Category: Connex News

On Wednesday’s episode of The Daily Grind, James Walton, Vice President, ENTOUCH, discussed HVAC issues multi-site FMs will face with shuttered stores, and provided advice for FMs as stores begin to open again when the COVID-19 pandemic slows. Entouch empowers multi-site owners and operators with data, analytics and insights to enable smarter buildings and smarter business models.

 

“It’s been interesting, during the last few weeks as each business has faced its own set of unique challenges,” said Walton “Some are absolutely shutter-in-place. Some unfortunately are closing permanently, and others are considered part of essential business. So, the needs for each situation are very different. Currently we focus most on those choosing to shutter-in-place.

 

During these trying times its difficult for owners to really focus on “the business” because they are also focused on personal and family issues. Our teams have stepped up to take the burden off them, and to provide experienced guidance.

 

While our daily lives at Entouch are typically focused on HVAC, we’re here to help manage the rest of the building as well. There are other opportunities to save money as building shut down, and we can help identify those savings.  We’re all in this together and we owe it to our clients to help whenever and wherever we can.

 

Moving forward its really going to be about how we all get back to normal. Every business will face different issues as they decide how to reopen. We need to ensure we use the time that we’ve been given with this event and really learn from the data collected.

 

We’ll be looking across all building systems during this time and establishing new benchmarks that can be used to set a new baseline to move forward efficiently and effectively. We need to be able to reassure customers re-opening stores that it is safe and reassure the marketplace that we’re taking proven, data-based precautions and smartly scaling up as the economy re-opens.

 

Having the right HVAC, the right airflow, safety equipment, and even hand sanitizer will be critical to success. Anything we can do to assist during this time will help our clients better serve their customers as we all strive to get back to work,” concluded Walton.

Today on the Daily Grind, Rob Almond, CEO, NEST, discussed disaster planning and crisis management, and provided key takeaways as multi-site facilities businesses continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. NEST is a national multi-site facility services and management company that helps build, manage and track construction and facilities maintenance management projects.  

Almond discussed how NEST has been working with St. Joseph’s University. “During the last few years, and more importantly, the last few weeks we have been meeting with graduating seniors to discuss crisis management planning, awareness and preparedness,” Almond explained.

 “Our relationship with St. Joseph’s goes back roughly ten years now, as a sponsor of their business policy competition. Each graduating class has a cap stone class project during which they select a publicly owned company – they identify challenges the company is facing and develop a business plan to guide the company through those issues. For six years, two semesters per year, I served as a judge when the final six projects were presented.

What we discovered was interesting. Almost every semester one group had presented a case study about a NEST customer. We have always found it fun to and beneficial to share the information from the graduating class with our client. One time the seniors had the opportunity to present their findings to the client. We also allowed the students to sit in on our business review with the client. That was always our intent – to bring them into a real world setting and provide them that experience.

Five years ago, we pivoted and went to their financial planning and business intelligence department and created a co-op program. They presented some of the analytics and reporting we had developed earlier as it now relates to the current Covid-19 crisis. So again, we’re really all about providing students the opportunity to interact with real organizations.

As we look forward to getting back to normal, everyone has choices. You could wait to see how things will go. However, we all agree that’s not going to be the case. Everything’s going to be different going forward, from this type of virtual conferencing, to the way we conduct business.

Obviously, we know brick & mortar is not going away, but things are going to be different. Maybe that includes less of a store presence and more of a curb-side delivery presence.  Therefore, you’ve got to think differently.  One student asked me for advice, and I suggested two things:

1.     Give back. No matter how small the gesture is. Right now, that’s so important. Even if it’s just putting on some gloves and helping am elderly neighbor with their trash. People are going to ask what you did during the crisis. Have a positive answer.

2.     Realize opportunities are going to change Job offers from a month ago may be gone. Don’t let that discourage you. Take advantage of what is there. Take it as a challenge and adapt to the challenges and opportunities this crisis has presented.

Today on the Daily Grind, Stephanie H. Taylor, M.D., M. Arch, RSPH(UK), MCABE discussed the importance of air quality and HVAC in facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. As a pediatric oncologist and a graduate of Harvard Medical, Taylor became concerned with the amount of infections that were happening in hospitals and buildings and began to think the HVAC system played a role in the spread of infection.

As a doctor she wasn’t successful communicating with facility managers. Therefore, she acquired her master’s degree in architecture and engineering so she could better understand building architecture and better communicate her concerns.

She then began to study patient outcomes in conjunction with the buildings and hospitals. To her surprise they began to accumulate data that demonstrated a decrease in infection rates in buildings with higher relative humidity.  Stephanie then became associated with ASHRAE and continues to be impressed with their breadth of knowledge on the guidelines they issue.

“Ironically this pandemic is a very frightening thing. But its also an opportunity for us to really understand how important the indoor air environment is in protecting our health,” explained Taylor.

“What we’ve discovered is that’s it’s very important to humidify the indoor environment. We should all be running humidification systems whether it’s a humidifier you buy at your local pharmacy or a full building installation. We should be managing our indoor environments to maintain the relative humidity between 40 and 60%.” Three reasons why increased relative humidity is beneficial:

1.       If someone who has COVID-19 enters your home or office and coughs, sneezes or even breaths, they release small aerosols into the air that are highly infectious. These tiny aerosols quickly shrink. The drier the air is in your building, the quicker and smaller they shrink. Once they become smaller, they can easily pass through the airspace, into different rooms, at a much quicker, efficient rate. Then when they enter another human, they become re-hydrated and are just as infectious. Keeping the humidity between 40%-60% decreases the ability of airborne infectious aerosols to travel.

2.       In the case of this virus, for reasons we don’t quite understand yet, it (COVID-19) is less infectious in a mid-range humidity zone of 40%-60%

3.       We now also know that 40%-60% relative humidity optimizes our respiratory immune system and provides some protection against the virus.  

“We can all take these steps now to ensure we’re putting our best foot forward as we fight this pandemic. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, dry air is actually worse. As human beings we live with a wide range of bacteria and viruses that are beneficial to our health. So, when we dry out the air not only are we not cleaning it, we’re opening the gates for more destructive pathogens,” Taylor concluded.

For more information on the Coronavirus and the latest updates visit the Pandemic Resource Center at www.connexfm.com

Today on the Daily Grind, Michael Kurland, CEO of Branded Group shared how suppliers can successfully take advantage of available Covid-19 resources, support their employees, and prepare their business for a new normal. Branded Group is a nationwide team delivering industry-leading customer experiences that create loyal brand champions for multi-site commercial facilities.

 

“At Branded Group, our employees are our number one priority, and unfortunately with the pandemic we had to furlough more than 50% of our workforce as I’m sure many other companies were forced to do. By furloughing them it’s allowed us to keep their health benefits active. We really wanted to ensure everyone was taken care of to the best of our abilities during this complex time. Also, by taking this step we’re able to take them back on after the pandemic passes and work returns to normal. “

 

Michael, reflected on the past few weeks, “We’re really focusing on communication right now to our employees. My number one priority is that they know exactly what’s happening in real-time from me, so they feel part of the family and not disconnected. We’re really encouraging our employees to be vulnerable right now. These are not normal times, and to expect them to operate the same in this environment is a recipe for disaster.

 

We’re doing daily and weekly emails to employees to ensure they stay engaged and informed whether their furloughed or not. We’ve even started a new tradition called “Thankful Thursdays” where we push everyone to stay positive and try to break the doldrums of life in social distancing,” said Kurland.

 

“When it comes to how to position leadership during the crisis, both Bill and Michael agreed that authenticity is the way to go. “If you try to tell everyone it’s going to be okay, that’s a lie,” Kurland emphasized.  “You don’t know. The reality is no one knows, and if people around you can see you acknowledge that, but still stay pragmatic and optimistic, you’ll keep everyone moving in the same direction. Being vulnerable and direct is how I’ve always carried myself and will continue to do so through this pandemic and moving forward.”

 

“How we’ve moved forward with our clients has taken a massive pivot as well. There’s not the normal day-to-day break fixes happening. There’s a ton of COVID focus cleanings; we’ve practically become masters at it as the stores that are remaining open are doing their best to stay as safe as possible. For the ones that are closed, a lot of board-ups; just getting in there and making sure their safe and secure against any kind of break-ins and weather.”

 

In closing Michael adds “The take-away from all of this is yes, parts of this are the new normal, and its important we learn how to treat our employees and clients with care and compassion while we navigate these tricky times, and do our best to learn lessons to be prepared should it happen again. We’ll make it through this smarter and closer connected then ever. I’m sure of that,” Kurland concluded.

Today on the Daily Grind, Troy Batchelor, Director of Sales – Retail, Corrigo with 30 years of retail experience explained how supplier technology can play a vital role in FM success amid COVID-19. Corrigo is a web-based platform that drives down the cost of maintaining multiple retail facilities by connecting with providers, process automation, and providing easy-to-use benchmark reporting.

 

During the COVID-19 outbreak, Corrigo has been adjusting on both the backend and client side of their operations. Troy Batchelor adds “Really two things are most important:

 

1.       Incident management – not just reacting but planning how that communication and workplan is used when an incident occurs. For example – Coronavirus remediation that may be needed in the future at a specific site. Setting that process up in advance as a “response in a box” that allow you to trigger it at the necessary moment, has proven to be vital to react properly and efficiently.

2.       Flexibility and Speed – Right now facility teams are mass-reassigning work orders, putting things on hold, pushing out major changes to scheduling. When things are moving that fast, making changes to one work order at a time is not efficient. We’ve been striving to ensure our partners are not being bogged down in administrative tasks and building tools to improve workflow.

 

The principles Corrigo brings to the table have always had preparedness front and center. However, dealing with the current crisis has had unique challenges. To prepare for the event and to roadmap life after Covid-19, Troy reflects on the importance of FM partnerships. “With any successful partnership we should look for several things:

 

• Communication, and the ability to connect with new partners, will enable you to pivot quickly in tumultuous times like this. As we emerge from Covid-19, it will be even more critical. Planning next steps will take a village, and Corrigo is happy to be a part of making this happen quickly and efficiently.
• Intelligence after the fact. Looking back at the pre-COVID 19 period and comparing what reporting was like then, compared to reporting to during the event. And, in the future what does reporting look like when the new normal arrives.
• Community. That’s really where Corrigo shines. You really want to tap into that larger FM community to see insights on what everyone is doing, what’s working best during this fast-moving environment.

 

 

Being a software company clearly has its advantages in the aspect of living with today’s crisis, Troy adds. “Of course, we like being part of a team, we like the day-to-day human interaction, but because much of our work is done virtually through our platform, the adjustment to a work-at-home environment hasn’t been too bad. In fact, nothings really slowed down. Quite the opposite, it’s increased as we help our customers navigate the crisis. At the end of the day, we’re going to get through this, life will go on, and we’ll be there to help.”

The April 7^th episode of The Daily Grind reviewed successful supplier partnerships and featured Deb Kleopfer, Vice President of W Services Group. W Services Group provides facility maintenance services to the multi-site commercial market.

 

When asked about how W Services Group leverages their supplier partnerships in the current Covid-19 crisis, Kleopfer responded, “I think it’s just important to continue to be subject matter experts for your partners. We’re all learning this along the way; it changes often and rapidly. It’s really a matter of staying on top of accurate information and providing the information to our clients so they can make informed decisions.”

 

“It’s very important as you look at re-opening a facility that you do some risk assessment.

• You need to consider making engineering changes to protect customers and employees.

• Do I need to put up additional shields to help with social distancing?
• Do I have adequate hand-washing stations?
• Have I trained employees properly regarding the new proactive methods that are rolling out?

 

Also re-evaluate your scopes of work. We used to think simply cleaning the buildings once a day was good enough. That’s clearly not the case anymore. From your staff to your customers, you need to ensure you’re doing everything you can to reduce transmission of the virus.”

 

“It’s a matter of being pro-active versus re-active. The pro-active measures will place more emphasis on increased cleaning in general and will focus that cleaning on high-touch points. Do I really need to clean the floor ten times a day? No, you don’t, unless your customers or employees are crawling on the floor.

 

The transmission is made through our hands; touching surfaces, touching your face, etc. You have to re-adjust what your cleaning and focus more on those touch-points that will maintain a healthier and safer environment for everyone,” Kleopfer concluded.

 

Smiling as she reflects on how they’ve personally been adjusting, Deb added “You know, its been quite a challenge for me. This is the longest I’ve been in my home in ten years. It’s an adjustment for all of us, but we’re holding up well. We’re safe, we’re healthy, and I hope the rest of the Connex membership can stay the same. Rest assured, we’ll all get through this together!”

View this episode here.

Today’s Daily Grind reviewed successful supplier partnerships and featured Alex DiPetro, Strategic Portfolio Representative from Herc Rentals! With 280 locations nationwide, Herc Rentals provides rental solutions.

 

“As the Covid-19 crisis began to unfold Herc Rentals, always a safety-conscious organization, reacted quickly to the new environment,” explained DiPetro.  As a hybrid (retailer/supplier) organization, Herc employees who were able to work from home (about half the staff) did so and the in-store employees were provided the latest COVID-19 information and best practices from local governments and the CDC.

 

“Daily updates are continually sent to each store to ensure both employees and customers are in a safe environment.  This same tenacity was also implemented when reaching out to Herc customers to ensure they have access to as much information and services as possible as the outbreak has expanded.”

 

This included providing generators, portable cooling units, lighting, and air-quality control for a variety of critical control facilities across the country. 

 

Herc believes air quality control will become even more important as facilities move into the warmer months. “It won’t be long before we are in the middle of summer, so FMs need to ensure their HVAC system is operating properly and ready to go when stores re-open,” concluded DiPetro.  

View this episode here.

French Bolen, Vice President Operations, Enterprise Signs has earned his ProFM Certification. Read below to see why the ProFM was a great fit for Bolen.

• Why did you choose the ProFM program?

As a national sign company, we work directly with FM professionals every day on repair and maintenance projects, LED retrofits, and even rebranding and brand refresh projects.  We’re sign people so sometimes we don’t understand decisions our clients make and the reasoning behind them.  What better way to gain an understanding of their perspective than becoming ProFM certified? 

• How did you use the study tools – reading and online quizzes – to progress through the program?

I’ll be totally honest, becoming ProFM certified is not easy.  We’re learning from some of the best minds in the business and the knowledge base is incredible.  With that said, if you go to a quiet place so you can focus, take time to review the materials, and take the progress check quizzes at the end of each module, you’ll make great progress.  I got really excited and motivated by the time I reached the last module.

• How will the knowledge gained from the ProFM program help you in your day-to-day work responsibilities and/or in your career overall?

I feel like I can really relate to my clients a lot better than before.  Being ProFM certified enables me to ask questions that uncover needs so we can customize our solutions to their requirements. I’m able to put myself in their seat.  Every industry has its own language and terms.  I hope I can speak fluent FM now.

• How will the knowledge you gain through the ProFM benefit your company?
  Great question.  If all I did was study hard, pass the tests, and pound my chest on LinkedIn it would be a shame and waste of time.  We do a lot of training at Enterprise Signs.  I like the old saying, “If you think training is expensive, you ought to try ignorance.”  Key learnings from ProFM are now a standard part of our training curriculum. 

• Why would you recommend that other suppliers earn the ProFM credential?

Again, the big reason is to relate better to our clients.  Secondly, there’s a lot of material we cover that can be applied to pretty much any discipline, and not just FM.  Finally, if your company really stresses employee development, this is an awesome way to stretch them and give them a huge boost of confidence.   

 

The ProFM credential defines global FM standards and provides facility professionals with the knowledge and skills that have evolved beyond traditional FM responsibilities. Now is a great time to earn the credential. For more information about the ProFM credential, click here.