Enhancing Facilities Management Through IoT Audits

Facilities management is undergoing a digital transformation with IoT sensors that provide real-time data to enhance monitoring, automate workflows, ensure compliance, and improve efficiency. Regular IoT audits are essential to maintain system performance, security, and adherence to regulatory requirements and, as a result, optimize operations while reducing risks.

By Fred Whipp

For a fully integrated approach to facility operations, facility management must start by auditing their IoT systems to understand current capabilities, inbound data and more. Typically, only a fraction of IoT data is being analyzed and interpreted, leaving gaps in insights and capabilities. In addition, this analysis is often delayed, rendering the insights useless to the facilities management team. While this has often been an ongoing struggle for facility managers, new advancements in IoT and AI are presenting potential solutions. For example, facilities management teams are beginning to explore IoT capabilities by implementing IoT sensors that allow remote monitoring and management of a facility, generating alerts for corrective actions where necessary.

IoT audits
(Image: Adobe Stock / panuwat)

Beyond alerting to active issues, an integrated IoT system can also help streamline overall operations by automating workflows, providing advanced reporting on both operational performance and compliance, improving energy efficiency, and prioritizing maintenance schedules. Such technology ultimately results in productivity gains, cost savings and continuous compliance.

Understanding IoT In Facilities Management

IoT can include several components, such as sensors and devices, connectivity, data processing, and more to provide real-time monitoring and control. Such applications in facilities management might include HVAC systems, lighting, and security. For example, sensors located at bathroom entrances can help determine whether the area has experienced enough traffic to require custodial attention, or IoT sensors can help monitor conditions including occupancy, weather, and room use to determine the most efficient HVAC operations, such as temperature settings, ventilation schedules, and airflow to help improve overall sustainability and cut utility costs. Coupled with process management software, these operational needs can be automated directly from the data.

The Need For IoT Audits

In general, audits are crucial for any system to ensure that it is not only functioning properly but also that it is secure, efficient, and compliant. As it relates to facilities management, an IoT audit can help an organization effectively manage their IoT framework while minimizing risks and optimizing performance.

Without conducting regular IoT audits, a facility’s IoT infrastructure can experience data overload, succumbing to data breaches and security vulnerabilities and essentially resulting in inefficiencies and subpar platform performance.

Frequently examining a facility’s IoT configurations can ensure enhanced data accuracy and relevance and improved system performance and security, as well as continued alignment with the latest regulatory standards and organizational goals.

Components Of An IoT Audit

While an IoT audit varies from facility to facility, the primary elements might include a total system inventory to catalog the property’s IoT devices and their functionalities, in addition to mapping device connectivity and data flows. From there, organizers might evaluate the effectiveness of those IoT devices in meeting their objectives — are they gathering the correct data accurately? Are system performance metrics reflecting information the team inherently knows or has observed? Furthermore, the system should be regularly reviewed for both cybersecurity and regulatory compliance standards.

At its core, IoT integration gathers data and analytics, which should be considered during an audit to identify insights and trends and make pivots where necessary based on actionable recommendations gathered from the information.

Implementing An IoT Audit

Performing an IoT audit should be a thoughtful process conducted in multiple phases, such as preliminary evaluation, comprehensive analysis and reporting, with identified objectives and a predetermined scope. Organizations should name an audit team with relevant experience or seek a third-party group to conduct the assessment, many of which would provide access to more robust tools and methodologies.

Based on the findings, organizations should develop an achievable action plan that implements enhancements and monitors progress.

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Future Trends And Developments

While there are new and evolving IoT technologies joining the landscape on a regular basis, today’s functional IoT systems should maintain several key components including automation, data analysis, remote monitoring, and sustainability.

Automated systems can free up an organization’s staff for more complex issues by handling routine tasks, and detailed data analysis technology provides valuable data to be analyzed in an effort to improve efficiency and diminish costs. Additionally, intelligent sensors and IoT devices allow for remote monitoring of facilities, furthering proactive maintenance. Finally, tech-driven facilities management applications can help foster a more sustainable, environmentally-friendly facility.

IoT audits, Fred Whipp, Vice President of Business Development, mpro5

Fred Whipp is the Vice President of Business Development at mpro5, the Process Management App and customer-first solution trusted by food service, retail and facilities management. As an experienced business development executive who leads sales conversations with data, Fred is an expert on best practices and digital transformation in facilities management.

Click here for more facility management news and insights about the Internet of Things (IoT). 

Business Continuity, Cleaning & Maintenance, Energy & Sustainability, Energy Management & Lighting, Facilities Management, Featured, HVAC, Professional Development, Security & Safety, Technology

compliance, digital transformation, Energy Efficiency, Facilities Management, Facility Management, HVAC, Internet of Things (IoT), IoT Audits, IoT sensors, Lighting, Maintenance, mpro5, Operational Performance, Professional Development, Security, Sustainability, Technology

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