This year, BOC presented four webinars on Communication for Building Operators. These four events are now available in recorded format. They focused on communicating with bosses, learning how to convey energy performance and talking to building occupants. Another department that is imporant for facilities professionals to have a good rapport with is the IT department. This topic is covered by Dan Hounsell on FacilitiesNet. An excerpt is provided here. The full article is available on the FacilitiesNet site.

Communication With IT Department Critical to Success

There is no end to the line of people maintenance and engineering managers need to cozy up to in an organization. Learn to talk to the C-suite, managers are told. Speak the language of finance to make headway with the purchasing department and other financial types, they hear. Talk to your customers.
While all of these conversations have long been essential for success in institutional and commercial facilities, I’ll add one more to the list — one that speaks to the future of facilities perhaps more than any other. Talk to your organization’s information technologies (IT) department.
For the foreseeable future, the meat-and-potatoes issues of successfully managing maintenance and engineering departments are not likely to change. Hire qualified technicians. Provide opportunities for training and advancement. Specify quality products. Look for opportunities to save the organization money and improve its sustainability.