As an Implementation Consultant at Planon, I am responsible for implementing Planon’s software for our customers. To ensure a successful implementation and for our customer to maximise their use of our software, it is my job to advise and guide them on some best practices. However, at the end of the day, the decision is ultimately the customer’s to make. Therefore, to ensure a smooth-running project and a swift implementation of the space management software, there are some key questions to ask beforehand.
If you are considering implementing space management software, take a look at some of the questions below, that I regularly ask myself and the customer. I find that having clear answers to these can help you in making your implementation project a success.
Most questions I use during an implementation project start with ‘why’. And the most important one is ‘Why do you actually want space management software?’, as it is very important for me, as the Implementation Consultant, to understand your drive and priorities. A key thing for your organisation to have in place is a workplace strategy.
A workplace strategy allows you to set clear goals and objectives, both short term and long term. Having the strategy defined, aids internal organisation alignment and it becomes much easier for me to understand your objectives and help you achieve them.
These goals should not be standalone but are ideally derived from your corporate strategy. For example, if one of your organisation’s goals is to cut costs, your focus should be on analysing space usage in order to use spaces more efficiently or to find opportunities to remove them altogether.
However, if your business is growing, you need to analyse how you can best utilise or even expand your current space, all based on your organisational demands.
There is a lot of space data that is relevant for different areas - people and assets can both be assigned to areas or locations. Issues usually occur within a location and a request almost always starts with ‘where’ the requestor is. Therefore, having the basics of space management in place is fundamental for all areas of your business.
For organisations that do not use a central solution, data is mostly stored in different locations, using various formats such as Excel sheets or using multiple, unrelated systems. When starting an implementation, it is very important to know how to get access to all this data.
The question that usually follows this is ‘how standardised is your data? This covers all aspects of your data. Take a simple example; the first floor in a property within the United States usually refers to a different floor in a property within Europe. Whilst values may be the same they may not mean the same.
You also need to question whether the data you are collecting now is still relevant. Does it really support you in achieving your goals? For example, knowing the walls of a specific meeting room are coloured orange is unlikely to be particularly relevant if you are looking to analyse utilisation. Does it cost you more time to collect and keep this data updated than the benefits storing this information would bring to your organisation?
The same goes for your reporting. Does that report in Excel that you have been using for many years really bring value? Maybe a different format or delivery method, such as a dashboard would be a much better alternative, giving consideration to the purpose and audience of that report.
Ask yourself what sort of data and reporting are relevant in order for you to achieve your goals. My advice is to keep things simple and work on standardising your data. Get your foundation right and then you can build from there.
Many organisations have an understanding of the way they are operating or have an idea of the way they would like to in the future. However, not every organisation has determined a clear process of how to deal with their spaces, for instance, in charging back costs. Do you charge back costs based on the size of a space or based on its allocation?
Having clarity about your processes is necessary before an implementation project can start. Remember, even if an organisation has defined a process already, this does not always necessarily mean people follow it. Therefore, do not only define a process, also ensure it is used and understood properly.
Last but not least, dare to question the status quo. Are the ways that you are currently dealing with your processes still the right way to do it and not just the way you have been doing things for years. Especially in relation to space management, which has evolved so much over the years with the introduction of topics such as agile working and activity-based working. Maybe this is the perfect time to review and update your processes.
When starting an implementation process, ensure you communicate this with your internal stakeholders. Not only are these the people that provide valuable feedback, they are also the end-users of the tools that make use of space data, such as a room booking panel or an app to find a free workspace.
By making your employees enthusiastic about the project you are working on from the very beginning, showing them the true benefits of implementing space management software, you will ensure your project has support throughout the entire organisation, which helps to avoid resistance.
I hope these questions help you to further optimise your business. If you want to learn more about effective space management, I recommend watching the webinar we recently did together with Verdantix or downloading our white paper.
