CAFM Software vs. Flexopus: An Overview of the Differences

CAFM software maps facility management processes, ranging from space management and maintenance to contract management. Flexopus focuses on daily office use: employees book desks, rooms, and parking spaces, while facility management receives reliable utilization data. For this reason, many companies use both systems in parallel.

Anyone looking for facility management software will quickly come across the term CAFM. At the same time, since the rise of hybrid work companies have needed a solution that allows employees to book their own workspaces. This article explains what a CAFM system does, how it differs from Flexopus, and when it makes sense to combine them.

What is CAFM software?

CAFM stands for Computer-Aided Facility Management. It refers to software that supports facility management and building management in the administration and operation of properties, spaces, and technical systems. The German Facility Management Association (GEFMA) describes terms and performance features in the GEFMA 400 guideline, the current version of which dates back to March 2021.

Typical modules of a Computer-Aided Facility Management system include:

• Space management for buildings, floors, and rooms, often based on CAD or BIM data
• Maintenance management for servicing, testing, and inspections
• Asset and inventory management
• Contract and lease management
• Cleaning, relocation, and locking system management
• Energy controlling and operating cost accounting
• Helpdesk for fault reporting

The primary users are facility managers, building services staff, and external service providers. The CAFM system thus serves as the central database for a property and supports buildings throughout their entire life cycle.

What is Flexopus?

Flexopus is a platform for workplace management based in Stuttgart, helping companies organize the use of their office space. Employees can book desks, meeting rooms, parking spaces, and assets using interactive floor plans via our app, browser, or directly within Microsoft Teams , and manage external guests with our visitor management software. The booking process consists of three steps: select a time, choose a location, and book your workspace.

Furthermore, the catering and service module allows you to order catering and other office or facility services directly for meeting rooms and events. For example, requests for refreshments, technical equipment, seating arrangements, or other services can be managed centrally and forwarded to the relevant service providers.

Facility management can use smart analyticsto monitor the actual utilization of buildings, floors, and individual desks. Flexopus runs in the cloud, is hosted on dedicated servers in Germany , and is ISO 27001:2022 certified by TÜV Rheinland.

The key differences between CAFM software and Flexopus

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Workplace management: Where CAFM systems often reach their limits

Many CAFM providers have expanded their offerings to include room reservation or workplace management. GEFMA now evaluates this area during GEFMA 444 certification using its own specific set of criteria. Nevertheless, three weaknesses frequently appear in the day-to-day operations of hybrid offices.

1. The interface is built for expert users

A CAFM system is designed for facility managers who work with it daily. Anyone looking for a desk quickly in the morning needs a booking process that works without training and is available where they are already working, such as in Outlook or Teams. If this is missing, teams resort to verbal requests or their own lists, and the data in the system becomes incomplete.

2. Booked desks remain empty

A reservation does not necessarily mean the space will actually be used. Without a check-in via QR code or sensor, booked desks remain unoccupied, and the analysis shows a higher utilization rate than what is actually occurring.

3. Coordination of hybrid teams is missing

In a hybrid office, employees want to know when their team is on-site and where they are sitting. Colleague search, favorites, home zones for individual departments, or the integration of absences from the HR system are rarely part of a CAFM system's core functionality.

At Flexopus, we often find in implementation projects that the request comes from a facility management department already using a CAFM system. They are looking for a booking solution that employees can use without training while still providing reliable data for space planning.

Why companies use Flexopus in addition to a CAFM system

In practice, the CAFM system remains the lead system for master data, maintenance, and contracts. Flexopus handles booking and daily usage analysis, while also supporting the organization of services related to meetings and office space. To achieve this, the platform provides the following features:

• interactive floor plans, manageable via the integrated floorplanner
• booking via iOS and Android app, in the browser, in the Microsoft Teams app or via the Outlook add-in
• calendar synchronization with Microsoft Exchange and Google Workspace, so that the Room management with Outlook continues in parallel
• Catering and service requests directly via Flexopus: employees can, for example, request catering, equipment, seating, or other facility services for meetings and room bookings and send them to the responsible service providers
• Check-in via QR code as well as sensors and IoT devices to track actual occupancy
• anonymized utilization rates per building, floor, and workstation
• over 35 HRIS integrations, which automatically sync absences
• Single sign-on and SCIM provisioning via Microsoft Entra ID
• a REST API for data exchange with other systems
• Billing per resource instead of per user, which, with a desk sharing ratio of over 1, directly impacts the cost of desk sharing software

A case study from our client base: An insurance company with around 800 employees across two locations was already managing its floor space, maintenance contracts, and cleaning schedules within a CAFM system. Desks, however, were still being assigned via floor-by-floor lists, leading to the familiar issues associated with desk sharing using Excel. Since introducing Flexopus, employees book their desks by team and check in via QR code. After six months, the data showed that one floor was, on average, less than 40 percent occupied. The company subsequently converted that space into project and meeting rooms and updated the space data in their CAFM system accordingly.

Which solution is right for your company?

The decision depends on your primary objective. CAFM software is the right choice if

1. technical systems, maintenance intervals, and inspection requirements need to be documented,
2. contracts, leases, and operating costs need to be managed centrally,
3. multiple properties with extensive master data are being managed.

Flexopus is the perfect addition if

1. employees need to book desks, rooms, or parking spaces themselves,
2. desk sharing is being introduced or expanded,
3. reliable occupancy data for space planning decisions is missing.
4. catering, meeting, and facility services need to be easily requested by employees and forwarded to internal or external service providers.

If points from both lists apply, combining both systems is a logical choice.

Conclusion: CAFM software and Flexopus serve different purposes

CAFM software is the specialized system for facility management regarding buildings, systems, and contracts. Flexopus organizes daily office usage for employees and provides the occupancy data that is often missing for space planning decisions. Companies implementing hybrid work long-term are therefore well-positioned with both systems and clearly defined responsibilities.