Recent technology trends are demonstrating how strongly the consumer market is influencing the way in which businesses are adopting to new technologies. This is no more clearly demonstrated, than in the tablet market. Tablet sales are predicted to surpass PC sales in 2013. Although currently global tablet sales are still well below PC shipments, a number of analysts are predicting tablets will overtake PC’s by the fourth quarter of this year, or by the end of the first quarter of 2014.
While tablet sales are currently about 55-60 million per quarter and PC sales are in the low 80 million range. Analysts are making comparisons of the tablet/PC market to that of the modern smartphone market, Android and iOS phones, as opposed to Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, and BlackBerry smartphones. This direct comparison has allowed analyst Sameer Singh to compare 16 quarters of phone sales to 11 quarters of tablet sales and make some inferences about when more tablets will be sold than PCs.
“The substitution rate patterns between the two markets are remarkably similar, showing a correlation of nearly 93% over the first 11 quarters,” Singh writes. “It is also interesting to note that tablet/PC substitution seems to be happening at a faster pace.” This faster pace is what is making Singh predict that the ‘switchover point of sales’ could occur as early as the end of 2013.
This is bad news for traditional PC vendors, who are taking a huge hit at the high of a declining market, by tough competition, and at the low end by more nimble, reactive and technology driven new competitors in the tablet market. But what do these impending changes mean to the way we currently do business, and more importantly what does it mean for businesses involved in the Facilities Management sector.
Technology and tablet technology has evolved significantly over the last decade. Early PC owners usually had to write their own programs to do anything useful and then even lacked an operating system, and not too long ago, consumers depended solely on their desktop computer or laptop to connect and conduct business online. As we continue to become more dependent on technology, continuous improvements and advancements will continue to be ongoing, with technology now providing instantaneous interactions and a more seamless, inexpensive & efficient way of conducting business.
The implications of such changes run deep. Businesses are consuming technology advancements at an enormous and almost ravenous rate. As employees begin to almost ‘serve themselves’ with technology, their impatience and need for advancements is resulting in businesses working harder to match that of what personal technology can offer. This is no different in the field of Facilities Management where tablet technology is changing and shaping the future of the sector, essentially because of its ideal suitability and in particular its suitability for areas such as asset management, field collaboration, development of enterprise solutions, communications and audit processes. With technology becoming an especially prominent part of a quality FM function, that very change is helping to ensure that the industry remains flexible and more importantly, of relevance. By embracing mobile based technology a FM professional can effectively run a true 24- 7-365 system without having to be chained to the office desk.
As a Facilities Manager having information in real-time gives a provision of power to make better decisions and take decisive action when required. Technology should be part of the strategic planning of your facility. Major inroads are being made to better manage and benefit the expansion of mobile computing, the emergence of cloud computing and the availability of high speed broadband that help and support the industry, through schemes such as the NBN and the Victorian ICT Strategy. The widespread availability of relatively cheap high speed, high capacity microcomputer based iPads and tablets with high speed wireless communications ability has created a dynamic area of advancement in the field of facilities management. It has led to a great amount of opportunities to deploy these devices in the everyday working lives of facility management professionals. But with the pace of technology change and so many opportunities, it’s hard to stay on top of the latest trends. Below we discuss a number of selections currently available for facility management professionals.
Managing Facilities is not always an easy task….
So, why guess when you can audit…
PRMS Physical Resources Management System is an example of a long standing partnership and collaborative effort between the ICT industry and the Victorian Government to commercialise IP. The Victorian Government’s approach to IP provides a solid basis for companies to develop enterprising solutions.
Over the last 10 years PRMS has adapted and changed to reflect the developments in industry and how facilities are managed. This has included a redevelopment phase and a resulting Victorian AIIA iAward for excellence in 2009. PRMS has benefited from its association with the Victorian government but also significantly from its affiliation with industry and many new clients.
With the ongoing focus on efficiency, systems need to become more streamlined as paper processes disappear and people expect to conduct business using their portable devices. To be really effective, front end systems have to be easy to use and able to seamlessly connect with backend systems. Flexible mobile interoperability in the user experience leaves the world of paper and spread sheets far behind. The requirement for a system to have a rugged workplace unit has pointed HSD towards the Panasonic range of product. Panasonic Toughbook range has set a benchmark with field reliability, ten years on a new thoroughbred is about to jump from the gate, enter the ToughPad.
Lighter, faster and matched with a user interface that delivers greater flexibility with more diverse on-board mechanics, field assessors are not be weighed down or confused by overly complex plug in and often cumbersome devices. With added power coupled with the knowledge that should it slip, you can be assured data is retained eliminating potential downtime.
Visit www.hsd.com.au to ask how we can provide Integrated Solutions for your business needs.
A New Thoroughbred from Trusted Stables
The Panasonic ToughPad FZ-G1 is a fully rugged tablet designed for enterprise and government. Extremely durable and secure, ToughPad is ideal for mobile workers, combining highly secured data and device management with the seamless connectivity and enterprise-grade technology businesses and government agencies require.
Not every tablet is built to take the bumps, knocks, drops and spills that come with extensive mobile use. Only the Panasonic ToughPad G1 tablet has been engineered to not only withstand the hard knocks of life on the road, but to operate flawlessly in intense sunlight and heat, as well as in dusty and dirty environments, pouring rain and freezing temperatures.
With more than 24 years of experience designing, testing and building the most reliable professional notebook and tablet solutions, Panasonic is unrivalled in offering the best mobile tablet solutions on the market. Combining data and device security, seamless connectivity, enterprise-level technology and worry-free operation, count on Panasonic ToughPad tablets to get the job done.
Visit www.toughbook.com.au for proof of toughness from our stables.
Creative, Clever, Intelligent Means of Data Acquisition
Organisations struggle to get quality and compliant customer and staff communications out in a timely manner that meets the needs of a multiple platform workforce and consumer base. Smart tools, such as Infiniti by Intelledox, provide a best of breed solution allowing business line owners and their staff to build smart communication solutions via e-forms, print and electronic messaging. These smart tools allow organizations the ability to seamlessly interact with existing data sources and document process capabilities, delivering proposals, contracts, agreements and other heavily personalised and compliant documents without having to change existing user habits.
One of the key challenges of most organizations is the ability to access and re-use information that is being or has been captured and transforming it into relevant and compliant output. Infiniti provides an intelligent document process management solution that allows for easy management of centralized content from multiple data sources and the creation and management of communication templates through a drag-and-drop online web user interface.
Infiniti is a web-based, XML-driven solution that centrally manages and publishes e-forms across an entire enterprise in real time by harnessing the native power of Microsoft Word®. Changes made to the document content library or business process, are rolled out and universally updated once accepted into the solution. Deploying this out-of-the-box software web based solution requires minimal technical expertise to operate, configure and maintain.
Organisations and business users are empowered to build the dynamic e-forms that collect adhoc user information from tablets, desktops and smart phones through their web browser without the need for development resources and additional IT investment. The underlying rules engine processes this information to deliver the final compliant contract, proposal or other document directly to the intended recipient via multiple channels, e.g. email, fax, SMS, XML and print. Whilst simultaneously leveraging corporate data sources, archiving and updating data in systems such as Microsoft SharePoint and Dynamics CRM. By providing centralized control of communications, Infiniti will improve branding awareness whilst reducing compliance issues.
Infiniti’s design-once smart e-form can be utilised on multiple platforms and supports multiple device formats. In this way, companies can build successful projects quickly and deliver quality information to their users/customers and repeatedly utilise this information in a consistent and compliant manner, also reducing the time it takes to create, customize and distribute a document.
Visit www.Intelledox.com to see how we can make your existing business processes more efficient
Timely, Trusted, Knowledgeable and Experienced
Condition assessments are conducted to inform the budgetary decision making process. It is therefore critical that data is captures accurately and consistently with reliable QA. Automated data capture improves the reliability of data by providing a mechanism to capture results on the spot which protects the integrity of information from degradation which will occur should there be a time lag between actual audit, and the time which the information is recorded.
A key risk of the audit process is loss of data, resulting in the need for re-audits which results in a loss of money and an inconvenience to the client stakeholders. Automated data capture writes the information to the central data base at the completion of each audit. The automated QA carried out at the completion of each audit. This process ensures that deficiencies in the data capture techniques are instantly identified and resolved. These deficiencies are not carried through the life of the project which again provides protection around the need for re-auditing.
At the completion of the field work the client’s primary goal is to make decisions around allocation of expenditure. In most cases a client will have less money than is required to resolve all issues flagged in the audit. This makes clarity and reliability of reporting absolutely crucial. Use of an automated data capture platform allows for immediate reporting which can be targeted to the needs of each client’s unique requirements.
We find that in most cases our clients are aware that they need to understand their maintenance and renewal liabilities and more often than not, do not have nearly enough information to inform decision making. This is the central driver for the audit process. The biggest challenge we see in the market is clients then developing an asset management strategy to maximize asset operational efficiency and reduce maintenance and renewal liabilities. The information provided by the audit will become the platform for determining current remedial requirements which is inherently useful, however we see the biggest challenge for clients being to then determine changes to practice, understanding industry maintenance and renewal benchmarks and also to gauge their assets performance in comparison to organization in a similar position with similar business activities.
The equation put simply, is that money cannot be sensibly allocated without knowledge of all maintenance and renewal requirements across a portfolio, hence the need for building condition assessments. From a long term perspective, efficiency cannot be driven, and liability cannot be diminished without an asset management plan which is developed from the platform created by the data capture process.
Visit www.cardno.com.au to create an effective solution with Zero Harm, Every Job, Every Day.
