Dean Stanberry, SFP, CFM is Immediate Past-Chair on the IFMA Global Board of Directors where he is passionate about applying his collective skills and experience toward advancing the FM profession. In early January, Mike Petrusky hosted Eptura’s first webinar of 2025 where he asked Dean about the findings in a recently released report from IFMA titled “Gamechanger: A Facility Manager’s Guide to Building a Relationship with AI”. Stanberry shares how artificial intelligence can automate repetitive tasks, augment human capabilities, and offset workforce shortages as we seek to care for the built environment.
Agenda
- A deep dive into the role of AI in facility management and discuss the insights from IFMA’s Game Changer Report.
- An exploration of the historical development of AI, its applications in the field of facility management, the importance of data quality, and the potential of AI to solve key business challenges.
What you need to know: Workplace takeaways
Takeaway 1: Artificial Intelligence has the potential to make facility management more efficient and productive.
This episode explores the use of AI in facility management, an application that has existed in some form since the 1950s. Acknowledging the rapid evolution and adoption of AI, the speakers discuss the potential of this technology to augment human capabilities in facility management and real estate, thereby addressing workforce shortages and increasing productivity.
Dean Stanberry elaborates, “AI is all about analyzing data of all different kinds and if you feed it bad data, you’re not going to get a good response.” He notes that AI’s potential lies not in replacing workers, but in making them more efficient, freeing them up to focus on tasks that require human skills and emotional intelligence. Host Mike P echoes this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of upskilling and learning how to leverage AI tools.
Takeaway 2: Data quality is paramount for successful AI implementation in facility management.
The speakers highlight the importance of data quality in AI implementation. AI is fundamentally about analyzing data, and feeding it bad data can result in subpar outcomes. Therefore, improving data quality is a fundamental prerequisite for successful AI adoption in facility management.
Stanberry says, “Working on the fundamentals of fixing our data quality is another one.” He also mentions the importance of data transparency and accuracy, especially when feeding data into AI systems. The point was further emphasized by Mike P, who stresses the need for consistent naming conventions and accurate data feeding into AI systems.
Takeaway 3: AI can aid in predictive maintenance, energy management, and space utilization in facility management.
AI can be utilized in facility management for a range of applications, including predictive maintenance, energy management, and space utilization. As Mike P and Stanberry discuss, AI can analyze historical data about an asset in milliseconds, identifying when maintenance costs exceed replacement costs. In addition, AI can help optimize energy consumption by fine-tuning equipment operations and contribute to efficient space utilization in the context of remote work.
Stanberry illustrates this, saying, “AI can do this in milliseconds… It can actually give you that crossover point where the cost of maintaining it is now more than the cost of replacing it.” He also highlights how AI can aid in fault detection and diagnostics, monitoring systems continually and alerting to potential issues that require human intervention.
Workplace management insights
- AI can automate repetitive tasks, augment human capabilities, and offset workforce shortages.
- Predictive maintenance is a key area where AI is impacting commercial real estate and facility management.
- AI can analyze data in milliseconds, providing valuable insights for decision-making in facility management.
- AI can help in optimizing space utilization, especially in the context of hybrid work.
- AI can assist in fault detection and diagnostics, looking at anomalies and determining potential problems in mechanical systems.
Do a deep dive into more workplace insights by exploring all Workplace Innovator podcast episodes.
