What we learned helping clients

As we near the end of another busy year, I wanted to share some valuable learnings from our work helping facilities and operations teams get more value from digital solutions and data.

1. Many facilities and operations already collect so much data. They just don't do anything with it.

2. It's often not about investing in new solutions. It's about understanding how to get the most out of the systems and data you have.

3. Stop being sales led. Sales teams are incentivised to sell their solution. Start with a clear digital and data strategy. Understand the real gaps across your business first. Then go to vendors on your terms.

4. The 80:20 rule. Yes, of course you can invest in specialist solutions that analyse every aspect of your business but most of the value comes from a small number of simpler solutions focused on the few areas that matter most.

5. See the big picture: Analysing unscheduled maintenance issues on one platform, HVAC issues on another, and energy meter data on another makes it hard to join the dots. Get your data into one place. Then you can see the big picture.

6. Data aggregation is getting easier. Aggregating data across disparate systems used to be a real challenge because you often needed interoperability, APIs, or bespoke integrations. AI-assisted development tools are changing that, with integrations now taking a fraction of the time.

7. Yes, AI is extremely powerful and can become central to your digital and data strategy, but only with the right context. Quality input around your facilities’ digital infrastructure, existing capabilities and business priorities is critical. This gives AI the context to understand where you are today, where you need to go, and how to get there.

8. RoI in weeks not months or years: You are not imagining it. Technology and the pace of life is speeding up but thankfully the time it takes to achieve results and tangible RoI is too. You can now start this journey and begin realising results in less time, with less cost.

9. Make the time: It costs nothing to have the conversation. If you are driving efficiency, cost savings, sustainability, compliance or improved operational performance, take the time to learn the critical role that data plays.

10. What key learning would you add?