Accomplishments & Activities

Company Growth

• AMS hired 8 new team members to reach a company record of 38 employees!
• 8 Employee Promotions
• AMS Company Reorganization
  • Product & Services, Solutions, Innovation, Customer Success, and Business Operations Departments
  • Department Directors & Leaders established

FMS Marketplace
With the launch of FMS Marketplace in 2023, AMS is proud have these items available:

• Plug-ins
• Dynamix
• Visual Asset Manager

Launch of FMS:Connect

Conferences & Events

• Presented
  • FMS Road Show – Allianz in Minneapolis
  • IFMA World Workplace in Denver
  • Campus FM Technology Association in St. Louis
  • Point32Health Case Study Online Webinar
  • FM:Systems Client Summit UK 2023 in London
  • FM:Systems Building Insights User Conference in Washington, D.C.
  • National Facilities Management & Technology Conference in Baltimore
• Attended
  • CoreNet Summit in Denver
  • ServiceNow Knowledge 2023 in Las Vegas

Verdantix Green Quadrant Recognition

New Partnerships

• iGUIDE
• Archilogic
• Xovis
• XY Sense

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Beta from our Innovation Lab

New FMPs

• Jeremy Owen
• Megan Machado

Wellness & Fun

• Wellness Day
• Team Week
• New Hybrid Workplace Policy
  • Our HQ-based employees average 1.5 days in the office or 3 days in the office per week depending on the workplace persona they choose
• In-Office Fun Events
• Out-of-Office Fun Events

The post Reflecting on 2023 appeared first on AMS Workplace Technology.

Transitioning from one facility management software to another can be daunting, but with the expert guidance from AMS Workplace Technology, your migration from INSITE Net-FM and Visual-FM to FM:Systems becomes seamless.

What makes FM:Systems the right choice?  FM:Systems is a seasoned and proven Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) that has been around for almost 40 years.  It has been a leader in Space Management utilizing Postsecondary Education Facilities Inventory and Classification Manual (FICM) for colleges and universities with its Higher Education Survey module capturing all space classifications, floor plans, Principal Investigator (PI) assignments, and surveyed space use for research.

Combined, the Space & Higher Education Survey modules align perfectly to support all the areas that INSITE featured, including:

• Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR)
• Tracking & Allocating Grants
• Space Data Change Requests
• Floor Plan Realtime Visual Queries

Upgrade from INSITE Net-FM to FMS:Workplace

Keep Your Existing INSITE Data

You’ve made the commitment and investment over the years to manage and report on your college/university space, assets, and research data.  You don’t have to lose this as FM:Systems offers a direct path migration over to its database and platform, including floor plan views!  The platform can easily be configured (not customized) to have the same look and feel as your INSITE system for ease-of-use familiarity and better user adoption.

Furthermore, AMS has over 21 years of experience in the industry.  We understand the intricacies of how to migrate data into FM:Systems. Being a leader in FM:Systems integrations makes us uniquely positioned to ensure a hassle-free migration.  From the initial planning phase to post-migration checks, AMS is there every step of the way.

Finally, learning a new system can seem scary, but AMS is here to provide comprehensive training to ensure your staff gets the most out of the software.  Our commitment doesn’t end there. We offer ongoing support services to ensure your software runs smoothly for years to come.

Read – Higher Education Survey Module
Watch – Why Wayne State University Chose FM:Systems

Cloud-Based Software – No Installation

FM:Systems software is maintenance-free and hosted securely in the cloud as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).  In addition, no client software installation is required, even for viewing floor plans and running reports!

Your company has limited IT resources already committed to providing services and expertise to multiple business units supporting many different existing technologies. Hosting with FM:Systems can provide the break your IT staff needs to focus on mission critical projects and strategy without having to add additional resources or headcount.

Network performance and availability are guaranteed in a standard Service Level Agreement (SLA). Rest assured knowing that your data is safe and secure.  Specific features of our hosting include:

• 24/7 monitoring and upgrades at no extra charge
• Industry-leading Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform
• High availability systems on the latest operating systems and hardware
• Dedicated support staff

Customers enjoy this safe and secure, cloud-hosted platform with no-hassle migration from AMS Workplace Technology.

“The value of having the FMS:Workplace system throughout this whole process—I just can’t stress enough how valuable that resource was, for us to be able to pull up to start with the list of rooms and the capacities; then, as we went forward, to identify what we call extra spaces and the capacities we could have there as well. I’m not sure we could have even gotten it done without FMS:Workplace.”
– Cheryl Benningfield, Space Planning Manager

Ready to Transition?

Get in touch with our experts today and embark on a smooth transition journey from INSITE to FMS:Workplace.  We will take you through how FM:Systems software manages all the areas of INSITE that you need and more!

Learn More – INSITE Net-FM
Read – University of North Texas Case Study
Watch – On-Demand Product Overview

Request a Demo

The post INSITE Net-FM and Visual-FM Migration appeared first on AMS Workplace Technology.

• 3D Scan Capture + Floor Plan Creation with iGuide
• Certified ServiceNow Integration with FMS:Workplace
• Visual Asset Manager
• Drag and Drop File Uploader
• Grid Batch Printing
• Dynamix Home Page Manager

The post AMS solutions featured in the new FMS:Marketplace appeared first on AMS Workplace Technology.

• Is your FMS software ready for the hybrid workplace?
• Home Page Content Management (AMS Dynamix)
• Visual Asset Manager
• AMS Data Broker Web Services API
• Room Scheduling
• Hybrid Strategy Support
• ServiceNow Integration
• Security Badge Data Integration
• 3D Floor Plan Scanning
• Barcoding Solutions
• Batch Print and Uploading
• Sensor Technology

The post AMS Workplace Technology – 2022H2 Newsletter appeared first on AMS Workplace Technology.

In this new “Age of the Employee”, employees want choice. Companies planning to return to the office should look to shift to an employee-centric approach to empower employees with the ability to help decide what works best for them. That doesn’t necessarily mean a “work from anywhere, anytime” strategy. In fact, while that approach may work for some, it has several challenges for most job functions and the individuals who are given that much time management responsibility. But it does mean offering employees more options than just the traditional commuting to work in-office full-time at an assigned desk.

When it comes to the number of days per week employees and employers want workers to be working at the office, the numbers have been consistent. Employees generally prefer two days or less and employers want three days or more. Employers who design multiple options for employees with varying levels of in-office working are going to make their employees happier by allowing them to have a say in what is going to best suit them as individuals. Being inflexible and forcing employees to adopt a corporate-centric strategy will drive them to other companies (and possibly competitors) where they are given choice. Strict = Stress.

Finally, the workplace design and layout must change to support the hybrid way of working. I remember walking into one of my customer’s on-site meetings pre-COVID and being pleasantly surprised to see three separate and distinct styles of seating all put together in the same room: a soft seating couch arrangement, traditional meeting table & chairs, and bar-height seating. I appreciated so much being able to choose the way I wanted to meet and sit (or stand) based on my mood and preference. With more employees coming in on various days and expecting to do different kind of work, Activity-Based Working  (ABW) designs, like those available from Dancker, should better support the way employees need to use the workplace. This will help give more value to employees and more reasons to want to come to the workplace.

Using Workplace Personas

In order to create workplace choices for employees, companies must first identify worker types and their associated in-office needs. By studying this, groups such as Human Resources (HR) can help to bring into focus different personas that employees could potentially be associated with. These personas do not have to align specifically to a job title or role, but rather can be shaped by the research and employee feedback to align with varying levels of in-office days per week or month. Personas can then be defined with workplace expectations, requirements, guidelines, and can come with perks, stipends, and other benefits that allow each to have pros and cons. With these in place, employers can look to individual employees to select a persona with, among other things, it’s associated in-office versus at-home ratio, that works best for them.

Leveraging Technology

Workplace technology has a lot to offer to support return-to-office plans. While just about everyone has mastered virtual meetings from home, additional technology solutions will be needed when there is a hybrid in-office + virtual meeting taking place. Various solutions are coming out (some very expensive, some affordable) that will help to better bring together all meeting attendees as if they were all in the same room together. Outfitting a meeting room with tools such as the Meeting Owl Pro from Owl Labs or Samsung’s Huddle Room Solutions can help in this area of making hybrid meetings more of a seamless experience.

Next, the new hybrid workplace will need desk and meeting room reservation tools. Companies will likely have a combination of traditional assigned seating along with unassigned reservable desks in either an open plan or department neighborhood setting. These will need to easily be bookable both from a mobile phone and the computer. Desk booking solutions such as FM:Systems FMS:Employee enable employees to easily find, reserve, check-in, and release workspaces in a mobile app or using their browser. Employees will want to use these tools to find where their co-workers are going to be working for the day to foster collaboration. These tools can also be enhanced with sensor technology to release spaces that were reserved but not being used and provide important utilization data for analysis. By analyzing actual space use data, employers can best outfit their workplace with spaces that they see employees tend to use more.

Finally, a hybrid mix of employees who are splitting time working at home and in the workplace naturally requires excellent communication.  An emerging and popular tool now is essentially a “Concierge App” for your employees. Using “low-code/no-code” software such as Modo Labs WorkReady, an app can be created by non-developers and maintained with delegated roles to update employees about current facility news and policies, push a quick 1-2 question survey, schedule on-site workdays, and even put in service requests. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons can be placed in the facility to do a push notification letting employees know about changes made due to COVID-19 or new renovations/policies when they are in a certain area. The idea is to give employees a single Workplace App that gives them the tools and information they need to be successful in the new workplace.

Not OSFA

One important thing to always keep in mind is that there is no One-Size-Fits All (OSFA) strategy. Many factors go in to determining what works best for each company and their employees from the types of products and/or services the company provides to the nature of the job functions within. The return to office plan doesn’t have to be perfect out of the gate. You can learn and adjust as you find out what’s working (or not working) and analyze utilization data. Change management is also an important part of making the new workplace successful. By communicating with employees before and during the process you will make them feel more engaged and they will help to shape your new corporate culture instead of having it dictated to them.

Conclusion

Employees want choice, and employers must be flexible to design a return-to-office plan that allows employees to choose a persona aligned with a workplace strategy that works best for them. The workplace can best serve employees in a hybrid model with an activity-based working design that gives value to the workplace. Lastly, technology can assist in areas such as meeting rooms to better support hybrid meetings, desk reservation tools for in-office working, and a workplace app to better communicate with and engage employees as a one-stop-shop for their workplace needs.

The post Using Workplace Personas & Technology for Return to Office (RtO) appeared first on AMS Workplace Technology.

Virtual assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa are increasingly popular with homeowners to streamline and simplify daily tasks, creating a smart home environment. Directly integrating with other Amazon services, as well as third party home systems, Alexa and similar voice-enabled intelligent personal assistant platforms have taken home management by storm and are transforming how people live their lives at home. From streaming music playlists at dinner, to adjusting the temperature and lighting, and monitoring security, Alexa and its counterpart Google Home have become a commonplace lifestyle presence for today’s busy family.

How this technology will impact the workplace

The latest venue to be transformed by this innovative technology is the workplace. The initial appearance of Alexa in the corporate setting has been focused mostly on reservation of meeting rooms and other simple booking tasks. However, Amazon’s Alexa for Business platform now gives developers the tools to create their own integrations, opening the floodgates for new capabilities in workplace technology.

Developers of facility technology will now be able to harness voice-enabled functionality to significantly impact efficiencies throughout the workplace. Expect to see this new technology advancing best practices for facilities managers on two key fronts: providing better service to building occupants and streamlining processes for the facilities management team. Both pathways will transform facility management as we know it.

On the employee front, Alexa will simplify processes for building occupants and employees to request service and interface with the facilities department. Alexa will integrate directly with facilities technology platforms to streamline common functions such as initiating a repair work order, requesting a move, reserving a conference room, or finding a vacant office. It will provide employees with easy and intuitive access to information and services.

Running facilities more efficiently

For the facilities department, voice-enabled technology will streamline work processes for maintenance crews, move teams, asset managers, space managers, and management executives alike. Technicians will be able to close-out work orders in the field in hands-free mode and will be able to forego typing and simply follow verbal prompts from Alexa to ensure proper procedures and workflow protocols. Alexa can be setup to ask follow-up questions and follow pre-determined workflows to collect required information from the technician, streamlining workflows and ensuring proper adherence to protocols.

Facility staff and executives will be able to ask occupancy and utilization questions and receive immediate responses with real-time reporting. Managers and supervisors will gain instant access to critical performance data and enterprise-wide services. Alexa will eliminate the need to log in to a facility management system and hunt down the information with multiple clicks. It’s as simple as asking a question and getting an answer. For example, asking Alexa the question “What is the vacancy rate in Building One?” will provide an immediate answer. Facility managers will achieve considerable efficiencies through the elimination of paperwork, task timesaving, increased productivity, and overall process improvements. All while providing higher levels of service to building occupants.

How it works

The two key elements integral to this technology are the hardware and software components. The cost of entry for hardware is minimal, with inexpensive voice-enabled smart speakers such as Amazon Echo or the smaller Echo Dot, which can be used as shared devices at central points such as conference rooms and reception kiosks. Even more groundbreaking, the use of personal mobile phones with preprogrammed apps can be used to bring the power of Alexa to all employees, regardless of location.

On the software side, Amazon’s Alexa for Business platform provides open source coding to third party developers, so they can create industry specific skills and integrations. A skill is a capability that is developed to allow Alexa to speak to and integrate with devices to produce a specific result. As of this month, there are over 50,000 Alexa skills available worldwide, working with 20,000 devices, and growing by the day. These cloud-based skills that make everyday tasks faster and easier are revolutionizing entire industries.

Facility-focused solutions

To harness the power of Alexa for the FM industry, AMS CAD & CAFM is building skill sets that integrate directly with the FM:Interact facility management platform to provide comprehensive tools to run the facility at every level. Expect to see facility workflows improved across the board including workplace reservations, project management, real estate and space management, asset management, sustainability, and facility maintenance. As each facility group has its own unique needs and priorities, these skill sets are developed to provide customized solutions. Whether integrating with building systems, CAFM platforms, or hot desk scheduling applications, voice-enabled technology is on track to revolutionize facility management.

Security is a priority

As with any emerging technology, especially one that has the potential to share enterprise-wide data, security is of utmost importance. These integrations are created with careful consideration for user levels and permissions, using rigorous user authentication features. Devices and skills are controlled by user accounts, to securely limit and control access to data and capabilities based on one’s role in the organization. Facility managers can be confident that this technology will adhere to their organization’s security protocols.

The future is now

According to Brian Haines, VP of Strategy at FM:Systems, a leading developer of enterprise solutions for facility management, “Alexa integration is a game changer for our industry – and for the workplace in general. This new technology provides instant access to critical performance data for facility professionals, while delivering unprecedented service levels and workplace experience for employees.”

So, when will this innovative technology be available in the workplace? Actually, by the time you are reading this article. AMS is currently creating skill sets to integrate Amazon Alexa with key facility management functions. In beta testing at present, this innovative technology for facility management will be ready to rollout in early 2019. This perfect storm of facility technology platforms and voice enabled skill sets is certain to transform how we manage our facilities well into the future.

About the author

Dan Lorenz is the President of AMS CAD & CAFM, a technology company that integrates enterprise-wide solutions for facility management. He is an IFMA certified Facility Management Professional (FMP), IFMA member, and has presented nationwide on facility management and enterprise technology.

The post “Alexa, help me run my facility!” appeared first on AMS Workplace Technology.

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