Facing increasing pressure to balance efficiency and increasingly complex compliance requirements with sometimes outdated manual practices, here we examine how the industry is ripe for digital transformation, and the potential that technologies such as AI hold.
Are you still living in the clipboard era?
In many areas of business, the traditional approach to facilities management compliance has not evolved in decades. Many multi-site FM operations in sectors such as retail, hospitality and leisure still rely on handwritten checklists and paper-based audit trails to document routine maintenance and hygiene checks.
Yet relying on such processes and physical records is both inefficient and risky. Records can be lost, or even manipulated, and are also prone to human error. Plus, they are often seen as data-collecting - or even worse, box-ticking - exercises, rather than a genuine prompt to maintain and improve standards and proactively prompting action when needed. And where standards are critical to the customer experience, a lack of real-time insight can lead to a drop in service quality, customer dissatisfaction, and - ultimately - a decline in business performance and profit.
Meanwhile, regulatory compliance is increasingly demanding precise record-keeping and comprehensive reporting and audit trails.
Artificial intelligence holds significant potential for improvements in both areas.
Why efficiency matters more than ever
Evidencing adherence to the law across multiple platforms could lead to confusion, duplication, and actually make it harder to see and prove ongoing compliance.
From frontline cleaning teams to operations directors, there's constant pressure to demonstrate efficiency, compliance, and return on investment (ROI), often while juggling what seems like a growing number of technology systems and platforms, as well as shrinking budgets.
Take for example a typical facilities manager who might oversee cleaning schedules, maintenance programmes, and security protocols across multiple sites. Each area requires different compliance approaches, reporting mechanisms, and audit procedures. Disconnected software platforms (often brought in with the promise or intention to help) can, in reality, hinder productivity on the ground and make it hard to keep track. In fact, almost half of FM professionals said their biggest digital pain point was managing data across too many systems that don't communicate with each other. Integrated AI-driven tools are solving this issue by making information easier to access, use, and act on.
Adding to the challenge is now the newly introduced UK legislation commonly referred to as ‘Martyn's Law’, but more formally known as The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, which will significantly impact facilities management and professional cleaning operations, as well as a plethora of wider business areas. It is estimated that the legislation will affect some 179,000 venues, requiring them to overhaul their security and compliance procedures in order to improve public safety by reducing the risk of harm from terrorism. Evidencing adherence to the law across multiple platforms could lead to confusion, duplication, and actually make it harder to see and prove ongoing compliance.
How AI is transforming facilities management
Artificial intelligence offers significant potential in the field of FM, and is, in several areas, is beginning to transform FM by helping teams move from reactive fire-fighting to proactive decision-making and action. The latest wave of AI tools can capture disconnected data (such as data from customer feedback terminals, mystery shoppers, online reviews or audit reports), analyse trends, and automatically suggest next steps and actions to be taken by specific team members responsible for the relevant areas of work.
Take cleaning audits, for example. Instead of manually inputting site reports, AI can instantly analyse performance across locations, flag anomalies, and identify any immediate problems or issues (such as a blocked drain) that may need urgent attention or recurring issues (such as clogged air conditioning filters). Or consider smart sensors in washrooms, which track footfall. Combined with AI, such sensors can optimise cleaning schedules by predicting busy periods and prompting alerts when, for example, refills are required, before complaints arise.
Serve First has seen firsthand how AI can accelerate this journey by providing an operational intelligence layer for major facilities and catering contractors such as Aramark and Elior. Artificial intelligence effectively serves as the ‘connective tissue’ between insight and action. It helps businesses move beyond surface-level analysis, reducing the time spent gathering data and putting that data to work, enabling action to be taken so that the data becomes genuinely useful to the business as opposed to simply being data for data’s sake. Such smarter use of AI in the field of FM is driving faster responses to facilities issues, better and easier compliance and auditing, and improved customer experience across a wide range of retail, contract catering, and leisure environments.
What about the staff on the ground?
FM and compliance data, rather than sitting in a silo to be analysed at the end of each week or month by managers, becomes a live and real-time part of day-to-day work and decision making.
Whether it's cleaners, site supervisors, or area managers, the people actually doing the work have often been overlooked in discussions around digital transformation and AI. Until now, digital transformation and software platforms have all too often been focused on purely providing management insight and performance reporting. Clearly, whilst management oversight is an important facet of any such system, dashboards which can also support front-line colleagues to more easily and proactively address issues in real-time, before they become a performance issue, are ultimately more helpful in supporting real-world workflows.
It is in this area in particular that the latest AI tools appear to be offering the most potential. Instead of asking frontline teams to constantly monitor and interpret what can be significant amounts of complex data, AI can transform disconnected customer feedback into tailored actions that are in line with company processes, protocols and standards.
So, rather than just collating data, the technology acts as an instant interpreter and guide which is specific to an individual company’s way of doing things.
In addition, and of crucial importance, the latest AI-driven approaches are also now integrating multiple FM disciplines and technology platforms, reducing the need for multiple systems and logins. This means that every source of data can be consolidated into one intelligent and actionable operational platform, regardless of source, giving the user a single view of their entire FM operation. This means that FM and compliance data, rather than sitting in a silo to be analysed at the end of each week or month by managers, becomes a live and real-time part of day-to-day work and decision making.
What does the future hold for AI in facilities management?
Looking ahead, one of the most exciting potential roles for AI in FM may be a growing ability to make predictive and proactive recommendations. So not just highlighting what needs fixing now, but also modelling what looks as if it could go wrong in the future, and offering suggestions for preventative action to be taken.
For instance, imagine a building where cleaning schedules flex automatically based on occupancy or footfall sensors and weather data. Or an audit platform that spots patterns of non-compliance, such as missed fire alarm inspections, before they escalate into costly or critical issues. Or a site dashboard that maps real-time risk based on footfall, event type, or public health alerts.
The good news is that this is not as far off as one might imagine. Work is already underway to integrate AI with robotics, building management systems (BMS), and Internet of Things (IoT) systems and devices. The more connected the system, the more powerful the insights, and the greater the opportunity to course-correct in real time.
Of course, adoption will depend on usability, trust, relevance, as well as education and training. But for forward-thinking FM professionals willing to embrace it, AI is already becoming less of a futuristic concept and more of a practical, everyday reality - not to mention ally.
The clipboard era may finally be on borrowed time! The future will be powered by automation, intelligence, and deeper insight. Watch this space.
www.servefirst.co.uk