Scaling Asset Collection from Months to Weeks in AkitaBox
How Cushman & Wakefield Services positioned themselves for smart growth
When Cushman & Wakefield Services (C&W Services), a global leader in facilities services, faced the challenge of scaling their asset data collection across thousands of client sites, they turned to AkitaBox Capture. The results for data collection savings speak for themselves: a 30% reduction in labor requirements, doubled efficiency, and project timelines cut from months to weeks.
This transformation of asset data collection has contributed to C&W Service’s ability to deliver their customized asset condition assessments, preventive maintenance programs, capital planning services, and other offerings more efficiently and accurately across their expanding portfolio of clients.
C&W Services Overview
Industry
Facility Services
Challenges
- Homegrown software limiting growth
- Need for faster asset data collection
- Increased need for accurate asset information
Time Using AkitaBox
6 Months
The Challenge: Building Trust in Asset Data
For any facilities services provider, accurate asset data forms the bedrock of service delivery. Yet managing complex portfolios across diverse client sites revealed a fundamental problem universal to the industry that Ali Mohammed, Senior Director for Engineering and Maintenance, describes bluntly: “The biggest challenge we have in FM is an equipment list which nobody trusts or believes in.
“The biggest challenge we have in FM is an equipment list which nobody trusts or believes in.”
Ali Mohammed • Senior Director of Engineering & Maintenance, C&W Services
This lack of reliable data can create a cascading effect throughout operations:
- Inaccurate maintenance programs sized incorrectly for actual equipment needs
- Scope creep in contracts due to unclear asset inventories
- Reduced service quality from technicians working with outdated information
- Inefficient resource allocation with teams spending excessive time on data collection
While the company’s homegrown tool was able to improve on the days of manual clipboard and camera processes, going from 16-24 to 35-40 assets collected per day, a typical site with 2,000-3,000 pieces of equipment still required over a month of on-site work.
David Auton, Vice President of Engineering and Maintenance, recognized the broader implications: “We went from the digital age to the information age, and we’re now in the AI age. In each of those progressions, it became more and more essential that we get accurate information and significant quantities of the right information.”
The Tipping Point: When Good Enough Wasn't Good Enough
Limitations of the homegrown system eventually became apparent at scale. The tool required constant Wi-Fi connectivity, slowing technicians as they waited for images to upload before moving to the next asset. Worse, the system had capacity constraints—teams actually had to delete equipment records to add new ones.
The breaking point came when C&W Services began consistently pursuing larger contracts. With one project spanning 1,000 sites, their existing processes simply couldn’t scale to meet demand. They needed a solution that could deliver both accuracy and speed while working in the challenging environments typical of facility assessments — mechanical rooms, rooftops, and areas with no internet connectivity.
“We went from the digital age to the information age, and we’re now in the AI age. In each of those progressions, it became more and more essential that we get accurate information and significant quantities of the right information.”
David Auton • Vice President of Engineering & Maintenance, C&W Services
The Solution: AkitaBox Capture
After evaluating multiple options, C&W Services selected AkitaBox Capture for its ability to address their core requirements:
Offline Functionality
“The ability to work offline was essential,” notes Auton. “The only way we were going to achieve that was through an app that could run on our iPad or our phone.”
Speed Without Compromise
Unlike their previous tools that required waiting for image uploads, AkitaBox Capture allows technicians to capture data rapidly and sync later, eliminating the bottleneck that had plagued their data collection efforts.
Enterprise Scalability
The platform could handle everything from pilot deployments at a large Midwestern zoo (10-12 people) to large-scale implementations at industrial facilities, with the flexibility to scale to their quoted 1,000-site project.
Integration Capabilities
It’s key that AkitaBox integrates with the downstream pieces that build the rest of the C & W solution. “Not only do we do the data collection quickly,” emphasizes Auton,”but modeling that so that it can be the front end to the rest of our subsequent systems for capital planning, for PM programs, for asset condition assessments.”
AkitaBox Implementation: From Pilot to Enterprise
C&W Services took a measured approach to implementation, starting with pilot projects that would prove the concept before broader rollout. The implementation process emphasized proper training and standardization. “We usually do first day training of all the people who are going to do the data collection,” explains Auton. Teams received hands-on practice with the tool and were provided with an “AkitaBox Cheat Sheet” that included their equipment hierarchy for quick reference in the field.
The Results with AkitaBox: Efficiency at Scale
The impact of AkitaBox Capture on C&W Services’ operations exceeded expectations across every metric:
Productivity Gains
- Previous manual method: 16-25 assets per day
- Homegrown tool: 35-40 assets per day
- With AkitaBox: 70-75 assets per day
Labor Efficiency
The improved speed translated directly to reduced labor requirements by 30% for the data capture piece.
Project Timeline Reduction
What once required 2-3 months now takes just 3-4 weeks.
Business Growth
With their asset data collection streamlined, C&W Services has positioned themselves for significant expansion. Their business has been doubling every year, and they’ve submitted quotes for projects that would have been impossible with their previous tools.
“We found with the current tool… we’re getting up to 70, 75 pieces of equipment a day. It’s easily doubled our homegrown tool scalability.”
David Auton • Vice President of Engineering & Maintenance, C&W Services
Beyond Efficiency: Strategic Transformation
While the efficiency gains were immediate and measurable, the true value of accurate asset data extends far beyond time savings. C&W Services discovered that comprehensive asset inventories often revealed startling gaps between perception and reality.
Auton recalls a telling example from a site in Houston, Texas: “I literally did this poll at one of our sites. ‘How many pieces of equipment do you think we have?’ ‘Oh, 500-600, something like that.’ And I go, “Actually, you have 2,230, because we just counted them.”
The implications were profound. “They had no awareness of what they had,” Auton explains. When facility managers discover they have four times the equipment they thought—”and 50% of them are past useful life and in poor condition”—it changes the whole dynamics of how it’s going to be maintained.
Reaping the Downstream Benefits of Accurate Asset Data
Knowing, for instance, that an organization has 2300 assets versus the 500-600 they previously were aware of helps enable better resource planning and staffing decisions for C&W’s services:
Capital Planning Benefits
The digitized, standardized, and searchable asset data that C&W collects establishes costs and baseline conditions for all assets feeding into capital planning services.
Facility Management Program Benefits
With clear visibility into actual equipment counts and conditions, C&W Services can properly size maintenance programs and allocate technicians efficiently.
Preventing Scope Creep
Comprehensive asset data gives both parties confidence in service agreements, avoiding budget surprises or rushed contract amendments.
Looking Forward: Building on Success
The success with AkitaBox Capture has convinced C&W Services to make it their standard platform moving forward.
Future plans include:
- Full rollout across the organization
- Integration with capital planning and condition assessment systems
- Enhanced preventive maintenance program development
- Continued evolution toward predictive maintenance strategies
As Mohammed explains, accurate asset data is “the precursor to everything that we do in maintenance. And to take the journey from reactive to proactive, this is the absolute essential thing to do.”
For C&W Services, AkitaBox Capture has proven to be more than just a data collection tool—it’s a foundational piece of their asset management transformation, contributing to C&W Service’s ability to scale their operations, improve service quality, and position themselves as leaders in proactive facility maintenance.
As Auton summarizes: “The same person can get a lot more stuff done.” In the competitive world of facilities management, that efficiency advantage makes all the difference.
