AI Agents in FM: Fixing Lost Maintenance Requests

In facilities management, every maintenance request is a moment of truth. A leaking pipe, a failing HVAC, or a broken elevator might seem routine—but the way these requests are handled defines tenant trust and contract performance.

Yet in 2025, many FM organizations still face the same recurring problem: maintenance requests that vanish into inboxes or ticket queues. The issue is not intent but process. Legacy systems, manual routing, and communication bottlenecks were never designed for the volume and complexity of today’s built environment.

The Scale of the Problem

Industry reports consistently highlight that a significant share of maintenance requests are delayed due to poor routing or lack of visibility. In an FM context, these delays can mean SLA penalties, safety risks, or eroded tenant satisfaction.

Consider a common scenario:

• A tenant emails about a malfunctioning HVAC unit.

• The request lands in a shared inbox already filled with other issues.

• It is forwarded several times before reaching the right technician.

• Meanwhile, complaints multiply from other tenants in the same building.

By the time action is taken, the SLA may already be breached, comfort is disrupted, and trust eroded.

Structural Causes of Lost Requests

• Inbox overload: Facility coordinators manually sift through hundreds of emails daily.

• Manual routing: Requests bounce between staff or subcontractors before reaching the right resource.

• Fragmented visibility: Once forwarded, progress is hard to track—no accountability, no status clarity.

• Siloed knowledge: Even if a similar problem was solved last week, the resolution is not reused.

• Tenant frustration: Every delay is perceived as indifference, impacting satisfaction and renewals.

Why Traditional Ticketing Systems Fall Short

Ticketing platforms promised order, but in practice, they often add complexity:

• Isolation: Each ticket is treated as a standalone event, even when multiple tenants face the same issue.

• Admin overhead: Staff spend time tagging, escalating, and updating tickets instead of resolving.

• Limited intelligence: Systems can’t distinguish a critical elevator fault from a minor cleaning request.

• Slow reporting: Managers struggle to extract real-time insights from static dashboards.

The result: many FM teams remain stuck in reactive firefighting mode, rather than proactive service delivery.

The Role of AI Agents in FM Support

AI-powered agents represent a step change. Unlike basic chatbots or ticketing add-ons, they can manage the entire lifecycle of a maintenance request:

1. Parsing & Classification – Natural Language Processing (NLP) interprets incoming emails or forms, identifying urgency, location, and service type.

2. Routing & Assignment – Automatically dispatches to the right technician, supplier, or subcontractor.

3. Knowledge Reuse – Retrieves past resolutions to accelerate problem-solving.

4. Tenant Communication – Generates updates and reminders automatically, closing the “black hole” gap.

5. Escalation & SLA Monitoring – Alerts managers before contractual deadlines are missed.

Early adopters in large portfolios have already demonstrated that AI-driven request handling can significantly cut response times while reducing missed or duplicate work orders.

Tangible Benefits for FM Leaders

• Operational efficiency: Coordinators spend less time on admin, more on high-value oversight.

• Improved SLA adherence: Faster routing and escalation reduce penalty risks.

• Tenant retention: Transparency and faster updates strengthen trust and renewals.

• Strategic oversight: Real-time dashboards highlight recurring issues and bottlenecks.

• Compliance assurance: Full traceability supports audits and health & safety obligations.

Looking Ahead: AI and Smart Buildings

The next evolution in FM is the convergence of IoT sensors and AI agents.

• IoT devices already monitor HVAC, lighting, and energy consumption.

• AI agents can act on this data—automatically triggering work orders, updating tenants, and dispatching technicians before failures occur.

This shift moves FM from reactive maintenance to predictive and proactive service delivery, positioning facilities as a driver of business continuity rather than a back-office cost center.

What FM Leaders Should Do Now

1. Audit current workflows: Identify where requests are delayed or lost.

2. Quantify SLA impact: Measure costs of late responses and tenant churn.

3. Pilot AI-enabled support: Start with one building or service line to prove ROI.

4. Scale strategically: Extend to full portfolios once results are measurable.

Conclusion

In a competitive FM market, allowing requests to disappear into inboxes is no longer acceptable. Tenants expect visibility, speed, and reliability—and providers must deliver.

AI agents such as Axiomova provide the missing link: capturing every request, ensuring it is classified, tracked, and resolved, while giving FM leaders strategic visibility.

For facilities management, this isn’t just automation. It’s the foundation of trust at scale.

👉 Want to see how Axiomova can streamline your FM support workflows? Book a demo.