Being in charge of a physical space can be stressful. Most people don't think about the effort that goes into keeping a place running as smoothly as possible—they just expect everything to work. Whether that's keeping the internet online, fixing leaks, or keeping employees safe and healthy, there's a lot on your plate—and it may not always feel like something that can be automated away.
While automation will never replace you, there are a thousand little tasks that it can take care of, so you can keep focusing on the important things in your day. With just a few Zaps (our word for the automated workflows you create with Zapier), you can save minutes, hours, even days over the course of your year, and use that time to be the superhero you are. Here are the Zaps we think every facilities manager should set up.
Be notified about upcoming events
When you've got a busy team, setting a calendar event may not always be enough to make sure things get done on time. Using this Zap, you can make sure that the whole building is alerted to important events like fire alarm tests, scheduled maintenance, or safety presentations. You can also target just your immediate team, to stay on top of meetings, tasks, and impending deadlines.
Send Slack channel messages for new Google Calendar events
Post new approaching Google Calendar events to Google Chat
Get messages in Microsoft Teams for upcoming Microsoft Outlook calendar events
Turn your emails into tasks
Work requests can come at any time, and turning an email into an actionable task can sometimes feel like its own full-time job. Using one of these Zaps, you can easily create tasks when you get new email messages.
Add new starred emails to Todoist as tasks [Business Gmail Accounts Only]
Turn messages into tasks
If your company is like Zapier, and uses Slack more than email, it can sometimes be difficult to tell when a chat message becomes something actionable. With Slack's Save Message feature, you can automatically turn a chat into a task in your team's Asana project or your personal Todoist, without interrupting the flow of conversation.
Want to let your company self-serve, and turn messages into requests for your team? Check out how we use Slack's emoji to automate processes across Zapier.
Save contracts and invoices to the cloud
When you're working with multiple contractors at a time, keeping track of quotes and invoices in just your inbox can be a hassle. Using automation, you can take that virtual pile of paperwork and automatically save it to Google Drive folders, so that each file is exactly where you need it, when you need it.
Notify your team when a task is completed
Not every automation has to be about keeping your team on track—sometimes they can be used to help them celebrate! When a task is completed, you can use this Zap to automatically let your team know, and give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.
What else can automation do for you?
There are many ways to use automation to ease your mental load and reduce manual tasks. Check out these recommended techniques:
