Dell India has digitised its facilities operations and taken a giant leap towards IoT, sustainability and smart FM. We use IWMS (Integrated Workplace Management systems) software solutions that support our business processes in real estate management, maintenance planning and control, space and workplace management, services management, project management and sustainability management. The software is based on a single database platform, where multiple business processes from all disciplines are interconnected. We then leverage this high-quality management information, full compliance, and maximised monitoring and control. IWMS software solution enables us to reduce real estate and FM costs significantly and aid in bringing in efficiency, transparency, flexibility and customer satisfaction.
Additionally, our facilities are equipped with intelligent Building Management System, which is a computer-based control system that monitors the building’s mechanical and electrical equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power systems, fire systems and security systems. A centralised command centre monitors these systems centrally from Bengaluru, keeping a hawks-eye on all our facilities especially, the critical equipment, and immediately activates counter measures in case of any untoward event.
Our cloud-based Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) systems are used for taking readings of all critical equipment, housekeeping, cafeteria and transport, etc, using NFC (Near Field Communication) technology. PDAs not only record the data but also help generate insightful reports to manage operations efficiently. Employees can just login into our online application and make service requests related to AC, cleaning, pantry, etc, and we utilise the same to measure productivity of our vendors.
This digitisation initiative is aligned to Dell’s sustainability goals and comes with a slew of benefits such as doing away with paperwork/logbooks, real-time monitoring of equipment and, hence, efficient record management. Robotic AC duct cleaning is leveraged for increasing efficiency and improving indoor air quality standard of the facilities. Our other initiative includes deploying in-house transport mobile application just like Uber or Ola for employee transportation needs, which enables employees to schedule their cabs, view arrival time, confirm safe drop and rate transportation experience real time.
Being strong on governance model, Dell has recently developed a mobile app that shows key performance indicators for various facilities verticals ranging from operations, transport to café. At the click of a button, you can view entire portfolio details and key metrics attached to each site. Since facilities organisation is heavy on documentation, we leverage Digital Vault, an online application that stores, indexes and retrieves all facilities records in a common database, thereby making the organisation system-oriented rather than solely personnel-dependent.
Measuring the impact
We conduct an annual facility survey in which 10,000+ employees participate. It is undertaken to measure and understand employee feedback, opinions, expectations, aspirations and satisfaction level. Through this, we attempt to identify opportunities for improvement, suggestions and shortcomings, and carve appropriate action plans in the areas of facility upkeep, cafeteria, transport, sustainability and wastage reduction. The steady rise in the employee satisfaction index is testimony of our culture and care for employees.
Working towards being ‘green’
At Dell, we are committed to driving human progress by putting our technology and expertise to work where it can do the most good for people and the planet. For us, environmental responsibility is about more than creating an eco-friendly product or initiative, and about incorporating sustainability into everything we do. Some of our noteworthy global initiatives are:
• Keeping plastics out of the ocean
• Engaging team members in sustainability
• Reducing our environmental impact
• Working towards a circular economy
• Empowering customers to give back through electronics takeback
On a regional level, all our large campuses are LEED certified buildings with Platinum and Gold LEED certifications. We have built up capacity of over 500KWH of solar PV panels across our sites in India and procure over 50M units of green power. All our sites are zero discharge sites with 100% water being recycled. Each site is equipped with organic water converters that 700KL of organic waste and avoid 200KL waste each day from the landfills. The manure thus produced is utilised for horticulture and large campuses such as factories are home to organic vegetable farms. The harvest produced is distributed at no cost to team members.
We eliminated the usage of 45 million paper cups in all our facilities through an awareness campaign. All our paper wastes are recycled 100% and reused at the site. In fact, all our sites in India partner with ITC’s paper recycle programme. One million metric tonnes of plastic winds up in our oceans each year and trillions of pieces float about. Teh company recognised how adversely this impacts our environment. So, Dell has eliminated plastic straws across its facilities in India and installed plastic bottle crusher machines.
Dell Hyderabad and Bangalore have installed Oorja for fulfilling partial kitchen fuel need that helps convert agricultural waste into fuel and cut down the consumption of natural resources (LPG). Oorja stoves are based on Gassifier technology, a technology patented by IISc, Bangalore, and exclusively licensed to First Energy (FE), with this technology, exceptional efficiencies are achieved with very low levels of SPM and co/co2 ratio.
Dell India is working progressively towards green infrastructure. Energy efficiency, optimum resource utilisation, best environment technologies, environment responsible architecture and designs are being prioritised for all new establishments. We aspire to demonstrate best environment technologies to address and mitigate all possible environment concerns in all new facilities.