What are the most impactful ways to align facility capital investments with business goals?
Facilities play a crucial role in supporting the operations and success of all businesses. As a result, facility capital investments significantly impact a company's bottom line. However, several key factors must be considered to ensure these investments align with the company's mission. This blog explores smart strategies for aligning facility capital investments with business initiatives.
5 Impactful Ways to Align Your Facility Investment Strategy with Business Initiatives
Are you looking to maximize the impact of your facility capital investments and align them with your business goals? Facilities are a cornerstone of operational success, and strategic capital investments can be pivotal in achieving your organization's mission. In this blog, we will explore five impactful ways to ensure that your facility investment strategy harmonizes with your business initiatives, ultimately paving the way for long-term success. Let's dive in and discover how smart strategies and innovative Facility Management Software can help you make the most out of your facility capital investments.
Assess Your Company's Current and Future Needs
The first step in aligning facility capital investments with business initiatives is to assess the business's current and future needs. Therefore, understanding the current situation is the foremost action toward improving the capital investment plan for your company's facilities and physical assets. Facility leaders should work with key decision-makers to conduct a thorough evaluation (Facility Condition Assessment) of physical assets across all facilities in the company's building portfolio. This evaluation process ensures the organization has the correct data to achieve its goals.
Find out why Facility Condition Assessments are essential for all businesses.
This evaluation, also known as the FCA, includes understanding the company's operational and strategic goals and the facilities' role in supporting those goals. For example, if the company's mission is to become a leader in sustainability, then investments in energy-efficient systems or environmentally friendly building materials may be a priority. On the other hand, if the company's primary focus is on expanding its operations, then investments in additional space or updated equipment may be necessary.
Often, this begins by collecting building data through the Facility Condition Assessment. The process involves regular inspections evaluating physical assets' visual and physical conditions, performance characteristics, risks, and impact of failures. A facility condition assessment strategy incorporating walk-through inspections and mathematical modeling provides a baseline report, allowing organizations to monitor and maintain the performance of physical assets, make intelligent capital investment decisions based on data, and secure the necessary funds for reinvestment.
Consider the Total Cost of Ownership
When developing facility capital investment plans, it is vital to consider the initial cost and the total cost of ownership. This process also evaluates ongoing maintenance and operating costs, as well as the expected lifespan of the investment.
Learn more about the importance of the Total Cost of Ownership.
By taking a long-term perspective, companies can ensure that their facility capital investments align with their business initiatives and are cost-effective over time. For example, while a more expensive energy-efficient system may have a higher upfront cost, it may save the company money in the long run by reducing energy costs.
Develop an Inventory of All Projects
Once the data is collected during the facility condition assessment, you can develop a comprehensive project inventory. Think of it as a database filled with all current and future capital projects your organization must carry out to fulfill its mission.
A project inventory combines facility condition information with the significant institutional knowledge available inside the organization from facilities and maintenance personnel. This results in an integrated and supportable single living document within the institution. Developing a project inventory allows decision-makers to understand the particular investment demands of individual facility segments being managed.
Implementing technology like the FOUNDATION platform will help your team develop this project inventory efficiently. FOUNDATION features a comprehensive Life Cycle Costing tool that accurately estimates operating and maintenance budgets over extended periods. This data helps develop and validate reliable budgets and assess long-term financial needs.
Connect Funding to Facility Projects
Within the project inventory, it is essential to define each project with specific criteria like the mission, function, financial criteria or classification, programmatic value, geography, etc. Then, each project can be further organized by system, priority, or impact. This approach allows decision-makers to understand the investment demands of managing individual facility segments.
See Intellis CEO discuss the benefits of Building Information Modeling and Artificial Reality.
One of the most profound benefits of implementing technology like FOUNDATION is our platform's built-in ability to automatically prioritize capital spending projects based on your institution's specific needs related to its mission.
Engage Stakeholders in the Decision-Making Process
Facilities leaders must engage stakeholders in the decision-making process for facility capital investments. Stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers, and local communities, play a crucial role in the success of capital investment projects. Engaging these groups in decision-making provides valuable insights into their needs and priorities, ensuring that investments align with their expectations and goals.
Find out how Intellis software improved the Facility Condition Assessments for the New York Housing Authority.
Companies can demonstrate a commitment to transparency and inclusivity by actively involving stakeholders. For instance, if employees express concerns about workplace safety, prioritizing investments in updated safety systems becomes imperative. Therefore, it is crucial for facilities leaders to actively involve and communicate with stakeholders to ensure that investments are aligned with the broader interests of all involved parties.
Talk to Us Directly
Aligning facility capital investments with your company's mission and goals is essential for ensuring your business's success and sustainability. Companies can ensure physical assets are mission-aligned and cost-effective by assessing current and future needs, considering the total cost of ownership, and engaging stakeholders in the decision-making process. Are you ready to find out how to align facility capital investments with business initiatives for maximum impact? We would love to talk to you about how we can help. Schedule a demo with us today!
Aligning facility capital investments with your organization's overall strategic plan enables your institution to be more impactful now and in the future. Therefore, a cloud-based mobile enterprise software platform like FOUNDATION can help you do that!
