Kathy Gibson reports from SATNAC 2014 – Facilities management may not be a discipline usually associated with networking, but it has a critical role in supporting the provision of ubiquitous broadband.
Cornelius van der Merwe, chief operating officer of TFMC, says facilities management (FM) encompasses multiple disciplines and is a massive market worldwide.
Broadband has enabled what Van der Merwe calls smart FM which lets companies drive down costs.
This encompasses smart equipment, systems, buildings and sensors – and this requires smart people, smart FM systems and smart FM tools and solutions that can add value to the business.
In the new world, with specialist knowledge a prerequisite, the skills sets required are changing more often. In addition maintenance practices and philosophies are changing.
This means that tools, systems and methodologies have seen some massive changes.
Effective FM includes issues like the business, its strategy, emergency preparedness and business continuity, the technology that’s important, operations and maintenance, real estate and property management, project management, environmental stewardship and sustainability, finance, human factors, leadership and communication.
FM is a major supporter to the network, from the satellite dishes and towers to telephone poles and substations as well as data centres, sensors, piping, cabling and energy management including emergency power systems.
Building management is a key element of FM, Van der Merwe points out. Smart systems can help to enable the goal, with intelligence being used to collate information from sensors and allowing FM managers to manage the building better.
In the ICT environment, South Africa currently experiences about 45 000 power interruptions per year, he adds, and these have to be managed with as little outage as possible.