In a post-pandemic world, workplaces face a monumental challenge as they open up and deal with balancing resources for full-time and hybrid work cultures. Facility managers, in particular, have their hands full as they try to work out the best course for inventory and space management in a constantly evolving commercial space.
Here’s a helpful guide that can help them get the most out of the space you have in your office. We’ll also detail the digital resources you can use to streamline the process.
What Is Space Management?
Space management involves adequate space utilisation by planning, organisation, maintenance, and access to resources required by the staff. It also includes designing the optimal seating arrangement to accommodate the staff at their workstations.
The process can vary with the type and scale of the business. For example, you may need to ensure the necessary staff remains on standby in case of a medical facility. In the case of a co-working space, you may require the vacancy of the meeting and recess rooms outside of the assigned times for specific employees.
What Are the Critical Components of Space Management?
Space management is an intricate process that comprises several components to function smoothly. As a facility manager, your focus should remain on the following criteria.
1. Reducing Costs
Whether your organisation built the space or is renting it out for the duration of your operations, you must make the most of your budget. You may have limited stock availability and may be renting out furniture and equipment. Thus, it helps to plan things out and remove the excess supplies that are not being used.
However, you don’t want to scramble at the last minute to accommodate new joiners or make them wait till they receive the prerequisites. Office inventory software can let you know the necessary resources you need to maintain at all times.
2. Space Utilisation and Optimisation
With increasing real-estate prices, you must provide the required space for all employees without modifying the existing infrastructure. That means saving every square foot of area that you may otherwise use for excess stock of stationery or storage. One proven method is to move as much paperwork as possible to the cloud, which also makes your office greener by reducing wet waste.
The other involves using asset tracking systems that let you know the precise use of each asset so that you can repair or resupply them as necessary. It prevents the need for large storage rooms and builds a culture of optimisation among the staff.
3. Real-time Records
You require updated records to maintain an adequate supply of all the materials within your commercial space. That can only be achieved with a robust asset-tracking system that registers the usage of specific resources in real time. You can program it to log the hours the employees use their workstations or calculate how many maintenance tools remain outside of storage during an average work hour.
4. Data Analytics for Insights
When you have enough data at the month’s end to study the use of various office resources, you can determine the resource and space management trends for your enterprise. You can use analytics to purchase or rent the necessary resources, leaving only some margin for emergencies.
Of course, that data can only come from reliable office inventory software that generates valuable insights regularly. You don’t need to train any IT staff, as the program can automatically generate a report at set intervals.
Conclusion
Proper space management can help facility managers please employees and executives of their organisation. Yet, digital solutions can only remain as viable as the service provider you contract from. That’s why it’s best to trust a company with experience with inventory and asset tracking systems. Check out Qbasis for a solution that fits your budget today.
