FixMarQ makes it easier to report issues and to keep on top of maintenance work. But what does that mean? It all comes down to being able to do things on the fly.
Time and time again, we see articles written about procrastination and interruptions and how it affects our ability to get things done. One rule of thumb is if something will take you less than two minutes, it's faster to do it than to schedule it later. In Facilities Management, we rely on people telling us about problems and staff providing timely information so we can properly plan and manage our departments. But what we're asking for can often be an interruption. So our task is to minimise the interruptions. Or at least minimise their length. The two-minute rule implies that we're much more likely to get results if we make it quick and easy.
One rule of thumb is if something will take you less than two minutes, it's faster to do it than to schedule it later.
Let's put this in more practical terms. You see a problem; say a light bulb is out in a meeting room. With conventional reporting mechanisms such as calling a helpdesk, sending an email or going to a website, letting facilities know becomes a new task in a potentially long list of todo items. You need to gather the necessary information — whom do I call? where is the light? what kind of bulb? — so the cost to you personally to just report the outage can be high. Especially if you don't report things often. You might end up only reporting the light when you notice it's been out for a while or when it becomes an inconvenience. It should be simple. It's just a light bulb. But we're human and we put barriers up for doing little things like this all the time. Normally, it takes the form of "I'll do it later." And then you need to remember it in order to do it later.
Now imagine that you don't need to remember whom to call. That you don't even need to talk to someone. That you don't need to figure out what information you're going to be asked. That you don't need to remember the problem so you can report it later when you're free. You just point your phone at the QR code for the room, select light bulb from the list and walk away.
What about if you're on the other end of things: you're the one replacing the light bulb. There are many things you need to do but ultimately all you want to do replace the bulb and move on. But there is paperwork to be done and things that need to reported back to the office. Time in, time out, note down what you did, what inventory you used, report back to turn in paperwork and get more work orders... So you rush about, getting things fixed and then "Oops, need to fill in paperwork." So you do it in bulk, you give estimates for time, you might even confuse two jobs. All of which leads to inaccuracy. Which doesn't help anyone.
You just point your phone at the QR code for the room, select light bulb from the list and walk away.
Now imagine, you can do all of that in place without having to go back to home base. You scan a room code when you arrive, tap a button when you're done fixing. It already knows what and where the job is, and your tap tells it the time. Only special jobs require a note. So it's just on to the next one.
In other words, you're doing things on the fly. The need arises, you react and you don't need to think about it again. Our aim is to provide smart and simple tools to make everything just that easy. This approach may only save you minutes here and there — regardless if you just notice the problems or you decide what projects to prioritise. But those minutes add up quickly to give you fewer bottlenecks and better maintained properties. Result.