2021 Facilities Management Trends

“The global market for in-house and outsourced facilities management is estimated to reach $1.9 trillion by 2024.”
—McKinsey

The world of Facilities Management (FM) is changing fast! In the past, FM had a more structural focus. Today, FM incorporates user experience and technology—a shift from property to people and from slow to responsive. This resource brings you up to speed on what’s happening in 2021, how Facilities Managers are outsourcing processes for efficiency, how an Engineering Drawing Management company can preserve and modernize your most valuable assets to put you on a digital path, and more.

Introduction
What is Facilities Management?
What Six Questions Should a Facility Manager Ask in 2021?
What Trends are Changing Facilities Management in 2021?
What is Engineering Drawing Management
What Industries Use Drawing Management?
Onsite Drawing Management vs. Drawing Management in the Cloud
Four Actions Facility Managers Should Take Right Now
Are You Ready to Partner With The Right Engineering Drawing Specialist?
Glossary of Terms
Next Steps

Introduction: The New Facilities Management Model

The world is getting more comfortable with technology. We use WiFi and Bluetooth-powered devices in our homes to play music, set timers for lights, and adjust the temperature. We’ve finally reached a certain level of “tech familiarity” at home that we want these conveniences in our workplaces too. And that’s what’s changing Facilities Management (for the better!). Facilities Managers (FMs) use technology to streamline processes and run their buildings more efficiently. But many FMs have a lot of groundwork to do before updating processes with modern technology. Current assets and company culture must be assessed, costs of new technology and training must be balanced against the anticipated value and return on investment (ROI). There’s also work to be done to convince C-Levels (CEOs, CTOs, COOs, CIOs, and CFOs) to engage, or at least pay attention to, these trends (some still in their infancy) that are transforming facilities.

It’s an exciting time for Facilities Management!

Too often put on the backburner, FM is now squarely in the spotlight. There are opportunities to revolutionize how facilities are run in a way that makes FM easier while, at the same time, cutting costs. Let’s take a look at how workplace strategies, technology innovation,and outsourcing are trending in 2021!

What is Facilities Management (FM)?

Facilities management exists to make sure buildings run efficiently. Efficiently in 2021 means the building itself, the property it sits on, and what goes on inside the walls. It is a field that blends engineering and trades with business acumen and, increasingly, technology. Facilities management coordinates the physical workplace with the people who work within it and the partners who work it.

On the structural side, the building can’t cost too much in monthly bills like heat and hydro—a balance must be struck between spending on infrastructure or spending on maintenance. The skill set of a Facility Manager is diverse: Facility Managers need to have a background in or knowledge of construction materials, HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) systems, roofing systems, ceilings and floorings, interior walls, plumbing systems, structural integrity, asset management, and project management etc.

On the human side, a Facilities Manager makes sure that what’s happening in the building is done safely and in the best way possible by integrating people, processes, and technology. Facility Managers handle emergencies, budgets, financial statements, and reports that relate to business continuity. All of these elements cost money and the FM’s job is to make them work together as smoothly as possible with a limited amount of funds.

In short, a Facility Manager wears a lot of hats and, thanks to new trends, those hats are fewer and they fit better than ever before. When it comes down to it, the buildings might be different, but managing them and maintaining them follows the same process. That’s why it’s a top priority for FMs to have access to critical information without hassle. Reducing hassle comes in the form of new workplace strategies, technology integration, and outsourcing.

What 6 Questions Should a Facilities Manager ask in 2021?

How big are my facilities? What’s the overall footprint?
Where is my information stored?
How easy is it to access that information? Do I lose time looking for what I need?
In an emergency, how quickly can I give emergency services what they need to solve a problem?
Would sensors and software improve response time?
How would my job change if I had instant fast access to information?

Answer those questions and the areas for improvement stand out. Chances are your facilities are millions of square feet in size and you have more than one building to manage. Chances are you store your information in-house on shelves or on scattered digital media sources. Chances are it’s not easy or fast to locate the information you need to make smart decisions and, when the unthinkable happens, you won’t be able to give emergency crews the information they need to fix the problem. Software and sensors are an easy first step to bring the pieces from too many places into one place. The time you save tracking down unorganized information can be rolled back into your facilities’ process and realized in your budget over a few cycles. The answer to your problems lie in the trends that are changing facilities management for the better. Let’s take a look!

What Trends are Changing Facilities Management?

It’s no longer about squeezing budgets and trying to get the ear of upper management to increase that budget. Upper management is listening, and technology is changing Facilities management in a way that improves processes while paying for itself. The trends change FM in a way that is widely accepted because we widely accept technology—often wearing it in the form of a smart watch. Technology gives FMs better tools to do their jobs both inside the facility and out in the field. Productivity goes up, and costs are recouped in a scenario that’s more short-term than long-term.

TREND #1: Smart Facilities

Over 20 billion smart technologies entered facilities in 2020. Smart facilities use sensors, cameras, even robots, to better the work experience. And these devices promise responsiveness with what is now an affordable price tag. The Internet of Things (IoT) makes it easy for Facilities Managers to save on energy costs by automating temperature control and using motion sensors for lights. Biometric authentication creates not only higher security but a tailored employee experience. Installing these upgrades puts control into FM’s hands on a single device from wherever they are—with real-time reports and predictive forecasting available at a swipe.

Imagine arriving at a building where the security system automatically recognises you, scanning your iris or fingerprint and allowing you through the barriers. You take the lift, which knows which floor you need, and when you emerge, your phone shows you the most direct route to your meeting room. As you arrive, the temperature and lighting adjusts to take into account the fact that there will be two people in the room and the telecom system automatically dials you into your conference call.—CBRE

That sort of convenience is available right now. Facilities are also piloting robots to automate hazardous and repetitive routines out-of-hours. Robot sales in facilities went up 24% in 2016 (approximately 60 000 bots). Robots clean HVAC ducts and floors, wash windows and equipment, remove snow from walkways and driveways, and maintain lawns. Drones with cameras can inspect roofs, small spaces, and high places where human risk is high or difficult—reducing human risk while freeing up staff to focus on higher-value activities. So if, for example, there is light bulb out on the 3rd floor in Zone B, sensors report a new bulb is required and a robot changes it, entering time of change and product used. Over time you see that switching light bulb brands is necessary as that particular brand didn’t perform up to the stated lifetime hours and therefore costs too much.

Robots are already entering specific environments like hospitals where Automatic Guided Vehicles transport food, linen and hospital stores in a safe, hygienic and efficient way…”Traditionally FM is about labour and man hours and therefore by its very nature it’s challenging to make it efficient because the cost of labour goes up every year – so the more stretching end of the industry is looking at what changes it can make in order to keep up with other industries. Robotics fits that category.”—Kirsten Bradbury, CBRE Facilities Management

The most futuristic trend hitting facility floors is augmented reality (AR). Though still in the early stages, as AR software develops, FMs will be able to put on a headset to visualize different systems in a building (electrical, mechanical, plumbing etc.) to interactively identify problems offsite. AR holds high potential for instruction as well.

Companies are experimenting with various applications of AR to support workers in selected tasks. A remote assisted maintenance toolkit, for example, includes endoscopic and thermal cameras, a microphone, and a portable computer. With these tools, the equipment operator can connect remotely to an expert, who can guide him through the maintenance procedure. AR maintenance also offers operators support through an integrated helmet with special glasses and software that details proper maintenance procedures.—McKinsey

All of these smart devices provide feedback that can be used to evaluate performance. But retrofits might prove costly in the short-term and working the metrics might require hiring data scientists to describe the relationship between the property (for example, energy use) and the people (using less energy when they work remotely).

TREND #2: User Experience

Technology has changed the way we shop, the way we exercise, and the way we manage our day. Health and wellness is overtaking all industries by storm. 4 out of 5 facilities have already introduced or plan to introduce a wellness program for employees. Wellness is no longer a “nice to have” perk; it’s a tool to attract better people. That’s why wellness certifications will become the norm (wellness includes physical exercise, nutrition, and mental health staples like mindfulness and meditation) and FMs will work more closely with HR to design successful wellness programs both inside and outside the facilities.

Cubicles and the 9-5 workplace model are rapidly being replaced by remote work, social collaboration, and co-working (different organisations sharing group spaces). This means Facilities Managers will have to find ways to support virtual spaces—which could mean a cost savings on physical spaces. Studies show that flexible work models boost productivity, reduce absenteeism, and open up a bigger talent pool from areas outside the physical facility.

With increased flexibility comes higher standards when it comes to suppliers. With so many options out there in an online world, suppliers must work harder to show cultural alignment and best interests. These partnerships, once formed, promise a longer-term relationship, which is better for both the facility and the supplier. It’s no longer an RFP sort of thing. It’s more like co-solutioning between the facility, the vendor, and the client to create true value.

TREND #3: Outsourcing

If you’re looking to cut costs and increase productivity immediately, the #1 Facilities Management trend you should follow in 2021 is global outsourcing. You pay others to do certain tasks for you better than you can do those things in-house yourself and at a more affordable price tag. With outsourcing, the tasks that once slowed down progress are taken off the plates of those with a skillset better suited to higher-value objectives.

Outsourcing has now surpassed 50% of the total facilities management market in several regions, including Europe, Middle East, and North America.

Facilities Management outsourcing grows at 6.25% per annum

By 2025, facilities around the world will spend $1 trillion dollars offloading their stressful tasks onto companies better-prepared to take on those burdens. The biggest burden of all? Engineering drawing management—the prickly thorn in the side of Facilities Managers for decades. So if you’ve been scrambling to keep up and you’re looking for ways to streamline your workflow, or maybe you’ve crunched the numbers and you see that the return on investment from time saved looking for lost drawings is worth it, then it’s time to break it down for your board. Flexibility is key in a remote world, and outsourcing is a flexible, stable solution.

Outsourcing your drawing management makes sense.

Engineering drawing specialists make it easy to manage your facility drawings—no matter how big or small the facility, no matter what the industry. The Drawing Specialists give FMs access to high-quality software that puts critical information in front of them in a matter of seconds when disaster strikes, or… when it’s time to report to the board. But not all drawing specialists are created the same. You’re looking for a long-term partner that gives you software that makes you agile and support that keeps you that way. If you’re investing in outsourcing, you want to make sure you’re actually saving time, money, and headaches. Read on!

Helpful articles

What is an Engineering Drawing Management System (DMS)?

“If you strip away the technology and industry jargon, you’re left with a simple definition: a drawing management system lets you see a drawing when it’s not in front of you. This is critical because FMs usually manage multiple buildings spread out across states or countries. Gone are the days when you have to find a blueprint in a basement, roll it up, and drive it or mail it somewhere. Now, in an emergency, all that is required is a tablet, a password, and a swipe.”—Darryl Mitchell, The Drawing Specialists

Emergencies happen. Quick access to the information needed to solve an emergency makes the difference between minimizing the damage or suffering millions of dollars in damages. The right information in front of you when you need it mitigates risk to buildings and to the people in front of that emergency. But disorganization of that drawings is an industry-wide problem.

Do you need an engineering drawing management system? You do if you find that your team grapples with the following:

multiple project updates that take time from other priorities
current project delays because drawings are missing
outdated or damaged drawings
multiple versions of the same drawing
different filing systems between departments
lost information when employees retire
ongoing frustration

An Engineering Drawing Management System loads all building schematics into an app that can be accessed from anywhere in seconds with any mobile device. The first step converts all drawings—in any format, in any condition—into top-quality CAD conversions. From old paper blueprints to PDFs to digital files scattered throughout a facility on local drives, drawing conversion turns all large format engineering drawings into agile CAD files. From there, those CAD files are uploaded into a one organized, secure central repository online. The Drawing Specialist’s user-friendly online drawing library, echo, let’s you login on any mobile device. Search for, share, and update drawings in a mobile-friendly app, knowing that every click is backed with ironclad support. This saves time, locks in certainty (the drawing you’re looking at is always the right one), minimizes stress, and prevents future expense.

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Which Industries Need Drawing Management?

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Onsite Drawing Management vs. Cloud Drawing Management

Those overloaded backroom shelves are not organized and not protected. You know this. There are multiple versions stacked in those piles and only one drawing is the one you need. Years ago, maybe, you started creating and storing digital CAD files to modernize your process. But those old paper blueprints remain in the basement, and the newer digital files aren’t organized either. They’re on CDs, DVDs, flash drives, external hard drives, and employee laptops (a digital junk pile). They are buried under miles of tiered folders behind passwords no one remembers. Some are duplicates of the blueprints in the basement. Some are damaged. Some are inaccurate. And none of them make you feel like you are in control of the situation.

Onsite drawing management is difficult to manage, usually chaotic, and expensive.

You’re losing a lot of time looking for drawings. And sometimes that search pulls up nothing. Time is money and not being able to locate the drawing you need with disaster strikes costs a lot of money. The solution is cloud-based engineering drawing management. Your time is valuable and your reputation is important. Streamline your drawing management with software for facilities management. An engineering DMS like The Drawing Specialist’s echo app is a fast digital library that holds all of your drawings online, making it easy to find, manage, and share digital blueprints, engineering drawings, CAD files, and all of the accompanying documents throughout their lifecycle. Automate your process with the swipe of the screen. Create, send, and track transmittals fast, and reduce the chance of errors. Communicate, like, share, and comment on all critical lifecycle facility drawings and accompanying documents.

When you have too many drawings coming from too many sources with too many revisions and not enough time to keep track of it all, and when your files are too important for a cookie-cutter, out-of-the-box solution, echo is the answer.

A cloud solution like echo lets you work remotely and puts server management in someone else’s professional hands. Which means you can let that expensive 3-person IT department go. There you go! Cloud drawing management just paid for itself. React faster and mitigate issues faster—unhinged from your location—and feel secure about a cloud-managed DMS giving you fully-scalable cloud architecture for your drawings. Cloud CAD files empower workflows, version control, metadata search, accessibility, and access control. Cloud management frees you from folder structures, lowers your risk, and improves your aesthetics and knowledge retention with backup and support.

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Four Actions Facility Managers Should Take Right Now

Coming up with a strategy and picking the right partners to pull of that strategy is difficult. Choose the wrong partner, and your strategic, cost-saving solution turns into a pain point. Here are four actions you can take to create a future-forward solution that works:

1. Create a collaborative team to do some groundwork

These trends are happening and, if you don’t proactively grasp them, they will pass you by. But your wants as a FM might not fall in line with upper management. You need to convince C-Levels that facilities management is no longer a backburner priority. Transforming FM has the potential to reduce costs. Your team should include a leader to source vendors supplying cost-cutting innovation and a leader to figure out what the transformative path would look like and what training would be needed to get staff up to speed. Someone will need to compile the gathered information into a presentation backed by statistics, examples, best and worst case scenarios, and profit (or loss) potential.

2. Design a strategic road map for tomorrow

List the trends, prioritize initiatives, assess what current day looks like, paint what the future could look like. How will you manage vendors? How will you build trust in vendor relationships? Set up meetings with potential suppliers, ask for projections, and ask how suppliers will train staff with digital technologies. Put performance indicators in place, and establish strategy review markers to evaluate and improve upon the initial strategy on your way to your end goal—leaner, trimmer, more productive, less costly facilities management.

3. Build a business case for controlled pilots to satisfy C-Levels

Taking risk isn’t something upper management gets excited about, so baby-step into innovation with controlled pilots. Start safe with demos and simple tasks. Experiment with IoT, robotic process automation, and AR just enough to expose the company to the possibilities that trending technologies provide and give them a chance to acclimate with test runs. Successful pilots move the needle farther into the future and provide motivation to scale faster. Communicate to C-Levels that improving FM not only has the opportunity to cut costs by increasing efficiency, it also presents the opportunity to create long-term partnerships with suppliers and a more positive user experience by integrating a staff-centric focus into FM—because people are playing a bigger role in FM and attitudes are changing. There’s an opportunity to be proactive, no longer reactive.

4. Outsource for tactical advantage today

High-level changes usually require careful planning. But some of your legacy problems can be solved immediately. Outsourcing is a trend that can work tomorrow. A simple cost-benefit analysis reveals bottlenecked areas. One of those areas is likely your engineering drawings—the information you need to run your facility. If your drawings are not digital, not accurate, not centralized, not easily located, not easily accessed, and not easy to update and track in real-time, offloading that responsibility onto a trusted partner like The Drawing Specialists is the fastest way to see immediate gains. It’s not only the right choice organizationally, it’s the right choice for your people who need a better system.

Helpful articles

drawingspecialists.com/benefits-of-outsourcing/

Are You Ready to Partner With The Right Engineering Drawing Specialist?

Facilities Management has come out of the shadows. Facilities Managers who track emerging trends, build a business case to adopt them, and invest in the right technologies will find themselves in a proactive place that reduces costs, streamlines processes, increases productivity, and realizes the most bang from their technology buck. The easiest choice in your tech stack you can make today is to convert all of your facilities’ engineering drawings into accurate CAD files that are stored safely in a digital drawing library. Put accuracy in your hands in real-time. Access the critical information you need when you need it. By choosing a reputable drawing specialist like The Drawing Specialists, you save 87% or more on your inhouse engineering conversion costs and you end up with a mobile-ready solution that puts all of your facility knowledge on a laptop, tablet, or phone at the facility, or in the field—with very little training required. The future of Facilities Management is digital engineering drawings stored online in a digital drawing library available to anyone anywhere at any time.

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Glossary of Terms

App: Short for application, an app is software for a mobile device. The echo app gives facility managers the power to manage engineering drawings from anywhere with a tablet, laptop, or phone.

Augmented Reality (AR): An interactive experience that enhances the real world by overlaying computer-generated perceptual information, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. Popularized by SnapChat and Pokemon Go, automobile nav systems use AR to impose a route over satellite imagery, sports teams analyze plays with coloured pens, neurosurgeons use AR to perform brain surgery, and FM’s can visualize problems within a facility to direct action remotely.

Biometric Authentication This is a biology-based password where, instead of having to remember a sequence of alphanumeric characters, a thumbprint, fingerprint, iris or retina scan, voice, or face scan is used to identify (authenticate) a user.

Blueprint: Introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842, a blueprint is a copy of a large-format engineering drawing made on paper. Reproductions were blue in colour because of the contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. The process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number of copies. When photocopiers and scanners advanced, reproduction of technical drawings resulted in exact duplicates using ink on large format paper, but the name “blueprint” remained. Today, blueprints are scanned into digital CAD versions and uploaded into digital drawing libraries that can be accessed with a tablet on site.

Business continuity planning: Creating a prevention and recovery system that minimizes potential threats to a company. The plan ensures that personnel and assets are protected and are able to function quickly in the event of a disaster. Converting old blueprints into digital CAD files is an important part of a continuity plan for facilities managers who need to protect engineering drawings from time, fire, flood, and misplacement.

CAD conversion: The process of creating a digital 2D or 3D render of a paper-based drawing using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software like AutoCAD. The resulting digital file uses the ending “.DWG,” which stands for drawing.

CAD drawings: A detailed 2D or 3D drawing that displays the components of an engineering or architectural project. Computer-aided design (CAD) software creates these digital drawings used by contractors and engineers throughout the entire process of a design project through to construction. Facilities managers depend on proper storage of CAD drawings to keep track of all facility renovations over time and to see the schematics of a building in an emergency.

C-Level: A C-level executive holds a senior role within a company. In general, the “C” designation applies to those who are the absolute head of a department—the chief. Some examples are the Chief Operation Office (COO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Chief Information Officer (CIO). These positions report to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Cloud drawing management: The Cloud is a third-party data center (server) on the internet. More cyber secure than on-site servers, the Cloud is unattached to a physical location, protecting information from natural disasters. With a cloud-hosted system, your engineering drawings are stored and accessed online from anywhere.

DMS: A document management system (DMS) is software that securely stores drawings, gating access with secure authentication, controlling permissions and versioning. A DMS puts drawing management at a Facility Manager’s fingertips, tracking down drawings in a couple of clicks, making sure there is only one accurate drawing at any time—and it’s always the right one. Users can share that drawing instantaneously with remote users.

Drawing Specialist: Engineering drawing professionals who provide the ultimate solution to preserve and modernize your most valuable assets: engineering drawings.

echo: Engineering Drawing Software (as a Service) that puts your drawings at your fingertips in an app on a mobile device. echo is a modern approach to engineering drawing management that makes finding, sharing, and managing scanned blueprints, engineering drawings, CAD files, and accompanying documents throughout their lifecycle EASY. Automate your drawing history, preserve it, and keep it accurate with echo, by the Drawing Specialists. echo was designed, programmed, and fine-tuned just for you, Facilities Managers!

Engineering Drawing: A technical drawing that provides information about a building in great detail according to exact geometry. For construction purposes, a number of drawings are usually required to complete a renovation or take care of an emergency.

Engineering Drawing Management: Managing engineering drawings used to be about careful filing of large-format paper-based blueprints on shelves or large drawers in oversized cabinets. Today, engineering drawing management is digital, invisible, and nimble. It preserves the past for the future, adding speed to projects and emergencies, making change orders easier and more efficient, preventing duplication and improving accuracy.

Facility: A large building, for example: a corporation, factory, hospital, stadium, or school.

Facilities Management: All of the things that must be done to operate a large building efficiently. This includes strategic planning, day-to-day operations, security, and building maintenance. But more and more, FM involves the human element. Facilities managers must ensure the health and safety of occupants, contribute to continuity planning, handle contracts and legal issues, and report on operations.

Hands-on The dirty work at the front end of converting paper blueprints into fast digital engineering drawings. This is the part where drawing specialists arrive in work vehicles, gloves on, to gather every piece of your drawing history, take it back to our state of the art facility, sort through the chaos, and feed only the few, accurate drawings into a digital library for immediate access with very little training. It starts with coming to you and taking away all that paper. At the Drawing Specialists, we live for this monumental task!

IoT: Stands for the Internet of Things. It’s the catch term used to describe the network of physical objects—“things”—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies to connect with the internet and exchange data with other devices and systems. IoT makes our lives easier, but it comes at a security cost.

Master Baselines: This is the term we coined here at the Drawing Specialists for our amazing solution that feeds multiple drawings into one smaller, faster, layered CAD File. We made this specifically for Facilities Managers—who love having one set of accurate, optimized master drawings at the click of a button. We think it’s the best drawing management solution on the market today (and we think you will too when you try it starting as low as $475).

Mobile Device: A small computer you can hold in your hand, like a smartphone or tablet. Made for portability, they are compact and lightweight, providing a touchscreen interface that connects to the internet through WiFi or cell signal. Software on mobile devices are called apps.

Online drawing library: An application that organizes drawing based on a number of (sortable) index categories. Online drawing libraries like echo keeps drawings secure, searchable, shareable, and super fast.

Onsite drawing management: Managing your paper blueprints or digital drawings on-location in-house. This used to be how all drawing management was handled. Now, outsourcing drawing management to Cloud hosting creates agility, security, and cost-effectiveness.

Outsourcing: Handing over tasks outside of core company functions (like engineering drawing management) to an outside provider.

Redraw: Blueprint to CAD or PDF to CAD conversion by AutoCAD Experts (like the Drawing Specialists). “Redrawing” static drawings into a format that is editable makes upcoming renovations and additions easy.

Robotic Process Automation: RPA is software (the robot) that automatically processes tasks without manual input (human intervention). RPA saves time and money, focussing employees on higher-value tasks.

ROI: Return on Investment is the amount you get back on the amount you put in. You want your return on the investment you made to be higher over time (sooner than later preferably) than the initial investment to make the investment worthwhile.

Smart Facility: Facilities that integrate smart solutions into the existing ecosystem. The smart part is the internet-based technology (like sensors) that put information happening elsewhere in the hands of facility managers (wherever they happen to be). Instant data for fast decision making.

The Cloud: An online server that provides features, security, and space unmatched by local in-house servers. Usually subscription based, cloud servers are immune to natural disasters and create fast access from anywhere.

Trends: How something is going and where that thing is heading. For facilities management the trend is toward smart facilities and third party outsourcing (things like engineering drawing management)

User Experience: Also known as UX, it’s the design and functionality of an application interface that creates either a good experience for the person using it or a bad experience. Large sized buttons for mobile apps is a good example (make it easy to click).

Work wellness: the active pursuit of activities that lead to a state of holistic health. Not only does an emphasis on employee wellness produce healthier employees, it’s a tool that attract better employees. Facilities managers and HR professionals are teaming up to offer gym memberships, catered lunches, and mental health programs for employees. Happy employees are loyal employees. Loyal employees work harder. It’s a circular benefit.

Next Steps

Discover what engineering drawing services can do for your facility

The Drawing Specialists’ team of engineering drawing management professionals deliver exceptional results and impeccable customer service. Our conversion services kickstart a paper-heavy front end, converting hundreds of thousands of facility drawings into digital CAD files that are stored securely in the Cloud, accessed by a mobile app that lets you and your staff fully maximize their potential.

Let The Drawing Specialists take on your engineering drawing chaos! We come to your facility, gloves on, ready to scrub decades of trapped knowledge from the nooks and crannies of your buildings, delivering a mobile-managed solution that’s secure, fast, and accurate. What you can do with information at your fingertips is extraordinary. And the price tag will make you smile, too. We deliver the highest quality AutoCAD conversions anywhere at ⅓ of your in-house cost. And our drawing library software, echo, makes controlling your new drawing library a breeze.

Did we mention our premium product, Master Baselines? Ask us about merging multiple files into an overall master plan, applying all markups, and matching all edges into one set of accurate, optimized master drawings that are the right version every time, integrated by discipline (at the click of a button) for even faster CAD File Management. Baselines are the leading edge starting point for planning, renos, and maintenance projects. And they start as low as $475.

Call us today 1-855-858-CADD (2233) or contact us below, to talk with one of our seasoned drawing management professionals. We’re happy to answer your questions, provide recommendations, audit your current system, and get you where you need to be in 2021. We’re masters of our trade, combining automation with hands-on quality control that leaves nothing to chance.

2021 Facilities Management Trends

Table of Contents

Introduction: The New Facilities Management Model

What is Facilities Management (FM)?

What 6 Questions Should a Facilities Manager ask in 2021?

What Trends are Changing Facilities Management?

What are these new trends?

TREND #1: Smart Facilities

TREND #2: User Experience

TREND #3: Outsourcing

Helpful articles

What is an Engineering Drawing Management System (DMS)?

Helpful articles

Which Industries Need Drawing Management?

Helpful articles

Onsite Drawing Management vs. Cloud Drawing Management

Helpful articles

Four Actions Facility Managers Should Take Right Now

1. Create a collaborative team to do some groundwork

2. Design a strategic road map for tomorrow

3. Build a business case for controlled pilots to satisfy C-Levels

4. Outsource for tactical advantage today

Helpful articles

Are You Ready to Partner With The Right Engineering Drawing Specialist?

Helpful articles

Glossary of Terms

Next Steps

Discover what engineering drawing services can do for your facility

Ready to Get Started?

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