What is Facility Management and why is it crucial for large companies?
Facility Management is a term that refers to the management of buildings and services. To be more specific, it represents the set of processes within an organisation for the maintenance and development of appropriate services to maintain the activities within it at the highest possible level and, subsequently, its competitiveness, efficiency and profitability.
Over the years, Facility Management has become a highly valuable resource for large companies. They take advantage of this professional service to optimise their internal processes which ultimately results in a dynamic of lower costs and higher profitability.
Taking advantage of a high quality Facility Management service can result in savings of between 20% and 30% for a company, clearly giving it an economic and competitive edge.
This has not gone unnoticed among local European and multinational companies. The Facility Management market on the continent will reach 360 billion dollars in 2024 and the estimate for 2029 is that it will exceed 435 billion.
How Facility Managers can transform corporate spaces with the right technology
Facility managers, the position associated with professionals specialising in this service, can considerably improve the management of corporate spaces, provided they have the appropriate technology to do so.
Some of the most important Facility Management services in large companies can be grouped into the following areas:
- Intelligent distribution of available spaces, based on the objectives of each area and the ideal conditions for the development of work.
- Flexible configuration of each space, to make quick and efficient use of each area as needed.
- Integration of new technologies without disruptive change in business dynamics.
- Optimisation in terms of ergonomics, design, ventilation and everything that provides greater comfort for employees and customers.
- Advanced monitoring of use and consumption, thinking in terms of productivity as well as sustainability and energy efficiency.
- Prevention of the use of spaces and available resources, to avoid saturation or even lack of availability.
Trends in Facility Management for large companies
Current trends in Facility Management cover large areas, with an infinite number of specialised applications adapted to the needs of each company:
Data analysis
Thanks to advances in Facility Management software, high-value information is available to analyse and draw conclusions on the best strategies for optimising spaces and services.
Obtaining information in real time is crucial to understand the evolution of each area and the needs it may have throughout the day.
Sustainability in the workspace
Facility Management software has also helped to stimulate the concern for applying ESG standards to professional activity.
From analysing energy consumption to calculating the impact on the carbon footprint and, most importantly, identifying areas for improvement.
Energy efficiency
Energy consumption and demand monitoring systems enable key optimisation in this regard, benefiting the business in terms of economics, energy efficiency and even employee wellbeing.
Improving user experience
The experience that a professional obtains while working in a corporate facility depends on many factors. It is the task of Facility Management software to analyse each one of them, to find ways to improve and to be able to propose immediate and effective solutions when necessary.
Maintenance based on advanced technologies
Investment in advanced technologies continues at an accelerated pace, which is also the case in Facility Management services. In this field, artificial intelligence, Big Data analysis and the Internet of Things (IoT) are essential for the maintenance and management of a building or offices.
With real-time monitoring and the ability to analyse massive data, Facility Management helps to take advantage of preventive maintenance to reduce costs in the future and optimise any company resource that can be improved.
Facility management software: Key tools for large corporations
The facility management sector and advanced software development maintain an inseparable link. Both drive each other's growth and make for an increasingly effective service.
Some of the key tools that high quality facility management software must provide are as follows:
- Real-time monitoring.
- Predictive analysis of improvement capacity.
- Optimisation ratio.
- Simulation of the results obtained.
- Quantification of return on investment and cost savings.
- Comparative analysis of space and resources.
- Detailed usage patterns.
- Analysis of routines and user experience.
- Linking with app technology for mobile devices.
- Data access security.
- Capacity for immediate management in the event of emergencies.
Success Stories: Large companies that have revolutionised their space management with specific software
iKnos Corporate, a Foot Analytics platform that, among other functions, helps to manage facilities, is applied to more than 200,000 square metres of operations, thus bringing a new dimension to space analytics, with the aim of helping our clients to improve their adaptation and management in a changing environment.
The Generalitat de Catalunya, Astara, Cuatrecasas, Applus, Acciona, Inditex or Banco Sabadell are some of the success stories that we have with iKnos Corporate.
Specifically, Banco Sabadell is currently participating in a transformation project initiated in 2023, one of the objectives of which is to create work environments that favour flexibility and collaboration among employees.
Since March 2023, Foot Analytics has been measuring the use and occupancy of the corporate headquarters in Sant Cugat (CBS) at all times. It has a total of 47,000 square metres, in which more than 2,000 workstations are spread over 21,000 square metres of usable space.
The analysis of the workspace and usage patterns allowed strategies to be drawn up with the potential to optimise more than 3,000 employees (there were 1,800 professionals at the start of the project) and to optimise the building's capacity, which did not exceed 70%.
After a year of working on this project, which is still underway, Francesc Pagès, Director of Space Management, explained that "Foot Analytics has given us security and confidence, both in the previous phase of decision-making in the transformation of the spaces, and after it, providing real-time occupancy information of the spaces and availability of the meeting rooms, generating a dynamic use of the spaces and improving their efficiency".
Regarding the technology in the Banco Sabadell Facility Management project, presence sensors from the manufacturer Ubiqisense (a Foot Analytics partner) have been used for the sensors in the collaborative spaces.
In addition, Foot Analytics has integrated both Wi-Fi signalling and Ubiqisense occupancy data into its iKnos Corporate 100% cloud and GDPR compliance platform to generate occupancy and usage KPIs.

