Inaya Facilities Management goes Mobile at ‘Ibn Battuta Mall'

Company rolls out the first stage of their new Mobile Solutions system at the mall and charts a new path for Facilities Management service delivery in the Emirates

DUBAI, April 21st, 2014 – Inaya Facilities Management rolled out the first stage of their new Mobile Solutions system at Ibn Battuta Mall and, in doing so, pioneered a new path for Facilities Management service delivery in Dubai. Founded in Dubai in 2010 by the Belhasa Group, Inaya continues to expand across the Gulf Region.

“Facilities Management is a highly competitive market, especially here in Dubai” said Inaya’s General Manager, Nishant Ravindran “You’re always looking for ways to distinguish yourself from other service providers, to implement innovations which are of direct benefit to the client as well as the end user and of course, to streamline your own operations; to become more efficient. In moving to Mobile Solutions we believe we’re doing all three.”

In equipping their ground staff with the new Motorola TC55 touch computers Inaya’s Ibn Battuta team can now carry out their maintenance by arriving onsite and scanning the bar code of the equipment. Upon scanning the barcode, the technician immediately has the entire service record to hand for as well as access to current stock levels and the ability to place an order for the immediate delivery of that new part. Simultaneously, in having scanned the barcode, the technician has sent a geostamp to the enterprise Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) system, an irrefutable validation of the maintenance schedule and a real time update to the audit trail.

“Before, with conventional methods, there was always a risk of data inaccuracy as notes made on a clipboard were transcribed into our central database” Nishant explains “Then there was the management process of ensuring all stops in all rounds were actually made. This was difficult because really, there was no way to truly validate it”.

Under the Mobile Solution system these problems are minimized. In their place is a process that is efficient, accountable and captures the audit trail in real time while also providing quantifiable performance data directly back to the company that can be utilized to further refine service processes and enable an even greater corporate efficiency.

In a country with a staggering 74% smartphone penetration – the highest in the world – it’s no surprise that companies are beginning to utilize the technology to their business advantage; what is surprising however, is the slow pace of adaptation.

“When we first mentioned our intention to go mobile to our clients they expressed genuine concern regarding the cost of implementing this new system and how that would impact on them” explains Nishant “As it turned out, the set up costs were wholly absorbed by the company with no impact to our clients whatsoever and frankly, what we’ve spent in start-up we’re already recovering in our improved accuracy, improved productivity and the collation of never-before held service data. Even our technicians have expressed their preference for this new system as it has greatly reduced their administrative workload.”

He concludes “At the end of the day, you want to provide the client with efficient, accountable and reliable facilities management. In pioneering mobile technology we’re actively simplifying work processes and that’s of benefit to everyone.”