Technology advances in the delivery of facility services can help drive value for tertiary customers.
Across our business, we are working with our customers to implement some incredible innovations that lead to better efficiency, cost optimization, quality, safety and sustainability.
Robotics, AI and other Technologies Helping to Forge a New Future in Tertiary Facilities
At GJK, we understand the financial impacts that COVID-19 and the reduction of the international education market is having on our tertiary customers. These unprecedented times require facility partners to work in close collaboration with their tertiary customers to create flexible and nimble service structures and implement solutions that drive value, while still delivering quality.
One way we are answering our customers’ needs is through the adoption of technology to streamline operations and curate their facility services. Indeed, technology in the commercial cleaning industry is rapidly growing since becoming more affordable, enabling greater adoption in the Australian market. Across our business, we are working with our customers to implement some incredible innovations that lead to better efficiency, cost optimization, quality, safety and sustainability.
Automated robotics for example, are becoming a regular feature in campuses as facility service providers strive to reduce costs for their tertiary customers. Predominantly designed to clean floors, the AI-powered robots now work autonomously to mapped paths with minimal human intervention, intelligently adjusting themselves to work on different surfaces and across any facility. These bots can workday or night and can reduce labour cleaning hours.
Advancing in leaps and bounds, the automated cleaning robots can also provide directions and interact with people, which will be an exciting and useful novelty when students return to the campus. GJK already have several automated robots across our tertiary portfolio, delivering efficiencies to our customers.
SMART sensors solutions and data analytics is another way technology can drive down facility costs. People counting sensors for example, can give unparalleled insights into the utilization of campuses, allowing facility providers to curate their services based on use, rather than historically based routines. Even during COVID with reduced numbers on campus, SMART sensors are powerful tools to support intelligent decision making to enable curated, output-based services.
Expert commercial cleaning companies can also provide other means for data analytics to reduce labor hours. Our Predictive Cleaning Model for example, captures daily data to determine the quality rating of an area and then identify any potential scope efficiencies. Through this exercise, with long-term data showing distinct trends, we consult with customers to provide revised scopes for each area and refine the cleaning frequencies, without compromising service quality.
Universities have always been early adopters of change and willing to embrace technology. In this new COVID world, tertiary institutions and facility providers need to collaborate and think even more intentionally about how technology can provide value in the delivery of facility services. We need to be aligned with our strategic goals and think ‘outside the box’ on innovative ways to forge ahead together through this challenging time and into the future.