The Digital Cleaning revolution happening across our service
We are always incorporating forward-thinking digital technologies into the way we deliver cleaning as a service. Our Head of Cleaning, Lauren Kyle explains how the turmoil of the last few years has led to a greater focus on how cleaning must adapt to suit the future of work.
Before the pandemic, convincing people of the importance of effective cleaning was often a challenge. While it’s quite frustrating that it took a global crisis to highlight this, COVID-19 put cleaning services in the spotlight, accelerating the digital revolution of facilities management.
Technology to make the best use of resources
We continually review, explore, and trial the latest technology across our cleaning services, enabling us to put in place initiatives that help further develop our service delivery offer and create positive benefits for our frontline colleagues.
A great example of this is our use of cleaning robots – or ‘cobots’, who support our teams in delivering some of their more laborious and time-consuming tasks. Most commercially developed cobots focus on floor cleaning, and with this solution looking after the bulk of that type of work, it frees colleagues up to prioritise tasks that require their greater dexterity and skill. These autonomous machines can be a really valuable addition to the team.
We are also further developing our use of smart cleaning sensors, which help clients better understand patterns in building usage. The sensors work by gathering data that can support a demand-driven approach to cleaning rather than a more traditional rota. If you consider, for example, washroom usage across a site that ordinarily has its toilets cleaned twice a day, the data might suggest that some places, which have seen little activity, don’t need this level of service. By focusing on areas that need work, colleagues don’t have to waste time cleaning unnecessarily, resulting in a streamlined and efficient cleaning arrangement for clients. Likewise, if there is high usage of facilities due to an event, for example, teams will know that additional cleaning is required.
While I recognise that we want to implement the latest technology across services, it is only through collaboration and input from our frontline teams that this is made possible.
The interaction between people and technology is vital. As we move from paper to digital schedules and introduce sensors to inform where cleaning effort is required, we’re listening to the needs of our colleagues, delivering the service to ensure their feedback is factored into development.
We recently surveyed frontline teams at one of our client sites to ask their opinion on the new tech we’re introducing and have had an overwhelmingly positive reaction. We want technology to complement our people and make their lives easier; their invaluable input results in integrated systems that produce the best results.
Innovation comes in many forms
As I’ve already mentioned, the pandemic shone a spotlight on the cleaning profession. Unfortunately, this also led to what has since become known as ‘hygiene theatre’, where all sorts of methods started to be used that had no basis in science.
At Sodexo, we continue to focus on the science of cleaning, with our cleaning experts working closely with colleagues in infection prevention and control and the healthcare sector, ensuring that what we offer our clients is based on facts rather than hype.
One of the ways we’ve done this is by spending a lot of time over the past few years looking at how we can innovate to reduce the environmental impact of our cleaning offer. We were the first major facilities management provider to incorporate eco-label accredited products in our core chemical range, and we will continue to seek the most sustainable ways of cleaning as we uphold our Social Impact Pledge.
Data-driven cleaning of the future
I’ve been working in the industry for over 25 years, and I still love how varied and multifaceted the profession can be. I’m looking forward to a future where digital tools that support our colleagues become the norm and are integrated into the lives of everyone that uses them – where smart buildings can tell people exactly what cleaning they need.
Now is a really exciting time in the cleaning industry, and our teams of local and global cleaning experts are continually collaborating to create solutions underpinned by science and operational experience. I’m proud of the positive difference our frontline teams make every day, and I look forward to the data-driven cleaning of the future.