The holiday season is a bustling time for businesses, with increased foot traffic, extended hours, and winter weather challenges putting additional pressure on facilities. For Facilities Managers, this means a heightened focus on maintaining smooth operations to deliver a seamless experience for customers, employees, and guests. Here’s how to prepare effectively: 1. Plan for Increased […]
As colder weather creeps in, businesses are bracing for steep hikes in energy costs this winter. The significant increase, combined with high gasoline prices, supply chain issues, spending weariness, and inflation, is creating a myriad of challenges for business owners. This has left many searching for innovative ways to cut costs and reduce bottom […]
Operations leaders across the retail industry may not always face the same challenges. Still, each has a similar goal: to improve their organization’s operating costs, boost employee productivity, and stay ahead of equipment performance issues. In recent decades, accomplishing these initiatives has become easier with the Internet of Things (IoT), but facility management is always […]
Mother Nature is always full of surprises. No one ever knows with absolute certainty what extremes the weather might deliver, from freezing cold or blistering heat to a hurricane or tornado. This scenario is particularly challenging for operations leaders. No business wants to be forced to close its doors, but is it possible to brave […]
If you take a close look at many commercial electrical bills, you’ll note something called a “demand charge”. This is a fee the utility charges you based on the maximum amount of power your facility required during any 15-30-minute interval over the last billing period. Essentially, this is a fee the utility imposes on […]
It’s hard to believe, but we first introduced our platform to the commercial market a decade ago. Since then, we’ve been working hard to continuously improve our solution, learn even more about the challenges our customers face with their businesses, and refine and further develop our system to meet those challenges head-on. The beauty of […]
Packaged rooftop units (RTUs) are essential to most commercial operations. They are vital to every cool ice cream shop on a hot day, warm coffee shop on a cold one, and now (more important than ever) the increased ventilation required for restarting business mid-pandemic. Because of RTUs’ key role in delivering a great customer (and […]
With all the COVID-related challenges in retail and food service these days, we’re all looking for ways to controls costs. While it may be a bit tedious to wade through, there are some changes to the federal tax code that may provide some relief. We’ve come across some updates to the CARES Act that […]
According to the 2019 Connex Retail Facilities Maintenance Industry Benchmarking Report, the cost of repairs and maintenance is closely related to the age of the building. Connex surveyed a wide variety of multi-site retailers and found that the average R&M budget per store nearly doubled for stores aged 11-20 years-old, when compared to stored aged […]
Connex, the industry association for facilities professionals at multi-site retailers, recently released their 2019 Retail Facilities Maintenance Industry Overview Benchmarking Report. The report does a great job of highlighting the health of the industry, pointing out where the industry is currently challenged, and detailing what the future holds. While there is plenty of useful information, […]
Changes to the operation of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems in buildings nationwide will play a key role in the reopening of American businesses. In May, The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) issued a series of recommendations aimed to curb the spread of COVID-19 once customers return to stores. ASHRAE’s epidemic […]
At the end of the year, most of us are doing a lot of looking back and planning ahead. One thing every multisite operator should do is look back on equipment performance and plan ahead for equipment repairs and replacement. One move we see many of our customers making – and now is a great […]
