Data analytics continues to gain strength as a driver of facilities management operations, and the Internet of Things (IoT) remote monitoring will be central to those developments.

Leaders in education facilities management understand how the impact of IoT on operations already can be seen in other industries, such as retail.

According to David Handwork, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management at Arkansas State University, “The near future of facilities on college and university campuses will see blurring or blending of facilities management (FM) departments with information and technology systems (ITS) departments. IoT deployment is already occurring, producing terabytes of metadata equally managed, shared and utilized between FM and ITS departments.”

The future state of facilities management depends on technologies that enable teams to take control of the scope of their real estate, facilities, and assets investments and expenses. Instead of “do-it-all” systems that ultimately lack depth and a purpose-built technology architecture, Accruent customers can take advantage of the full suite of Accruent products. Each functional group within the facilities team (maintenance, space management, projects, facilities capital planning) can utilize the best-in-breed solution for their needs.

There are many service enhancement and cost reduction benefits that IoT systems can provide. Yet, implementing technology for technology’s sake is never the right approach.

In these budget-constrained times, it is still imperative to:

  • Understand existing business processes.
  • Develop a strong case with clearly defined goals.
  • Achieve complete cross-functional team alignment to ensure success.

As high-level mini-processors like Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and Beaglebone drive technology market innovation, the proliferation of Intelligence at the Device (IaD) will occur. Arkansas State University's Assistant Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management, David Handwork, noted, "IoT is more than sensors collecting and transmitting data. It includes controlled and monitored devices with mini-processors embedded or added on. These devices calculate and execute logic at the micro-level, then communicate pertinent actions or report data and issues to higher-level Business Intelligence platforms. Centralized data repositories will be necessary for storing and cataloging not terabytes, but petabytes and exabytes of data produced by campus-wide facilities.”

David Handwork also serves on the Assets Subcommittee of APPA’s Total Cost of Ownership Standards Work Group, and he has urged the larger APPA membership to contribute and participate in the industry’s ongoing efforts. Currently, industry standards are minimal or non-existent regarding standardization of data integration and management for facilities managers. “APPA is breaking into the standards world with APPA Standard 1000 Total Cost of Ownership. This standard and future standards will equip not only education facilities managers with data management framework but universally all facilities managers. Future standards will be needed to ensure data security, integrity, and universal platform integration.”

Improve education facilities management with IoT remote monitoring.