Facilities Managers need to be able to communicate, collaborate and access data instantly to make fast, informed decisions. In this article, we will highlight a range of Microsoft mobile apps that can help Facilities Managers tackle their heavy workloads.
Facilities management
Typically, a facilities manager is responsible for the maintenance, security, regulatory compliance, health and safety, and staffing of one or more buildings. In commercial property, facilities managers often work remotely, moving between locations. Consequently, they will have to deal with numerous contractors for cleaning, catering and car parking, for example. Additionally, it is the FM’s job to manage the building’s budget, write reports, oversee renovations, make repairs and deal with emergencies. So, how can Microsoft mobile apps help facilities managers save time and improve productivity?
Outlook mobile app – manage your emails and calendar
Facilities managers spend a lot of time checking email, responding to text messages and managing a hectic schedule. Microsoft Outlook is one of the world’s most popular business email clients. Outlook mobile connects you with your organisation through email, search and calendar. It integrates with all your favourite Office apps and many third-party business apps. Outlook puts all the right information and contacts at your fingertips. The integrated calendar enables you to plan meetings, set alerts, share and update your availability with colleagues in real-time. Furthermore, the Focused Inbox feature uses AI technology to learn what is most important to you and prioritizes your messages accordingly.
Checkout a series of video tutorials that explain the many features of Outlook mobile.
Microsoft Office on your mobile
As a facilities manager working in commercial property, communications, collaboration and reporting are extremely important and often time sensitive. Microsoft Office mobile brings together Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote into one handy, supercharged application. You can see all the documents you have been working on chronologically, the most recent first. Easily share files using Outlook or collaborate with colleagues on Teams from within the app. Create new documents from scratch or capture text, charts and images using your smartphone’s camera.
The Office mobile app converts images into editable Word documents or Excel worksheets. You can also sign and save different file formats as PDF documents. Useful for keeping notes and creating reports on the go, the app can take dictation turning speech to text. Every time you edit a file, the change is saved to SharePoint and securely backed up in OneDrive.
SharePoint – secure document management
Microsoft SharePoint is a sophisticated browser-based collaboration and document management platform. SharePoint provides a secure place to store, organise, share and access information from any device. You can manage projects, automate workflows, and integrate with many Microsoft and third-party apps for HR, finance and building management, for example. The SharePoint mobile app enables you to stay connected to your people, partners, contractors, project teams, files, and anything else that is important to you.
Teams – collaborate, communicate from anywhere, on any device
Microsoft Teams is a chat-based collaboration platform complete with document sharing, online meetings, and many other useful features for business communications.
During the global pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, Teams became synonymous with video conferencing. However, Teams is really an advanced digital workspace, where people can come together to discuss, plan, share and get things done. Teams enable you to create multiple work channels for different departments, groups and projects. As well as persistent chat, audio and video conferencing, Teams can enhance or replace your existing telephone system.
The Teams mobile app lets you keep on top of on-going projects and activities. You can see the latest conversation threads, and where you have been mentioned by name. If you are involved in multiple projects, you can filter activities to save you time and help keep you focused. You can browse existing teams, create new teams and channels, and invite new team members from within the mobile app. Within a channel, you can see all conversations past and present, all files related to your project, and any other apps or content. You also have access to your calendar within Teams mobile, so you can check your availability, set appointments, and join meetings using voice and video conferencing. Anything you can do with Teams on your desktop is also possible with the mobile app.
Planner – project management made easy
Facilities managers must be able to organise, plan, prioritize and multi-task. As we have seen, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint provide a dizzying array of useful collaboration and communication tools. However, you can go further. Microsoft Planner is a lightweight project and task management tool that neatly integrates with Teams. Using Planner, you can create new project plans, create and assign tasks, set priorities, add due dates, and monitor the progress of activities. Next, you can breakdown tasks into checklists of items. You can add attachments and leave comments. Finally, you can export project plans to Excel worksheets and produce basic reports.
The Planner mobile app lets you see all your current projects and allows you to create new ones. You can see all the tasks assigned to you, arranged by progress, completion or due date. Within each task card, you can update the status, add multiple attachments such as photos and video, and write comments. The handy charts view lets you see what tasks have been completed and what remains to be done.
Power Automate – saving you time
Working in facilities management, your time is precious and always limited. Although every day presents new work challenges, facilities managers must deal with many repetitive, mundane, time-consuming tasks. However, Microsoft Power Automate enables you to automate many of those time-wasting manual tasks. Microsoft provides thousands of pre-built templates to get you started. Power Automate connects to hundreds of native and third-party apps such Outlook, Excel, DocuSign, Eventbrite and SAP. Power Automate can automate numerous administrative tasks such as collecting staff time-sheet data, sending budget authorisation requests and scheduling building maintenance work. Save time and focus on what is important with automated workflows from Microsoft.
Power BI – informed decision making
Today, building sensors collect enormous amounts of data about everything from available parking spaces and room occupancy to HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) systems. Microsoft Power BI enables you to collect, analyse, present and share data from multiple sources such as building management, asset management and housekeeping systems. You can customise every aspect of Power BI allowing you to present financial data, performance metrics or energy cost-savings as dashboards and reports. You can monitor every aspect of an office building, warehouse or shopping centre while on the go with the Power BI mobile app. Make better informed decisions about every aspect of property management based on clear, real-time data.
Security matters – defense in-depth
Cybercrime remains a persistent threat to commercial and retail property management. Microsoft 365 helps defend against cyber-threats like phishing attacks, ransomware and malware to safeguard your business data. Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) scans emails for suspicious links and attachments, protects against impersonation and spoofing, and checks that all files in SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive are safe to access. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) stops emails and documents being forwarded, viewed, edited or printed by anyone outside your organisation’s network.
Microsoft InTune, which is available with Microsoft 365 Premium, allows you to manage access to company owned mobile devices and data using Mobile Device Management (MDM). Alternatively, you can securely manage mobile apps, email and data on personal devices with Mobile Application Management (MAM). Microsoft 365 offers multiple layers of security from strict access controls to sophisticated device, application and data defenses.
Mobile apps help facilities managers work smarter, not harder
The job of a facilities manager working in commercial real estate is always going to be varied, complex and demanding. Microsoft 365 mobile apps can help facilities managers work smarter, not harder, saving you valuable time to focus on priority tasks.
Contact Modern Networks
As a leading provider of IT managed services to the UK’s commercial property sector, Modern Networks has the knowledge and experience to help you get the most from Microsoft mobile apps.