The benefits and obstacles of mobile technology in FM service procurement

By nature FM work is characterised by full mobility or micro-mobility workplaces. In both cases the mobile worker requires a connection to and from corporate IT systems to mobile terminals and an efficient and user friendly way to perform given tasks out on the field. Mobile phones with accessories, in-situ RFID tags and connection to corporate IT system provide ways to share retrieve and respond rapidly to customer needs. This paper presents an integration of several studies conducted at VTT to identify the current benefits and obstacles of mobile technology as perceived by the Finnish FM professionals. The main means of the study were (1) to describe the current technological enablers for the utilization of mobile technology at FM settings and (2) to interview the FM professionals on their perceived benefits and obstacles of the utilization of the currently available technology. The perceived benefits are mostly related to improved resource efficiency and quality control. To gain the benefits, according to the FM professionals it is essential to successfully integrate mobile applications into the company's other information systems and company's processes. The gaps in the integration undermine the potential benefits. More obstacles show up when the value chain extends outside the company's control, if the benefits fall into other parties