Experts are categorizing the vast array of technologies into various industrial revolutions to help us understand how they could transform how and where we work. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing the FM industry by fusing digital, biological and physical worlds through the growing utilization of technologies like "artificial intelligence, cloud computing, robotics, 3D and 4D printing, the Internet of Things and advanced wireless technologies, among others."[3] With robots, digital assistants, chatbots, digital avatars, VR/AR headsets and other interfaces, we are also amid an increasingly human-centric "cobotic" Fifth Industrial Revolution[4] in which workers work with and alongside machines.[5]

As technology automates and augments, FM organizations and workers will do things that were once impractical, requiring new business models, skills and competencies (see figure 2). For workers, digitization and technological change transform the talent equation by requiring new skills and competencies and empowering them through more affordable and powerful tools. These tools enable workers to offer their skills and services free from geographical constraints and compete against established companies.[6]

Customers (end user and B2B) expect more and different services. Meeting these fluid expectations with technologies that become more capable and cheaper every couple of years will be an ongoing challenge for industries like facility management. FM organizations often invest in inflexible physical assets, often over long lead times requiring a great deal of financial capital. In addition, unlike consumers who pay for these services by freely giving away or providing access to their data, B2B organizations, like FM organizations, must pay for them.