One of the most significant changes affecting the way facilities are managed is e-FM. The term includes a wide range of technological innovations that automate processes and integrate management systems. Intelligent buildings and contents, monitoring sensors linked to computerized management systems, graphical software tools, Internet-based information databases, and direct business-to-business and customer-to-business procurement services, all are part of the concept. Facilities can be monitored and corrected remotely, multiple facilities can be linked via centralized management control, and service requirements can be requisitioned and tracked with minimal human intervention. 

Newly built facilities are becoming more complex, mainly through the advanced services that are being built into them. Many of these are customized services aimed at improving performance and efficiency while requiring low operational effort. To put it another way, capital is initially invested in systems in order to provide value savings later in the facility's life cycle. However, with complexity comes the potential unforeseen challenges, failures, and lost productivity, so determining the financial viability of adopting new technology may be difficult.

Computer-assisted facility management (CAFM) tools are popular for improving facility control and customer service, monitoring planned expenditure against actual performance, and recording vital information in a single database. Even the most rudimentary CAFM tools can handle maintenance work schedules, prioritizing activities, and budget reconciliation. The benefit lies in making them Web-enabled and connecting them to other, traditionally separate management functions. Where such efficiencies can be found, the in-house FM team can devote more attention to strategic business areas with higher value-adding potential.

The future of FM is likely to be viewed through the lens of sophisticated command centers staffed by highly trained managers in charge of a diverse range of assets within an organization, or even across organizations. These control rooms will analyze the quality of all environmental systems, adjust capacities, shut down services to unoccupied areas, and oversee security, technology, employee needs, and other requirements while simultaneously recording data and evaluating effectiveness against established benchmarks. Beyond this largely operational façade, however, will be found strategic and tactical processes aimed at keeping the facilities accurately associated with organizational requirements and priorities.

The facility manager of the future will be an information-charged, connected, business-oriented strategist with a team of educated professionals who are well-versed in all the core competencies. As a result, e-FM provides a significant opportunity for value enhancement by eliminating labor-intensive functions and repetitive processes and focusing on matters of greater strategic significance to the organization's goals in a changing and highly competitive market.

Reference:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hApSzBklZX_nFA3yhiydI0vj529rqsHO/view?usp=drivesdk