Data-Driven Janitorial Decisions
- Micheal Jenkins
- Jul 13, 2017
- 4 min read
How data can help your organization validate its results
Numbers. Not the friendliest of figures or the easiest to understand sometimes. They can be especially daunting whenever they’re referred to as data.
As a business owner or office manager, you have countless tasks to complete each day, and it takes time and effort to keep track of your organization’s needs. Data just becomes another headache, especially when you have a difficult time trying to gather it and then have no idea what to do with it.
A study conducted by the Business Application Research Center found on average, businesses are only using 50 percent of the information available to them for decision-making. As a business owner, contractor, or manager, you should not settle for taking advantage of only half the information at your disposal.
The reality is this: Most of the time, businesses don’t even know where to begin when it comes to tracking certain janitorial data for their businesses, which is a disadvantage for companies looking to hire a janitorial company.
Find Value in Data
According to an article from the Harvard Business Review, companies in the top third of their industry that have adopted a data-driven decision-making culture are 5 percent more productive and 6 percent more profitable than their competitors. Quality data allows leaders to make major discoveries about their companies and leads to better business strategies and performance.
When data is used to make decisions, transparency is not optional. Data allows you to keep track of who is doing what and who to hold accountable when tasks are done wrong or not done at all. When you have access to more information about your business, you are more aware of the processes that are working and the ones that need a second look.
A second benefit is time; when you start making data-driven decisions, you can save time by focusing on the real problems and finding solutions faster.
Use it to improve effectiveness. As a facility manager or you make numerous decisions that may involve anything from ordering supplies to hiring employees. Decisions also involve deciding if the technology and products you use are worth the company dollars they cost. The data you track can show if and how much money these products are saving, providing you with proof to justify your spending—in a nutshell, solid data can help to validate your cleaning costs and productivity results.
Combined, these benefits will help your business become (and remain) more competitive—an advantage that data-driven decision-making provides. If used effectively, the use of data can help you save money and keep you ahead of the game.
Collecting Data
Okay, now that you know what data can do for you, how and where do you start? Here are some simple steps you can follow:
Identify business questions you haven’t answered yet.
-Cleaning Times per area (hallways, bathrooms,offices, etc.) By knowing cleaning times you can better manage your staff or have a better idea of what the cleaning company is charging you per hour.
Know the project work required for your facility and frequency.
- Every facility is different. If you are a low traffic office that receives quarterly carpet cleaning, window cleaning and pressure washing chances are you are highly over paying for services that should only be getting completed 1-2 times per year. By requesting a longer frequency between these services, you can take pictures after a service has been performed and 6 months later before the next service to see if there is a noticeable difference in build up. This Data will help you in choosing the project work frequency moving forward and ultimately save your company money.
- Chemical and Paper Costs. Whether you have staff or a cleaning company these numbers matter. Why? Because, often cleaning companies propose for labor + the cost of chemicals. Concentrated wholesale chemical distributors (Ecolab) can often save companies 25%-40% in chemical costs. The same goes for your paper products many companies are using staples, or costco and paying a premium for supplies.
Respect the data. Now that you have the data and have analyzed it, turn it into action. Let the data drive your decision-making.
Applying the Data to Validate Results
Let’s apply these steps to the following cleaning business scenario. The goal is to use the data to help performance of staff or cleaning companies and ultimately reduce costs.
Before You Get Started
Here are few other tips for successfully implementing data-driven decisions:
Educate yourself. If you want to become more comfortable with using data to help your business, there are various resources at your fingertips, including books, online classes, and other online resources.
Create a schedule. Make reviewing your data a regular part of your workday. This will help you make sure to always incorporate data into your decision-making process.
Stay on course. Keep in mind that adapting a data-driven decision-making culture will not be easy. It could essentially change the way you manage, and it could take time and a lot of effort to adjust, so be patient. The beginning may not be a piece of cake, but once you get past the hard part and learn to effectively use data, you’ll start to profit from the advantages it gives you.
Comments