Billy Holder, a seasoned facilities manager turned prop tech innovator, shares insights on navigating change, leveraging technology and fostering human connections in facilities management. Discover how strategic tech adoption can enhance FM roles, improve occupant experience and drive industry evolution.
What happens when a longtime facility manager steps beyond the built environment to help reshape it through technology?
In this episode of Connected FM, host Brent Ward welcomes Billy Holder, Founder & CEO at Project Aidra, for a conversation about digital transformation, AI and the evolving role of facility management in a technology-driven world. Drawing from nearly 30 years of experience in facility management, Billy shares how recurring operational frustrations led him from the FM field into the PropTech space. He discusses why documentation overload, disconnected systems and inefficient workflows pushed him to search for smarter solutions powered by AI and automation.
The conversation explores how facility managers can use technology to augment the workforce instead of replacing it, why human connection still matters in smart buildings, and what organizations should consider when evaluating PropTech platforms and AI-enabled tools.
Whether you are a facility manager navigating digital transformation or simply curious about where the built environment is headed next, this episode offers practical insights into the future of FM and the people shaping it.
This episode is sponsored by SiteMap®, powered by GPRS. Learn more at sitemap.com/ifma
Timestamps:
Billy Holder: [00:00:00] The only constant in facilities management is change, right? It's constantly changing, and that is really a fundamental truth to how we operate in our buildings. There's always something we have to adjust and adapt to, and our ability to do that really can define us as what type of FM we are.
Host: Welcome to ConnectedFM, a podcast connecting you to the latest insights, tools, and resources to help you succeed in facility management. This podcast is brought to you by IFMA, the leading professional association for facility managers. If you are ready to grow your network and advance in your career, go to ifma.org to get started.
In today's episode, host Brent Ward welcomes Billy Holder, the founder and CEO of Project Idra, for a conversation about digital transformation, AI, and the evolving role of facility management in a [00:01:00] technology-driven world. Drawing from nearly 30 years of experience in FM, Billy shares how recurring operational frustrations led him from the FM field into the proptech space.
He discusses why documentation overload, disconnected systems, and inefficient workflows pushed him to search for a smarter solution powered by AI and automation. They explore how FMs can use technology to augment the workforce instead of replacing it, why human connection still matters, and what organizations should consider when evaluating proptech platforms and AI-enabled tools.
Now, let's get into it.
Brent Ward: Hello. We are here today to talk to Billy Holder, a CFM who has transitioned from, uh, the facilities world into the prop tech world. He has 28 years of experience, uh, and now he is managing his [00:02:00] own business. So we're gonna find out about all of that.
Billy Holder: Welcome, Billy. Hey, thanks for having me on, Brent. Really appreciate the opportunity to come and share some knowledge that I've gained over the last 28 to a little bit longer years with the audience.
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Brent Ward: So we're gonna start with, uh, kind of the, the, the foundation of this and how this all started from, from you being an FM to where you are today. Well, y- you know, you spent years boots on the ground, as it were. What fundamental truth about facilities management did, did you learn during that time?
Billy Holder: I think the one thing that really sticks with me is the only constant in facilities management is change, right? It's constantly changing, and that's a f- that is really a fundamental truth to, to how we operate in our buildings. There's always something we have to adjust and adapt to, and our ability to do that really can define [00:03:00] us as what type of FM we are.
There's lots of different types and roles within facilities management, and you'll find that you f- just get a niche. Like, my niche ended up being the problem solver, right? So yeah, you'll find your niche and what you, uh, are really good at doing and what you love doing. When you combine those two, there's no change too big that you can't overcome in facilities management.
Brent Ward: Yeah. Yeah. Just when you think you got everything dialed in, it's not really safe to go back in the water. It's Monday morning again, and everything is gonna change, right? Yeah, exactly.
Billy Holder: Yep.
Brent Ward: Was there something specific that, or a reoccurring headache like facilities managers have on a regular basis when you were out in the field that made you realize, "Hey, this is, this has gotta change.
This is not acceptable"?
Billy Holder: I mean, throughout my career, we ran into lots of different things that fall into this bucket, right? I mean, the digital [00:04:00] transformation in the mid-2000s that came out and everybody was transitioning from paper work orders to digital work orders and, you know, trying to get that big handle on.
That was early on, one of those there has to be a better way moments. But then as my career progressed, I noticed that one thing remained a constant, and that was that manual documentation time, just what we always had to walk around and write stuff down. And, and that was just eventually ground me down to basically a nub and I said, "No, there has to be a better way."
So I started exploring technology and what we can do with that, right?
Brent Ward: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. There's, you know, what a waste of technicians' time walking around and writing things down, you know? Oh, 100%. You talk about inefficiency and just... And I'm sure the technicians don't like it either. That's at least what I heard in, in my facilities is like, "Really?
Why are we doing this?" So... Yeah.
Billy Holder: There was a phrase that I and many [00:05:00] other technicians, I'm sure, have said. When I was a technician it was, "It takes longer to document the work than it does to do it." You know? And it rings true still to this day, even though I haven't had a tool belt on for many years.
Brent Ward: Yeah.
No, it does. It does. Absolutely. And, and as a facility manager, if you get your team out walking around documenting things, they're not fixing things. They're not doing preventative maintenance, and so you're just putting things farther and farther behind.
Billy Holder: Yeah, exactly.
Brent Ward: Y- you know, how, how did you bridge that communication gap between the technicians who see tech as a distraction to the technicians who really wanna see it, or see it as a line item, or the executives, actually, who see it as, as a line item that just is, is money?
Billy Holder: Yeah. So I think a couple of different ways that I, I did this. One, with the technicians, I used technology and it... and helped them see it as a way to protect themselves, right? To [00:06:00] prove that, yes, we did the work, yes, it was done to quality, and yes, this is what we did, right? So through photographs in work orders and, and just detailed documentation within the technology platforms that we were using, they found it as a way to tell the story of the equipment or the room or whatever they were working on to show their skill as a craftsperson.
So I really leaned into that because technicians take pride in their work. I know I did when I was, and every technician I've managed has. So giving them a platform within the technology to tell their story and highlight them. And then for the executives, that detailed story became a way that we could drive the messaging around what is needed, right?
From the every day and translate that into the big strategic vision. And sometimes it even worked to [00:07:00] allow us to shift that strategic vision, move things up the pipeline sooner, or show how emergent something really was. I think that was the balancing point that really brought me a lot of success there.
Brent Ward: Good points. Good, good insight. Thank you, Billy. You know, I've heard you speak about augmenting the workforce and how tech can do that. How do you reassure your technicians that you're not trying to replace them with technology?
Billy Holder: Yeah, this is a, a very common thing, especially now with AI and how AI is becoming more and more pervasive in everything we do.
I think, one, it goes back to giving them that platform, right, to highlight the work they are doing. But two, I use it to help show them that this is another tool that helps you get your job done faster and with greater insights, allowing you more time to actually do the work, right? Going back to the whole thing I said earlier about it takes longer to document the work than do it.
[00:08:00] Technicians really love the work they do. The best technicians I've ever had really didn't like using the technology because it took them away from the work. So by showing them, especially with AI, how that can augment the process that they like the least and get them back into the field to do more of what they love, it's really an empowerment conversation less than a job security conversation.
And that, that leans in heavily to leadership principles that you have to carry in and the way you lead with that people-first mindset, remembering that before our employees are anything of a job title or a job description or a function in our organization, they're human beings, and we have to lead them in that way.
Yes, technology is there, but it's to make them better.
Brent Ward: Yeah. Absolutely. So when we [00:09:00] install a bunch of technology or hand our technicians a bunch of technology, we're collecting a lot of data. It's just data coming in faster than we can keep up in some cases. So with data, it's one thing, but what about the human element?
What, what human metrics are we overlooking that could actually improve the built environment with or without the technology?
Billy Holder: What a great question. It's one of those things that we really... goes back to what I was just talking about, leading with the people-first mindset. When we are engaged with technicians or clients or occupants of our buildings, we have to remember where they are, right?
Everyone shows up with different stuff going on. That different stuff are your human data points. This is where the work actually happens in facilities management. Yes, we manage technicians to fix systems and components within our building. We [00:10:00] have to keep an eye on that human component, the occupant, right?
Because at the end of the day, we're there to create a space for them to safely live, work, or play, whatever the environment is that you're managing, right? So keeping track of those human data points, whether they're complaints that pop in or recurring work orders, find out why. Right? One of the biggest things I learned was actually managing by walking around is not overrated.
It is one of the best things you can do. That includes talking to your occupants and the humans in your building to help understand how they're experiencing the space on a day-to-day basis. Those data points, there's no real way to track those with sensors. There's no way to track those with technology.
Yeah, we could put occupancy sensors in a room, but does that tell you why they're not in there? It just says there are people there or people not there. So if you're seeing on your [00:11:00] occupancy data that people aren't using a space, go ask them why. Maybe they don't like the lighting. Maybe they don't like the smell of the air.
Maybe they want plants. Who knows? Go talk to them. Those are the key data points in the human connection that we have to keep in touch with, no matter how much technology's in our building.
Brent Ward: Yep. So if I'm hearing you correctly, we could have our building dialed in perfectly, and all the data points are saying that everything is set and running exactly as it's supposed to be running, and yet people don't wanna be in the building, and we need to find out why.
Billy Holder: Exactly. Yeah. We need to find out why. Yeah, you're, you're spot on. Yeah.
Brent Ward: So the, the, the, the data says everything is perfect. Why does, why is everybody fighting being in this build... And we've, we've heard of stories like that, a brand-new building gets built and nobody wants to work in it, and there's a reason for that, and that's when the hu- where the human element comes in.
Yeah.
Billy Holder: And it can't be a survey. Just a quick point on that. No. It, it can't be an email survey, right? [00:12:00] Because that's another technological data point. It has to be a phone call or an in-person kinda touch point, and they, they don't have to be all the time. Weekly, bi-weekly is a really good cadence for that.
So... Yep.
Brent Ward: Good
Billy Holder: point.
Brent Ward: So, you know, right now FMs will be the first ones to admit that there is more prop tech out there than one can beat off with a stick. It's just every day you're getting a dozen or more emails with some new gadget and prop tech thing out there. So what are the non-negotiables for a tech stack today?
You gotta, you gotta have data points for what you need in your building, right?
Billy Holder: Yeah. I think some of it has to be based around the idea that your data is agnostic as to what platforms it can connect to. It has to be interconnectable. It can't be siloed in its own little system. [00:13:00] And what I mean by that is when, when our data is actually interconnected, right, and, uh, we have all of our building data available to all of the people that need it at the same time This drives decision-making faster.
We don't have to wait for this group to finish using the data and then hand it off to another group, right? It's all there at the same time. You're laughing 'cause I know you've experienced this just like I have, right? We have to wait for the, the techn- No, it's my data ... Yeah. It's my data. Or that's another great point, right?
In, in owner leased and, and non-owner occupied spaces, who owns that data, right? Does, does the building owner own it or does the lessee own it? I just saw a post on this the other day on LinkedIn. It was really insightful, the conversation going back. This may or may not be defined in a lease agreement, so that's something you need to think about when it comes to data and data, data ownership, [00:14:00] is that level of own- of detail, right?
I think the other thing is data security is huge. All right? When you're looking at a tech stack, there are some questions that you should be asking of a potential vendor about data and data security and data governance. And, and I'll just run a couple, quick three off the top of my head here. Number one: Is my data encrypted at rest and in transit?
That's really important. That means while my data is sitting on the server, wherever it is in the cloud, is it safe? When I'm moving that data back and forth between points, pulling it on my phone, moving it to my computer, emailing it to someone, while it's in transit from point to point, is that data encrypted?
And then we'll talk about AI real quick. You know, when, when it comes to AI enablement and then AI-enabled platforms, we see this everywhere, right? AI... Our CMMS is AI-enabled, and I'm not [00:15:00] gonna name any CMMS names, but a lot of them, what they've done is they've put an AI chatbot in their system where you can ask questions about your, your work orders and that sort of thing.
Big surprise here to no one, chatbots have been around for a long time. They're not new, and they're not necessarily AI, right? So just, just ask what level of AI is being used in the system and what for, right? So that goes to any AI enablement. I'm kinda picking on chatbots there a little bit, but it goes to any AI-enabled system.
And then I think the third piece is, goes right back to data ownership. At the end of the day, who owns my data? Because if the vendor owns the data, they can do whatever they want with it. But if you maintain data ownership, then you get to say what that vendor can and cannot do with it. So that's three quick questions that you can ask a, a vendor, and if they stumble, I would raise a flag.[00:16:00]
Brent Ward: Time to move on.
Billy Holder: Yes, indeed.
Brent Ward: So, so with, you know, with, with your view of the industry from- Both sides of the fence, as it were. How should we be training the next generation of FMs to handle both the wrench as well as dashboards and electronics?
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Billy Holder: Wow. I think when it comes to handling the wrench, there's a lot of tools that are being put into place out there to, to help that training model.
Uh, there's some virtual reality training modules out there that technicians can actually put on a set of VR goggles, walk through a space, and learn how to work on a piece of specific equipment. There are some companies that are also experimenting with knowledge transfer, right? We have a big thing happening in our industry with tons of people retiring out, aging out, or moving on to other careers, right?
How do we capture and transfer that knowledge to new workers? That's gonna be a huge part of what we need to focus on in the next probably five years, for the next five years, not waiting five years to get there. We need to capture that knowledge and transfer it. And when it comes to the dashboard, I think data quality.
[00:18:00] Our technicians aren't really gonna be in there manipulating the dashboards and using the data, but they'll be the ones collecting it out in the field. And helping them understand what useful data is and how to collect it in such a way that it's usable, I think is gonna be a big key piece of this next technology boom that we're finding through facilities and commercial real estate.
That's gonna become a really big key. So upskilling is what we call it, right? In those areas. How to use technology and what we use it for.
Brent Ward: Yeah. That's, that's gonna be big. And it, it already is big, it's just gonna get bigger. We all know garbage in, garbage out, right? So if we're not collecting data accurately, then that's exactly what we're gonna, what we're gonna get out of the system once we put that in.
So it is, it is critical. Valid, valid point. I appreciate that. You know, sustainability is huge these days. ESG, you know, the [00:19:00] buzzwords, the buzz acronyms are out there, and I could go on for 20 minutes with all of them and we wouldn't understand any of them. But nonetheless, with all of those things that are out there, a couple that are critical are, you know, ESG goals.
With, you know, HVAC being more and more efficient and technology sound and lighting maintenance and all of those things, are these things really translating into high-level ESG goals that companies are looking for today?
Billy Holder: I think the answer is it depends. And the reason I say that is really it depends on the locality.
There, there are different environmental Allowances, we'll say not regulations, allowances in different parts of the world. You're allowed to throw certain things away in one part of the world that you're not allowed to in the other. In the United States, this can vary from municipality to municipality, not just state to state, but like neighboring cities that share a landfill may allow different levels [00:20:00] of environmental waste- Yep
to go into that landfill. City to county. City to county. Yeah, it varies, right? So the reason I say yes, and is it's so confusing. There's so much out there. And a quick anecdote, when I was working for a particular company, we had a consultancy come in, and they were working on our ESG program and trying to help us get to our waste diversion goal, right?
And part of the problem that we had where I was working was the landfill system that collected our waste actually still allowed CFLs in the landfill and other types of hazardous waste, which we all know is horrible. But the consultancy, they didn't see that. They didn't know that because they were based in another part of the world.
And so there was a big education piece that we had to do with the consultancy, and we had to be creative about how we offset other waste so that we could maintain our diversion rate. What we did was actually, we were still using glass plates in the dining center, so as those plates got broken, we [00:21:00] found a way that we could take and recycle that glassware and s- and it helped offset the weightage.
It was really interesting. But that's one of the boots on the ground ways of figuring out how to get creative around those ESG goals, what that can do for the diversion rate. We had a 95% diversion from landfill goal in the global organization. It was- Mm-hmm ... and our part- Pretty heavy ... played a big part in that, you know.
So I think where we'll see this with technology helping is around sensors, right? And how we interpret the sensor data around, around the HVAC usage, energy usage, specifically around HVAC systems. The older systems are gonna use a lot more energy, right? You and I've seen this throughout our careers. When you upgrade lighting, for instance, if you're going from a, an, an old fluorescent system to a new modern [00:22:00] LED system, or even from an older LED system to a modern LED system, the power consumption is much less.
Do you still need as large of a service? Right? So there's a lot of that that we have to think about going into these ESG goals that I don't know the larger organization takes into consideration, and that's why FMs need to be at the table in these conversations, right? Discussing the reality of day-to-day operations.
I know that was a long answer- Yeah ... but there's a lot that goes into ESG.
Brent Ward: Absolutely. You know, you made a valid point. I just was reading an article the other day about That old LEDs versus new LEDs, and how just because it's LED doesn't mean it's as efficient as it could be. The newer ones are way more efficient than the older, older ones are.
So if you made a retrofit back in the, in the early days of LED, you could probably make a retrofit today to new LEDs and save even greater, uh, and have even greater [00:23:00] energy efficiency in your facility. Nothing... Things change. HVAC is the same way. You know, there are... I've found conditions where a, a five-year-old HVAC unit sitting up on the roof could pay for itself in a, in a brand-new one being put up there because of the seriously increased energy efficiency over the one they'd put up five years ago.
So, you know, and it's only quarter of the way through its life, but- Yeah ... where do you wanna go, right? Exactly. So all of us facility managers have had that, let's call it a beautiful mess. Yeah. Okay? You know, a challenge you faced that, that taught you the most about the transformational change of technology where you just went, "Yeah, okay, this...
Something's gotta change here 'cause this can't happen again."
Billy Holder: Yeah. I, I can think of a few, but probably the biggest beautiful mess was I was working for a company. I'd been brought in to, uh, to solve their problem. I remember I was- Mm-hmm ... [00:24:00] uh, kind of made my name as a problem solver, and I was... The, the hiring manager said, "Hey, you're the only guy I know that can fix this problem."
And I was like, "Well, all right. Let's, let's see how bad this problem is." I was like, "No problem, man." He- See if I can live up to that. Yeah. He, he explained it and I was like, "Oh, that sounds like a pretty standard operational problem, you know? We can, we can figure out a solution for this." So I took the job.
Boy, what a beautiful mess it was.
Brent Ward: And
Billy Holder: for the next, like, 17 months, I, I trudged through the mud and the muck trying to solve this problem. And I tried all the ways that I normally would solve these problems, right? With, with process, procedure, streamlining these things that they are doing within the organization.
And things got a little better, but the problem never went away. We even recycled through some people to just try to move them to different parts of the organization in hopes that that might clear things up. But it, it wasn't something we could solve operationally from that level. It really needed a [00:25:00] technological solution.
What they were doing was they were trying to do high volume of inspections in different spaces, and the problem with that was they just didn't have enough time. They had a 10-day window that was a, a contractual KPI they had to meet to get these inspections done, and it was... At each facility, there were five different facilities, and at each one, there were anywhere from about 600 units to 3,000 units.
So yeah, all up it was 9,000 units that they had to inspect in 10 days. And it was just impossible to do manually. So we built a technological solution inside the organization that had Microsoft Forms, it was connected to Power BI, and so we could get the data faster. But it just still wasn't fast enough, and it wasn't clean enough, and it was still siloed to each campus, you know?
And it just was a mess, and I looked at it and I said, "There's [00:26:00] no way I can solve this from the inside. I have to take an ideator's approach to this and step outside of the industry and see what else is happening in the world before I can actually solve this problem." And, and that's kind of what I did.
And when I found AI and what it was able to do, that's kind of where I rolled over and went, "Okay, I c- I'm not in the industry anymore. I've gotta be outside doing something different." You know? It's a big, uh, big change. It was, that was a big choice, wasn't it? It was tough. It was a big choice. Yeah, it was a tough choice.
Yeah. Wasn't, wasn't any, uh, a, a quick decision. It actually- Mm-hmm ... took a lot of conversation between myself, my family, my employer at the time. Kept him full in the loop as to my thought process. And it was about a eight-month decision cycle, believe it or not, before I pulled the plug, as it were. Well,
Brent Ward: you know, you don't walk away from a 28-year career into what almost is a cliff that you're walking, walking into, 'cause you don't know what the end result's gonna [00:27:00] be without taking some time to make that decision.
So props, props to you for, for that. That's great. Yeah, thanks. It's been fun. So now you've got the technology. Obviously, in most cases, there's a financial benefit to the technology. It saves your technicians time, et cetera. But what have you found to be a hidden benefit of prop tech ado- adoption that, uh, you don't realize until maybe it's fully implemented?
Billy Holder: Yeah. I think it goes back to what we were talking about before, right? In the human element, and the value that the humans, the human technicians and people get out of using the technology in the way it's designed. So they're back to turning wrenches, they're back to doing the things that they love to do, and that actually drives employee retention, satisfaction, and all those things that, that actually are huge boosters.
Uh, morale improves, and people want to do the work. And sometimes using [00:28:00] technology can be a lot of fun. I know I'm one of those weirdos that loves technology and thinks it can be fun, but it really can be fun to see what it can do and, and how far it can take you. I think that's one of the hidden benefits people don't, don't realize.
When, when people can combine a couple of things in their day-to-day workflows, they can combine what they love doing with what they're really good at. If you can get your people to that place, man, the production just soars and goes through the roof And, and the ROI, sure, you can save time and you can save money, but how about stopping turnover?
Right now it takes four months to hire somebody. We don't have four months to hire somebody, train them. That project's gotta get done. So let's boost morale and get people staying- Mm-hmm ... at work. That's what I see- Yeah ... as the hidden, the hidden gem.
Brent Ward: And would you agree it's not just the [00:29:00] technicians, but if technology is, is integrated and you're using more predictive maintenance than preventative maintenance, then your highs and lows in the env- building environment have changed.
They're, they're, they're flatter, which then takes everybody out on the floor and makes their life better, and they enjoy being in the building more. Is that a fair statement?
Billy Holder: Absolutely. If you can improve the conditions of the employees, they'll do better work, which flattens out that highs and lows, to your point, and then that improves occupant experience as well and drives more people coming to the office.
Yeah, absolutely.
Brent Ward: What do you see the industry being in five years? You think at some point in time the building will tell us what we need before we even know we need it?
Billy Holder: I think so. I, I do think that in five years we're gonna be pretty close to, uh, what I think the, the desired goal is, right, is everybody has a digital [00:30:00] twin and everybody can live in that digital twin day to day.
I don't think that's gonna be here in five years, but I think we're on the cusp of being able to do continual monitoring through different forms of technology, do better predictive analytics, and then drive those capital decisions in a way that are gonna save organizations in the long run. That's where I think from a business side we're gonna be.
Five years, we're making better decisions and spending less money, and facilities management stops becoming a cost center and starts becoming a revenue driver. Right now, we're a cost center trying to be a cost avoidance group, but I think we can get to driving revenue in
Brent Ward: five years. Excellent. I like that.
So one last question. If you could give one piece of unfiltered advice to [00:31:00] someone, a peer who's hesitant to embrace this digital shift in PropTech, what would it be?
Billy Holder: One piece of advice that I would give anyone is to start small. Yes, it can be scary. Yes, it can be challenging to try something different, but no one ever made anything new and meaningful by just turning a widget sideways, right?
Henry Ford didn't say, "What if we had faster horses?" He said, "What if we didn't need the horse?" And the Wright brothers, they didn't say, "What if I put wings on my bike?" They said, "What if I could fly?" So one piece of advice I give you is shift your mindset just a little bit, just a little bit, and think, "We don't have to do it this way.
What if we could do it differently?" Ask that question every day and see where you find [00:32:00] yourself leaning more towards technology than towards the old way.
Brent Ward: Well, Billy, thank you very much for your insights. And those insights and, and the way you put them out are the reason I love having conversations with you on a regular basis.
So thank you for, uh, allowing me to interview you. Thank you for your insights, and, uh, the FM world appreciates what you've done for it in the last 28 years.
Billy Holder: Wow. Thanks, Brent. I really appreciate the time to chat with you. Thanks for those insightful questions. And to Connected FM, thank you so much for the opportunity to come on and share some knowledge and wisdom with others.
Host: Thanks for tuning into the Connected FM podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show because it really helps us reach more listeners just like you. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. See you next [00:33:00] time.