In any company building, the workspace is paramount. Facilities management influences the quality of results and improves the daily life of every employee in an organisation. Facilities management is an essential pillar for keeping buildings well organised. It ensures the performance of the working environment and organises meeting room booking, occupant safety, the optimisation of company resources and many other aspects, thanks to the use of suitable software.
The benefits of appointing a facility manager
The facility manager has a considerable impact on a building’s infrastructure and services. They oversee technical aspects, ensure quality and manage meeting rooms. They use specialist software for maintenance, administration and the coordination of services within buildings. The facility manager also manages the budget, negotiates contracts and implements sustainable strategies. Thanks to their expertise, they create an efficient and pleasant environment, improving employee productivity and wellbeing.
What does a facility manager do?
Facilities management means looking after every aspect of how a building operates (spaces, meeting rooms, equipment and more) and ensuring its quality. The facilities department maintains equipment, coordinates the company’s services, keeps operating costs within budget and optimises the use of space in the building (offices, coworking areas or meeting spaces). A facility manager also looks after employee safety in the building and communication between the various departments and external service providers in order to maintain high standards. In short, they play a central role in creating a functional, safe, productive and high-quality environment. Their mission is to ensure, through the use of suitable software, optimal performance in every aspect of facilities management.
Improving how the whole building is organised
A facility manager (FM) ensures the performance of the company’s entire building. They coordinate and improve the organisation of the whole building. Meeting rooms in a building are heavily used, and the person responsible for managing them is the facility manager. Versatile, they make sure that all employees have efficient access to the building’s meeting rooms. To do so, they collect and analyse a great deal of data about the building (meeting rooms, reception, offices and other spaces) to focus their improvements on the findings of their reports. In an emergency, they activate business continuity plans and organise evacuation drills. In other words, having a facilities department in an organisation guarantees a high-quality building with optimal organisation and a good environment, supporting the company’s success.
Reducing property costs
Budget management and contract negotiation are essential tasks for a facility manager. Responsible for managing the resources of facilities and services, the FM must draw up and monitor the budgets for meeting spaces and other areas. They must also negotiate contracts with external service providers to maintain a high-quality building. Efficient budget management and well-negotiated contracts make it possible to achieve savings and to guarantee the performance and reliability of services within the building. That is why specialist software helps facility managers with these tasks.
How do you become a facility manager?
To become a facility manager in France, it is recommended to hold at least a two-year higher education qualification (Bac+2) in property, construction or business administration. However, employers increasingly favour candidates with a five-year master’s-level qualification (Bac+5) specialising in facilities management. On average, an FM in France earns a gross annual salary of between €40,000 and €45,000.
Useful tools for the facility manager
An FM needs efficient software to ensure the quality of maintenance, building organisation and the company’s services. Software optimises the management of workspaces such as meeting rooms through careful planning. It also helps to track and respond quickly to employee requests, such as repairs or layout changes. The facilities department also uses software to manage access, ensuring security and confidentiality in the building. In short, an FM relies on a range of software to make it easier to coordinate, monitor and optimise facilities management activities, thereby maintaining a high level of quality.
Managing and optimising workspaces
For facilities teams, space management software is essential for managing buildings. It is difficult for a facility manager to organise meeting rooms using a manual spreadsheet. Booking meeting rooms through software saves an enormous amount of time. It makes it possible to map the building’s zones precisely, manage meeting room bookings and monitor space occupancy, providing high-quality reports. This software helps the facilities team plan their building, optimise the use of resources and create an efficient, collaborative working environment.
Managing maintenance requests
A facility manager relies on software to efficiently manage employees’ service requests throughout the building (meeting room needs, printing and so on). These tools centralise requests, track them, assign tasks and handle communication with the people concerned. This software therefore ensures greater responsiveness, improving service quality and employee satisfaction while making data analysis easier, for optimal, high-quality organisation of facilities such as meeting rooms and employees’ offices.
Strengthening security with access control
Access control management software is essential for managing who enters and leaves a building (reception, meeting rooms and so on). It makes it possible to control authorisations, issue badges and track the relevant people in real time. This software guarantees the quality and security of a building while simplifying day-to-day access administration, ensuring a secure working environment.
Meeting, the all-in-one space and meeting room booking solution
Our all-in-one software Hamilton Meeting optimises the management of spaces and rooms. Thanks to its intuitive interface, booking and managing a meeting room has never been easier. Its booking and scheduling tools let you check room availability in real time and plan ahead. Hamilton Meeting identifies under-used rooms and provides detailed reports to optimise them. It integrates with Microsoft Outlook and makes it easier to organise videoconferences and order services (equipment, catering and much more). This software is sure to improve the efficiency of your workplace, reduce your costs and increase your employees’ satisfaction! Any questions? Contact us