after which they identify the area, go to the spot and scan it.”

Highlighting another aspect, Inamdar said that today, customers sign digitally, which also smoothens the process. “Recently we entered into an agreement with Etihad ESCO for a high-revenue contract for approximately AED 67 million,” he said. Elaborating on the contract, he said: “The contract is with regard to a retrofit savings project, where the projected guaranteed savings is AED 14.8 million per year,” which he added, “is the result of having technology.”