Help is at hand

The maturing of the facilities management industry in the UAE over the last few years has led to an increase in expectations at all levels. Clients require a high quality of advice and solutions for managing their buildings and facilities. Meeting these requirements will ultimately mean investing in good management systems in order to respond effectively to client requests.

The latest phase in the FM evolution in the Middle East is the utilisation of help desks with fully integrated management and data collection systems incorporating what is commonly referred to as computer aided facilities management (CAFM).

There are numerous facilities management monitoring and control systems currently being used to aid in the management of large commercial and residential towers and building complexes throughout the Middle East region. Too often, systems that have been installed are not being used effectively and this will reduce the potential for ensuring optimum performance and the minimisation of operating costs. In today's built environment, more and more clients, developers, consultants and facilities managers have recognised the need to have these systems in place and to utilise them properly.

Within the Middle East region it is apparent that people know what help desks are, but they are generally not aware of what help desks can do. In many cases they are seen as a function that is outsourced to another part of the world.

Therefore they can become associated with being an unmanageable and invisible workforce that creates communication problems when vital information needs to be passed through the correct channels of an organisation's business process.

The case studies used as examples here will hopefully help to change such attitudes. Help desks can be the ultimate customer/client interface and a ‘hub' of information if used and managed effectively.

Help desk services are designed to provide clients with management systems to enhance the performance of their business and as such they are a great tool for the facilities manager.

What are the benefits of a help desk?

Facilities management help desks provide a single point of contact for both clients and suppliers. In most cases this contact is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Help desks are the core of a coordinated FM operation and they aim to provide a responsive service to manage the rectification of building faults and service requests on behalf of a company's clients.

Help desks provide clients with a tool to manage their core business and they allow for all facilities management services to be fully integrated.

Financial and reporting functions are also huge benefits that help desks can bring to an organisation.

Improved cost and budget monitoring of property maintenance work and associated services is invaluable. Also regular reporting of all the data collected by the help desk can provide vital information to buildings and facilities managers.

Regardless of the benefits many organisations, small and large, still rely on a basic pen and paper system to run and manage their maintenance services and other vital service areas.

There are potential dangers of relying on paper records, such as missing planned maintenance jobs and failing to respond to help desk calls.

What can a Help Desk do?

The help desk is the point at which service delivery can be measured, along with the performance of the various parties within the services delivery team. It is a management function that is the key to providing complete control of all facilities services within one system.

A key role for the help desk is to monitor the progress of all tasks, closing out all requests and providing updates and feedback to the client.

Because of this, all operators and associated help desk staff should be trained and managed so that they can handle calls in a professional and efficient manner.

Help desks are also designed to provide clients with management reporting to enhance the performance of their business. The help desk staff and facilities manager should evaluate the management information required by their clients and use this to improve the effectiveness of their services.

In many cases, companies invest in help desk facilities and then do not use the reports generated by it or any of the data collected by it.