Lower costs: Meeting the “good technol-ogy pays for itself” concept stated earlier, this technology offers operations a prompt return on investment due to the daily clean-ing chemicals it can replace. It also reduces the need for businesses or facility operations to buy, transport and dis-pose of cleaning chemicals and packaging. Companies that choose to invest in super-oxidized/electrolyzed water technology re-port cleaning performance improvements, improved facility and worker safety, lower costs and an up to 100 percent elimination of toxic cleaning chemicals, Dao concludes. Reportage, Shared Data And Mobile Technology The equipment chemical reportage dis-cussed previously is just one example of the affect that mobile technology and shared data options can have on cleaning opera-tions. Improved communication: As discussed at WFBSC’s congress event, technology driven by on-board analytics stands ready to create even more lines of communication that will increase a department’s ability to react. Even for small-and medium-sized op-erations, tracking management systems will become a necessity in the not-too-distant future. Tracking management systems that are web-based and cloud-based will allow man-agers and supervisors to know what is being done where and when it is finished. Reports also will show who completed the task and include any issues that should be flagged for follow up. As this technology becomes cheaper and cheaper, and can be customized to end us-ers both large and small, it will create new transparencies between workers, supervi-sors, upper management and clients. Even so, the use of technology in the field should never supplant person-to-person re-lationships. Technology should be used to enhance client relationships, not replace them. Client concerns: With these automated re-portage and measurement systems, a clean-ing operation can offer its clients a window into their daily service. By tasking them with the important re-sponsibility of managing a facility’s risk, as well as ensuring occupant health and safety, clients often depend on cleaning operations to provide full reportage and documentation. Companies with the technology to pro-vide pertinent information anytime and anywhere will benefit. By having the client participate in the reportage process, he or she becomes an involved partner due to the information provided. As stated, clients today are more inclined to delve into cleaning results, and in this way, many are assisting the push for new re-portage technology in the cleaning market. Pushing upsells: In a market that shows growing demand for multi-service com-panies, operations that utilize mobile com-munication technology can have a distinct advantage. Using this new technology, these compa-nies can field teams to address and upsell clients on enhancements and additional services in the field. This quality-of-life improvement provided by mobile technology lets a representative: ● Focus on volume ● Work smart ● Follow the schedules of clients. Employee involvement: Finally, mobile technology can support employees by pro-viding more information and knowledge. Workers that clean using their brain lead to operational efficiency, and as operations provide better tools and more training, they develop employees’ self esteem, positively affecting turnover. Giving workers ownership of a task with improved technology has a positive impact on the industry’s workforce. The potential is there, and even employ-ees with no education can become expert cleaners through the use of new technology. Reducing Labor Usage Speakers at WFBSC noted that cleaning and maintenance currently has an extremely high requirement for labor. Today, many cleaning and maintenance operations require 100 percent labor lev-els. As new technology is introduced into the market, building service companies and facility cleaning and maintenance depart-ments will be able to depend less and less on labor. When more new technology appears, workers in the cleaning industry will call on it to become more knowledgeable, and it will further drive the demand for professional employees while helping increase wages. As cleaning practices become less labor oriented, operations will be able to rely upon newer technology to further attract and retain the latest generation of qualified cleaning managers and workers. William (Bill) Griffin, noted industry trainer and president of Cleaning Consul-tant Services Inc., says cleaning managers today should realize workers need training, and they need to accept responsibility for continuing to improve workers’ skills and knowledge base. “Our industry has done a terrible job of promoting the upward mobility opportu-nities available in the cleaning and main-tenance fields,” Griffin states. “We need to help people understand that the cleaning industry is a good starting place as well as a great place to build lifetime career.” Cleaning and maintenance operations should realize they cannot stop progress or technology, and over the next 30 years, en-gineering, science and robotics will replace the human as the primary provider of clean-ing services, according to Griffin. “How we deal with that transition will de-pend on how we begin preparing for the inevitable today,” Griffin states. “Training can provide us with a smoother ride on an otherwise bumpy road into the future.” This encompasses the need to put coach-ing, counseling and training programs in place to help employees accomplish their personal goals while doing the best job they can for their customer and employer each day. Griffin notes that there are valid and proven methods available that can turn the challenges this industry faces into opportu-nities for future growth and prosperity for everyone involved with and impacted by cleaning. In closing, no cleaning operation should be afraid of new technology. With improved communication, data gathering and cleaning results, manage-ment and business owners must plan on future investments and make sure they have training programs in place to take advantage of the latest technological advances. www.CMMOnline.com 21
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