You might have spent time and money implementing FM software, but that doesn’t mean your contractors will actually want to use it. Here are 9 ways you can help your suppliers learn to love your CAFM system and generate all the data you need from them in the process.
Your contractors know what they really need from a CAFM. They know what digital tools will help them work faster and smarter. And they know, better than anyone else, what kind of bureaucracy will slow them down.
Before you configure your software, therefore, bring your CAFM partner and contractors together so you can all agree on the steps you need in your digital workflows.
Together you should decide:
This collaborative approach ensures that your CAFM system becomes an essential tool, driving effective supplier management for all stakeholders:
The big goal for us was getting contractors on board, so we could monitor their activities and control our spending with them. We put time and effort in working with them to design a system that improved their experience with us - and it paid dividends.
Ben Downer, Hard Services Manager, Co-operative Bank
Ensure your CAFM has a contractor portal that simplifies vendor management and work order tracking across any device. Key features should include:
An easy-to-use system means higher adoption rates and improved supplier performance management.
For brands like the Co-operative Bank, the quality of their CAFM was key to refining their overall supplier strategy:
The digital experience we created with Expansive works anywhere on any device. Contractors are now using the system to record their time and manage all site visits. That data is informing our decision-making.
Ben Downer, Hard Services Manager, Co-Operative Bank
Where possible, a CAFM should allow third parties to interact and provide key data points instantly without having to login. Quick responses are key and your suppliers will be keen to impress with quick turnaround times on all your requests for information.
Therefore, a smart CAFM system will allow your suppliers to:
Needing to log into a CAFM is the most common barrier and pain point for your supply chain. But you’ll find that even the larger national contractors will happily engage over email via their own service desk system and interact with your CTAs (Call-To-Actions).
Your small suppliers, who may only receive a small volume of work, will typically forget or misplace their passwords and find every reason not to log in. Therefore, any secure alternative which removes this pain point will always go down well.
All engineers using the Expansive FM have to do is scan a QR code. They can click a button to check-in and then scan a QR code to check out. It's as simple as that. And without even realising it, they will give you all the time and attendance records you need, and a chunk of really great, good quality data.
Josh Greibach, CEO Expansive Solutions
Let requestors upload photos and videos to streamline supplier evaluation of the job.
Contractors should be able to use visual data to:
This feature reduces delays and improves supplier performance by enabling quicker, informed responses.
Managers and engineers want to use the system because they can explain problems and fixes faster by sharing photos and videos via the mobile portal. It’s made us more efficient.
Gwendolyn Koh, Property Manager, Evolution Wellness
If your contractor can collaborate directly with the person who raised the work request, they can come equipped with the information they need to solve an issue.
Two-way communication via a CAFM will make everyone’s lives easier and help your CAFM become the ‘go-to’ tool for your contractors.
This is in the interest of both parties in the pursuit of achieving a first-time fix and delivering great service performance.
Automated invoicing improves contract management and ensures faster payments. Your CAFM should allow suppliers to:
Once a supplier understands that they’ll be able to invoice directly and automatically from your CAFM when the job is complete, we’re pretty sure they’ll become a super-fan.
Automatic invoicing via your CAFM will also ensure there are no discrepancies between hours declared and payments requested. The prospect of faster, quibble-free payment should be a huge draw for your contractors.
And if you explain to them they can also request immediate uplift directly from the system… they may want to use it even more.
Training and support ensure successful supplier relationship management.
To encourage adoption:
Educated suppliers engage more fully, improving supplier performance management and data accuracy.
We took the time and the trouble to teach our contractors to use the system. We showed them how it could really make a difference to the way we worked together. For some of them, it was like switching on a light bulb.
Ben Downer, Hard Services Manager, Co-operative Bank
If you’re intent on gaining control and oversight of your FM data you will need to be firm and make it clear with potential suppliers that engaging with your CAFM is ‘non-negotiable’. But, as explained above, if you have the financial integration between your billing systems and your CAFM in place, the case for them to use your system will become much more compelling.
The battle for ownership and access to facilities management data is too important to lose. Encouraging your suppliers to use your CAFM may require a combination of education, incentive and arm-bending if it’s going to bring the results you need.
But, the bottom line is this, as budgets tighten and the C-Suite seek to justify and optimise their FM spending, your business needs access to the right financial and operational data.
As you get more accurate data directly from engineers, you'll be able to benchmark performance more accurately and reduce your supplier base to fewer, high-quality strategic suppliers.
Contractors who can’t work with you to share supplier information in the way you need may be standing in the way of transformative cost savings and procurement improvements.
Choosing the right CAFM with the right features could make the difference between a well-used system that gives the insight you need - and one that you can’t persuade anyone to use and dies a death from neglect.
Encouraging contractors to engage with your CAFM system requires education, incentive, and a firm approach. By making it easy to use, rewarding to engage with, and a non-negotiable part of your supplier management strategy, you can ensure full adoption and maximum value from your system.
Editor’s note: this post was originally published in July 2022, and updated in February 2025 for accuracy.