6 Facility Management Challenges & How to Stay Ahead in 2025 with Digital Twins
In 2024, Dublin Airport announced a $ 1.8 billion investment program to modernize its operations. More than 140 projects will use the Autodesk Construction Cloud platform, and as part of this push, the airport is piloting Tandem—a digital twin tool that creates a connected ecosystem for managing its assets, spaces, and systems.
Dublin is far from alone in adopting digital twins. Major airports like Vancouver’s YVR, Amsterdam’s Schiphol, and Singapore’s Changi already use this technology to transform how they operate and manage their facilities.
Managing a site as complex as an airport—or any large facility—means juggling a lot: keeping systems running, ensuring safety, and controlling costs. Doing this manually may get the job done. However, it's slow, inefficient, and prone to mistakes.
However, digital twins change things for the better. These immersive, digital replicas of physical spaces give you real-time data and insights into any facility. For facility managers like you, digital twins make it easy to handle even the most complex environments and tackle any challenges along the way.
6 Facility management challenges (and how digital twins solve them)
As you know, facility managers face growing challenges like unexpected equipment failures, downtime, safety concerns, fragmented building data, and high costs—here’s how digital twins can help you tackle them head-on.
1. Challenge: Unpredictable equipment fail
It’s not uncommon for essential systems like HVAC or security to suddenly fail. For instance, the wrong building pressurization, not using setbacks enough, and excessive ventilation are just some of the issues that often cause HVACs to malfunction. But when these systems suddenly stop working, it can throw operations off track for hours or even days and result in repair costs, disruptions, and frustration for everyone involved.
How digital twins help
Predictive maintenance powered by digital twins analyzes performance data—such as age, usage, and history—to flag issues before they escalate. This means facility managers get early warnings so they can schedule repairs at the right time to avoid costly surprises. So you won’t just keep your operations stable, but you’ll also cut costs and reduce downtime.
2. Challenge: Downtime from maintenance interruptions
Modular containerized compressed air system captured with Pro2
Even routine maintenance can cause disruptions, making it hard for facility managers to find the right time to schedule without impacting tenants, employees, or production. Without clear data on how systems are performing, these interruptions can drag on longer than they should. Plus, it can eat into your bottom line.
“Often, organizations incur overtime expenses and emergency repair costs to bring systems back online, which squeezes margins even more,” said David Flower, President and CEO at Volt Active Data, in a Forbes article.
How digital twins help
By providing predictive insights, digital twins show exactly when and where issues are likely to arise. This allows managers to plan maintenance strategically, scheduling work during low-occupancy or off-peak times.
For example, if equipment shows signs of wear expected to lead to failure in a few months, repairs can be coordinated in advance to minimize downtime and keep operations running smoothly.
3. Challenge: Ensuring safety and emergency preparedness
As a facility manager, you carry the heavy responsibility of ensuring occupant safety and emergency preparedness in the face of constantly evolving threats—be it natural disasters, fires, or a threat to security.
This means you'd have to develop and maintain comprehensive emergency plans, keep staff trained and informed, stay on top of changing regulations, and adopt advanced safety technologies.
In short, it’s a massive job that’s tough to stay ahead of.
How digital twins help
Digital twins give managers real-time access to critical safety data, like occupancy levels, temperature, air quality, and potential hazards. In an emergency, they can identify the safest evacuation routes and coordinate responses more efficiently. These virtual models also support better emergency planning by simulating drills so staff stays ready for anything.
And many around the world already acknowledge these use cases.
The World Economic Forum shares an example:
“[A] digital twin of a city river and the surrounding built environment would allow local authorities to simulate changes in water temperature, levels, and flow rates, to help them understand flood risks better and develop the most appropriate countermeasures to ensure more efficient and sustainable water management.”
4. Challenge: Lack of real-time monitoring and insights
Many facilities rely on separate systems to monitor operations—like HVAC, lighting, or security—but these systems rarely talk to each other. With data scattered across different platforms, it’s hard to get a clear picture of overall performance or quickly address urgent issues.
How digital twins help
Digital twins pull live data from sensors, building management systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices into one central platform. Instead of juggling multiple portals, facility managers can view everything they need in a single, easy-to-read interface. The real-time analytics also send instant alerts, so if an HVAC system spikes or a door alarm goes off, managers can respond right away.
5. Challenge: Incomplete or fragmented data
Accurate decisions rely on solid, complete information—but in many facilities, data lives in silos. Spreadsheets, outdated CAD files, and disconnected software platforms create gaps that lead to inconsistent records and communication breakdowns. And this inconsistency gets in the way of your work.
“As facility managers and owners look to improve productivity by becoming more fluent in technology, it is critical that adequate attention is paid to the quality of the data, how it is managed, and how frequently it is refreshed,” states an article in Facility Executive.
How digital twins help
Digital twins bring data from sources like building information modeling (BIM) files and historical records into a single platform. With all your information in one place, you can visualize the facility’s layout, track assets, and monitor performance more effectively. This streamlined setup strengthens collaboration with your team, plus you can rest easy during transitions or management changes.
6. Challenge: High operational costs
Utilities, repairs, and staffing can quickly drive up overhead, especially when there’s no clear way to optimize resource use. Small inefficiencies—like poorly placed lighting or heating systems left on during downtime—can snowball into significant expenses over time.
How digital twins help
Digital twins can analyze resource usage and discover inefficiencies, and by extension, help you make smarter, data-driven decisions. They let you simulate scenarios—like reconfiguring layouts or tweaking cleaning schedules—to predict how changes will impact energy use or staffing. In turn, you can avoid guesswork and cut waste, reduce costs, and improve ROI in the process.
What stands in the way of digital twin adoption in facility management?
While the benefits of digital twins are clear, adopting this technology comes with its challenges. Here are a few common barriers that facility managers face:
Awareness gaps: Many facility managers aren't fully familiar with digital twins or how they can transform operations. Typically, digital twin technology isn't cheap, and this knowledge gap gets in the way of securing executive buy-in for funding or implementation.
Cost concerns: Decision-makers often focus on the upfront costs of new technology, overlooking the long-term savings it can bring. A clear ROI analysis can help make the case for investment. Because the biggest benefit of digital twins for facility management is optimizing efficiency—both in utilities and operations—which drives cost savings and makes continuous commissioning possible.
System integration hurdles: Many facilities rely on a patchwork of systems, like HVAC controls, maintenance logs, or security software. The idea of integrating a digital twin with these existing systems can feel overwhelming. However, gradual implementation, combined with well-planned integration pathways, allows facility managers to transition smoothly and maximize the benefits of a digital twin over time.
Workforce resistance: Some employees worry that digital tools might replace their roles, creating hesitation around adoption. That said, offering training programs and demonstrating how digital twins enhance rather than replace human work can help ease these concerns and build confidence in the technology.
Ultimately, digital twins are here to make facility management easier, better, and smoother, so embracing this technology sooner rather than later will help all the stakeholders involved.
What does successful digital twin implementation in facility management look like?
We’ve shared one of our case studies below to give you a real-world example of a successful outcome from digital twins:
Central Lincoln People’s Utility District (PUD) faced a major challenge: upgrading its power transport system across 45 facilities spread over 750 square miles without derailing timelines or budgets.
By partnering with Burns & McDonnell and using Matterport’s digital twin technology, the utility achieved remarkable results.
Over four years, PUD eliminated more than 250 repeat site visits, cut travel costs, and kept the entire project on time and under budget.
The detailed 3D models captured with Matterport became a single source of truth for the team. Engineers measured distances, planned upgrades, and hosted virtual walkthroughs without needing to visit sites in person.
With these efficiencies, they not only saved valuable resources but also preserved institutional knowledge and improved collaboration, setting a new standard for managing facility upgrades.
How Matterport streamlines facility management
Warehouse, laboratory, and production facilities captured with Pro2
Using Matterport for facility management, you’ll get highly accurate and detailed visibility into your physical spaces—allowing you to simplify operations and plan for any challenges that may come your way.
With the Pro3 camera, you get the best of our Pro2 and more—digital twins now extend far beyond indoor spaces. Using LiDAR, it captures millions of precise measurements—even outdoors—and handles everything from low light to direct sunlight. Pro3 captures 3D data up to 100 meters away in under 20 seconds per sweep, making scanning faster and leaving you more time to focus on collaboration.
Paired with our advanced cloud processing platform, Pro3 delivers digital twins that are more accurate, detailed, and true to life than ever.
To get started, sign up for a free account or shop Pro3 in our online store.
