Why is Facilities Document Management Crucial during a Pandemic?

1. The current Covid-19 pandemic situation has changed our daily lives and the way we operate our businesses. For almost eight months now half of the population of the world is confined to their homes. In order to contain the spread of the virus, governments all across the world are still in the favour of stay at home orders. There has not been an vaccine out yet and therefore a major part of the population of the world are not willing to risk their lives by stepping out of their homes and increasing their chances of being exposed to the virus. The role of facility managers in this scenario is the most challenging one. As they are in charge of the maintenance and management of facilities, they now are responsible for the well-being and safety of the people

2. staying and working in and visiting the facilities. At the same time, facility managers need to be careful about their own safety and the safety of their team. While keeping the facility free of the threats of the virus, it is extremely important to ensure that the entire facilities team is provided proper PPE and other precautionary measures so that they can effectively work in keeping everyone around safe. Now when it comes to keeping the facility safe, facility managers are tasked with the responsibilities of not just cleaning and sanitization but managing occupancy in common and high traffic areas cabs, regulating the entry of visitors, installing temperature checks at entry points and a lot more. In this regard, every important information from small to big about the facility must be with the facility managers. They need to be able to provide quick answers and rapid solutions to any question or query that anyone has and this means that they need to be well informed and updated about every information about the facility. During a pandemic therefore facility document management and facility management software is extremely crucial. Whether it is something that needs an immediate attention or someone who is suddenly feeling

3. unwell needs immediate attention, it is the timely availability of information that is extremely important in emergency situations especially during a pandemic. As a facility manager, you need to be always alert and prepared to make the best informed decision and all these cannot happen unless there is proper facility document management. Without proper access to the right facilities information, it is almost impossible to act promptly and manage a facility during an emergency like the Covid-19. Now the hustle of facility managers with accessing Facilities information at the right time has always been a big challenge. Most of the times, during an emergency, facilities teams are unable to access information that is required to deal with the emergency. Here the facilities management app comes to play. Year after year piles of information get stored on one about the other and when the right time comes, most of this information is either unavailable or no accessible among the huge pile. This often leads to a lot of problems arising from often a problem that could have been solved easily if the right information could be accessed at the right time. Another major problem that the facilities sector face is when an experienced facility manager leaves his job or

4. resigns from his position. He leaves with years of information and experience and this gap almost gets impossible fill up. No matter how efficient your team is or how much you train your new hire, you cannot replace the experience of an experienced facility manager. The void therefore always remains there and it is almost impossible to fill it. So how as a facility manager you are supposed to deal with this situation? There is no debate about the importance of document management or a pandemic like the Covid-19. However, the age old problem of absence of information still continues to plague the facility management sector. There have been so many instances in the past where facilities teams have failed miserably to respond to an

5. emergency due to this lack of information. Facility managers for ages have been looking for a perfect solution to this problem. Traditionally, due to the lack of use of cutting edge technologies in the facility sector, a perfect solution could not be found and facility managers have been jumping from one solution to another in the search for the perfect answer. Then came the facility management app as an answer to all the problems related to access of information. With the help of a facility management software, facility managers can get instant access to information related to the facility and its equipment whenever they need. These apps hand the most updated information about floor plans, shut offs, As-Builts, emergency procedures and many more. They use the latest technologies in machine learning and artificial intelligence that helps them extract information from building drawings. These apps therefore are the perfect solutions to any issues related to accessing information during when it is needed time most. Therefore, there is no doubt why facility document management is crucial during a pandemic and the availability of the right information at the right time makes this easier for facility managers.