You Need a Unified Solution (Not Individual Tools)

You oversee all operations for your property.

Besides your family, it’s your life.

You believe you’re excellent at it too.

But, you always feel like you hit too many bottlenecks when trying to get work done.

Since you run the entire operation, from customer service to security, you have a lot of moving parts to keep your eyes on day to day.

This responsibility makes it difficult to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

Your security team uses software for their guard tours.

Public safety uses another system – you can’t remember the name – for managing issues, incidents, and other miscellaneous requests that happen throughout the property.

Not to mention, your engineering team requires your team to write up a work order and then forward it to them.

Then, they enter the work order into their CMMS software.

We counted three different systems right there.

Each different system sends you a separate report, formatted a different way, and each has their faults that you must overcome each week to assess the information.

How is this efficient in any way?

It’s not.

You’re using too many ‘tools’ to run your property.

This strategy is dangerous because it leads to significant inefficiencies that affect your customers, bottom line, and your job.

But, the good news is you can change the course of the future.

You can control the effectiveness of your operation.

You no longer need multiple tools – you need a unified solution to achieve Proactive Operations.

MERGE TO ONE UNIFIED SOLUTION

The not-so-secret recipe for implementing Proactive Operations throughout your property is your ability to be proactive.

Obvious?

Then, why are so many operations still struggling to achieve this?

The answer: you’re using too many different software tools to run your property’s operations.

How proactive can a team be when your technology is causing you to overextend yourself and ultimately break down from lack of awareness, communication, documentation, and analysis?

You can’t be very proactive at all, can you?

• Use of legacy software limits you
• Managing too many tools prevent seamlessness
• Discrepancies with information diminish data integrity
• Unaligned teams lead to substantial communication issues
• Poor communication puts everyone on a different wavelength

These are problems that are easy to identify, but it’s the ones you don’t even know exist that cripple your organization.

Do you know how to fix this?

Move to unified technology.

It will allow you to employ Proactive Operations across all departments.

That way, you don’t miss a beat.

1. Deploy unified technology.
2. Create a unified organization.
3. Achieve Proactive Operations.

2 ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A UNIFIED SOLUTION

Now, you’re probably itching to know what ‘unified’ entails.

There are two primary attributes of a unified solution that will change the way your operation functions.

1. The ability for related modules to talk to one another
2. Ability to link records to other associated records

Let us explain.

The ability for related modules to talk to one another

You gain exceptional skills when you remove the concept of individual tools from your strategy.

You produce a unique operation whereby all functional departments work together to achieve your desired outcome: running a proactive operation.

Consider this; you have three tools:

1. Text Communication
2. Incident Management System
3. CMMS

Independently, they work fine.

Each system is web-based and offers quite a bit of functionality and flexibility for departmental teams.

But, they are from different vendors, and each of your departments utilizes the systems separately.

A disjointed operation creates inefficiencies you can’t afford.

Then, let’s bring them together as one solution.

A top-notch solution will give you the ability to coordinate between related modules.

Here’s what we mean:

Let’s say several customers witness a fight on your property.

During the dispute, each witness sends a text message to your Text Communication module.

The first text message received reports the fight.

Your staff sends the incident from this module to your Incident Management System (IMS) – within seconds.

Once the incident is passed to the IMS, you receive another incident report from your frontline staff via their Incident Management Mobile App.

This report notes that several customers have sustained injuries during the fight.

From the solution queue, you must notify all need-to-know teams:

1. Administration
2. Police
3. Housekeeping (Possibility of blood at the scene)

Staff arrives on-scene, and after the incident calms down, a Supervisor confirms there is broken furniture that Engineering needs to attend to at some point.

After filling out the critical details in your IMS, your staff sends the details over to the CMMS by creating a work order from the solution.

Yes, right then and there, in the present time, this information can be passed off to maintenance in a format that is actionable and trackable.

The maintenance team might not be able to handle this fix immediately.

But, it’s critical that they are aware, so they can take care of it following your event.

How is this for a unified operation?!

This is what you need.

There’s more, though.

Ability to link records to other associated records

Do you recall the report made by your frontline staff regarding injuries from the fight?

Well, that incident was initially entered in the IMS as a separate incident.

But, in these solutions, you can link this medical incident to the main incident for the fight.

This ability is simple, yet profound.

• It ensures that nothing ever slips through the cracks.
• It allows your team to connect the dots on the fly.
• It helps you review the incident later without worrying about whether or not you’re missing the whole story.

It doesn’t end here either.

Now, a wheelchair request is sent into your Request Tracking Software from a supervisor.

A different module in your solution.

The wheelchair request was for a bystander that was injured from the fight.

The aftermath is not too bad, but they did suffer a sprained ankle.

Showing them how your world-class organization delivers the first-class service they expect, you’re escorting them to their car in a wheelchair that was promptly provided to them. 

Go ahead and connect this request to the incident record as well.

Get the full picture and have complete control of your operation.

Use one solution that lets you achieve every level of efficiency you need.

OVER TO YOU

Countless operations are still relying on various tools from multiple vendors. It’s bad for business to run a fragmented operation.

You’ve got to think with a Proactive Operations mindset. Deploy a unified solution to achieve the performance your customers and boss expect.

Everyone will take notice when your technology is seamless because your operation will reflect it.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness and freshness.