Workplace Requests: Making It Easy

by | 30 Jun 2022

I want never gets! Or at least that’s what my mum always told me…  

Sadly, that’s not the case when you are managing corporate real estate. I want may never get, but employee requests must be answered!

Introducing Requests

At Spica we’ve been working with our customers for a while to make life easier for employees. Using the Spica Workplace mobile app, employees can raise requests on the spot, as soon as they see an issue in their office.  

That’s great right?

Well, yes. It’s another reason why the Spica Workplace app makes the workplace experience so easy. But (there’s always a but!) after speaking to a range of our customers, we realised that this only solves a piece of the puzzle. Previously, we have collaborated with CAFM providers to display employee requests in FM tools. This is a great process in isolation, one app for employees, one app for facility staff. Unfortunately, what this means, is two products for the customer to manage. The problem gets even more fun when we remember that the typical Spica Workplace customer isn’t worried about a single building. They’re managing a property portfolio.  

We’re starting to get how complicated managing corporate real estate can be

It gets even crazier for Spica Workplace customers whose real estate spans countries and continents. Typically having different facility management providers for each region. Systems everywhere, providing an oh so slightly different range of functions as they go. Chaos. This cacophony of CAFM complexities causes real headaches when striving for a uniform workplace experience. Meanwhile, reporting is also a nightmare. Extracting sense from all your CAFM providers and organising the information into a single hymn sheet is hard work. It’s even harder work when differences in a facility management providers appear. Leaving internal teams to bridge the gap, using whatever tool they can.  

More real estate, more problems

Well not anymore. Spica Workplace has brought calm to the storm with our new Requests feature. A simple solution to see, manage and report on employee requests across your portfolio. The challenge is that not all requests are equal. Depending on the service; the team and the priority might be different. Moreover, you don’t want users from the same team in different buildings seeing the same requests. Spica Workplace Requests solves these problems. By using the service provider’s profile, we tailor the requests displayed to the user. You only see the requests you can resolve. The same process allows stakeholders to understand requests across buildings, regions or an entire portfolio.  Spica Workplace also shows when requests are due, allowing users to see the priority of the requests they can solve. Simple! 

So, what you’re saying is ‘Spica Workplace can replace our CAFM system’?

Well, yes and no.

Spica Workplace Requests is a simple solution for a complex problem. It won’t replace an intricate CAFM system that covers all manner of functions, but it will let you manage requests in your building with simplicity and ease. What’s even better is that it will also allow you to configure the services you provide. When there’s a new type of issue that you need to support, you can even configure a new service and see it the Spica Workplace mobile app immediately. Even more, with the power of your Spica Workplace digital twin you can tailor services to specific locations meaning that employees can only raise requests for the services you let them see.  

Furthermore, we haven’t said goodbye to collaboration. In the weird and wonderful ecosystem that this facility management we know that we will always need to integrate with other solutions. That’s why Spica Workplace Requests automatically displays services that arise from an external system. This allows you to exploit Spica Workplace Requests’ functionality, whilst supporting legacy systems. Meaning that regardless of the apps your facility management providers are using, you decide what requests your employees can raise.   

As you can imagine, we’re pretty proud of our new feature. With Spica Workplace Requests running your property portfolio can be that little bit easier.

If you’d like to hear more, why not make a quick enquiry here….  

Find out more about Spica Workplace: 

Our Workplace Experience Platform GemEx Engine

Our Workplace Experience App