Kittirat Roekburi-Shutterstock
Augmented reality is becoming a crucial component of facilities management, according to a report by technology company Resonai.
The State of Augmented Reality in Facilities Management report states that whether it’s to manage IoT devices or stay on top of maintenance issues, one in five facility managers is currently leveraging the power of AR, with 73 per cent of facilities managers surveyed saying that they expect to implement AR solutions at some point in the next two years.
The report is based on a survey of senior facilities managers and examines the ways that properties are using AR to streamline their operations, offer improved tenant experiences, and create new revenue streams.
The report states that augmented reality can be incorporated into facility management in a growing number of ways that can be tailored to the specific needs of a location. A healthcare facility would have significantly different needs than an industrial building, but both would be well served by AR integrations.
One of the “clearest benefits of using augmented reality, for example, is a more efficient approach to maintenance, an ongoing challenge for every facility manager” according to the report.
It states that augmented reality systems can “optimize repair tickets based on location or urgency, and can also design preventive maintenance schedules to reduce downtime”.
Nearly half of the managers surveyed have automated their processes with AR, or are using it to avert the need for repairs in the first place, says the study.
Although most respondents said they anticipate integrating some version of AR into their workflow in the near future, the Covid pandemic may accelerate that timetable. Facilities of all kinds, but most particularly in the healthcare space, can benefit from the many different ways AR reduces the need for physical interaction. Contactless payments, virtual demonstrations, tutorials, and tours are all currently available augmented reality implementations that can minimise in-person contact. Most can be achieved without the need to add new technology to a facility.
The managers surveyed recognised AR’s ability to offset adoption expenses by reducing other costs or opening up new revenue streams. One immediate boost to productivity would be using augmented reality to manage IoT (Internet of Things) integrations. Seventy-five per cent of the facilities managers surveyed have some kind of IoT-enabled devices in their buildings, such as environment sensors, HVAC systems, or lights. Optimising all of those disparate systems from a single interface would be far more cost and time-efficient than handling each one separately.
The 2021 State of Augmented Reality in Facilities Management report is based on a digital survey delivered to a curated audience of senior facility management directors and executives throughout the US and Europe.
Participants represented a cross-section of building types, including corporate offices, manufacturing facilities, retail/apparel, residential, hospitals and medical, shopping centres, education, entertainment, and food and grocery. Data was gathered between November 2020 and January 2021.