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For more information on Facilities Management:www.i-FM.net

i-FM would specifically like to acknowledge the sponsors of Workplace Futures 2012.

New needs. New solutions?Facilities Management

Facilities Management: new needs. new solutions 03

1 About this White Paper &

the Workplace Futures 2012 Conference Page 04

2 Introduction Page 06

3 Sustainability: where to from here? Page 10

4 Beyond FM: meeting the sustainability challenge Page 14

5 The Workplace: planning for an uncertain future Page 18

6 Buildings of the future, services of the past 2

7 Technology in FM: software, shelfware, nightmare Page 28

8 What is FM anyway? Do we need a new story to tell? Page 32

9 Property: how to be a good juggler in a tough market Page 36

10 Procurement: defining what you need and how to get it Page 40

11 International trends: learning from others Page 44

12 Marketing, positioning, branding:

what does it mean; how do we do it? Page 48

13 Communication in FM: is social media the future? Page 50

14 Bridging the gap:

Communication between clients and suppliers Page 54

15 Conclusions, lessons & advice Page 58

16 Acknowledgements Page 62

Contents


http://www.sodexo.com


“FM is an essential

management

discipline, and a

multi-billion pound

business sector

employing hundreds of

thousands of people”

The annual Workplace Futuresconference has become a landmarkin the UK facilities managementcalendar. The 2012 event applied thecharacteristic Workplace Futurestriple focus on the current marketsituation, emerging trends and futureopportunities.

Under the theme 'new needs; newsolutions?', the conference wasshaped around some of the centralchallenges facing UK FM as itbegins to reach some maturity. Theessence of that theme was this:

FM is a business discipline and avast service industry. It is a simpleservice delivery requirement and amission-critical support operation.Given that huge range, what does thefuture hold - more of the same? Orsomething quite different? Is FMready to face up to the bigchallenges and define its own future?

A carefully selected expert panelshared their own experiences, viewsand insights on a range of topicsaround this theme in February 2012.This paper captures that invaluablematerial.

Facilities management is a big,diverse and maturing area ofbusiness. Tactical in its day-to-dayoperations, it is nevertheless closely

related to - and often deeply involvedin - strategic planning and decision-making at private and public sectororganisations alike. Who isresponsible for ensuring theworkplace is clean, safe and fullycompliant with all relevant legislation?Who can plan and implement theconsolidation of accommodationresources; or manage the move to anew HQ in support of growth? Whoknows which buildings in a portfolioare the most energy efficient andwhat can de done to improve thepoor performers? More often thannot, the answer in each case is thefacilities manager.

As we emerge slowly from some ofthe most difficult economic times inliving memory, it is clear that theworld has changed for facilitiesmanagement. Extraordinary changewas already underway, in such areasas technology, demography, workmethods and the environment /sustainability nexus; but deeprecession has reshaped client needsand expectations.

FM has been a true success storyover the past two decades. Tocontinue on that path, it mustcontinue to demonstrateunderstanding, flexibility anddetermination.

1 About this White Paper


“many of the changesin the last few yearsare long-termstructural change inthe marketplace ”

The discipline of facilitiesmanagement and the FM industrythat has developed to support ithave both grown in complexity andmaturity over the years in responseto the ever-shifting social, economicand technological landscape. As thenature of work itself changes, sodoes the design and operation ofthe workplace, as do the driversbehind an organisation’s facilitiesdecision making.

For this reason the annual WorkplaceFutures Conference is an importantfeature in the facilities managementbusiness calendar, providing a yearlysnapshot of current status and afocus on emerging trends coupledwith the forecasts of industry experts.After three years of economicturmoil, the talk at the 2012 event wasa heady mixture of harsh realism andconfident optimism about theopportunities ahead.

This buoyant mood is mirrored in thewave of positive news emanatingfrom Asset Skills, the sector skillscouncil that represents much of thefacilities supply chain. With £5m ofnew funding already secured, itlooks as if skills improvement willplay a key role in helping to lift theindustry out of recession andtowards sustainable growth.

The emergence of a new generationof facilities leaders with a fresh skillset is vital as the realisation begins toset in that many of the changeswitnessed in the last few years arenot mere aberrations, but long-termstructural change in the facilitiesmarketplace. The facilities supplychain is having to adapt to tougherprocurement and lower margins in amore mature and competitive market.

Meanwhile ‘green’ issues, oncefringe subjects that could be ignoredor embraced according to theprevailing mood, have becomemainstream features of corporatereality, with increasing legislation andregulation around energy andbuilding design coupled with newlevels of expectation and moralpositioning from building occupants,customers and investors. The impactof the Green Deal and of zerocarbon building designs has yet tobe calculated.

These challenges are beingembraced by some consultants,designers and engineers; but manyare still struggling to adapt olddesigns, systems and infrastructureto the emerging agenda. As newgenerations enter the workplace theybring different demands, but thediversity of age, culture andworkstyle that now needs to beaccommodated within tighterfinancial constraints means thatcompromise is likely to be morecommon than revolution.

Waves of changeIn contrast to earlier waves ofchange that led to the widespreadadoption of system furniture in the1970s or open plan offices in the1990s, the demands on today’sfacilities managers are unlikely to beaddressed by a simple redesign.

They may require a morefundamental rethink of the realestate and facilities paradigm, takinga more strategic view oforganisations’ operational needs.

This cannot be achieved withoutappropriate levels of businessintelligence and the knowledge and

2 Introduction Martin Pickard Conference Chair 2012, Managing Director, FM Guru

08 Facilities Management: new needs. new solutions

“the facilities industryin the UK is a huge

success story; but wemust embrace change

as we have donebefore ”

information systems required toinform that process. Traditionaltransaction driven models ofoutsourcing, asset management andcost recovery are being replaced by amore integrated workspace strategy,not divided by the boundaries ofdifferent professional disciplines butfocused on corporate need.

In the corporate world thisconvergence of real estate andfacilities functions has alreadyhappened at the most senior levels.However, within the facilities supplychain, our CAFM systems,outsourcing models, propertytenure and workspace design haveall been slower to adapt to thesenew demands.

One area where this has beenevident is in the international FMmarket. Globalisation is arguably themost important factor currentlyshaping the world economy.Although it is not a newphenomenon, the changes it isbringing about now occur far morerapidly, spread more widely andhave a much greater business,economic and social impact thanever before.

While businesses are increasinglycomfortable operating in a cross-

border manner, the number offacilities service providers able tomatch this capability is stillconstrained by the difficulties ofdifferent language, marketconditions and regulation. As aresult, competition is less intensethan in the domestic market with justa handful of major playerschallenging for some very largeinternational contracts.

These big deals seem to be mostlydriven by global procurement teamswhose appetite for bargain pricesthrough ever increasing economiesof scale often falls at odds with themore informed service-ledrequirements of their internal clients.In the UK market, such tensions havecontributed to a commoditised viewof some services with more focus onprice than value and an inevitabledeterioration of relationshipsbetween suppliers and their clients.

New realitiesEvidence seems to show that theservice providers who are achievingthe most consistent levels ofsuccess in the current market arethose who are embracing the newcommercial realities and competingrobustly for each opportunity whiledeveloping an ever wider range ofvalue-focused service offerings.

Communicating this value effectivelyand consistently while developingstrategic customer relationships in aspirit of honest entrepreneurialism isproving more successful for bothlarge and small businesses than themore adversarial style beingpursued by some contractors whoare resorting to claims and counter-claims in an attempt to claw backmargin ground they feel they have

lost in the economic fallout of the2008/9 recession.

Despite all this change,communication remains the mostimportant competency in thefacilities manager’s armoury, andtried and tested techniques forengagement, collaboration and trustmust be incorporated alongside theuse of new communicationtechnologies and the growing powerof social media.

This year’s conference saw thedebate open up far beyond the hallas facilities professionals around theworld followed the proceedings onTwitter and Facebook, askingquestions and making commentsthroughout the day. While somecontributors to the debate describedFM as ‘fractured’ and ‘dysfunctional’,I was personally encouraged by thequality of the discussion.

The facilities industry in the UK is ahuge success story, deliveringcontinued growth right through themost difficult economic period of ourtimes. It is clear that things are notgoing to ‘get back to normal’: therules of engagement have changedforever, and we must embracechange as we have done before.

The FM supply chain must respondto changing customer needs, newcommunication challenges and tothe new market landscape. If we do,then FM will continue to deliver realvalue to government, society andbusiness in the next five years andbeyond. The evolution will continue,but FM is by its very nature a fluidand dynamic discipline and thefuture looks pretty good to me.

http://www.innovisesoftware.com

http://www.innovisesoftware.com


“our focus needs to be

on how well we

maintain our buildings

and on how we occupy

and manage in a

sustainable way”

We have come a long way since DrGro Harlem Bruntland published areport called ‘Our Common Future’for the World Commission onDevelopment. This set the agendafor sustainable development andwas shortly followed by the 1992 RioEarth Summit which gave us thephrase ‘Local Agenda 21’. We havecome a very long way in the lasttwenty years - but where do we gofrom here?

The British government has torespond to many EuropeanDirectives and we have our own UKlaw to follow, too. Much of whatneeds to be done is outlined ingovernment policy documents. TheEuropean Energy Performance ofBuildings Directive of December2002 put many of our currentpolicies in place. The Directive wasre-cast in May 2010 and is oftenreferred to as EPBD2. Thesedocuments mandate that we look atcalculating the energy and carbonperformance of buildings and haveguided us towards performance-based design. In essence, if we donot design low energy/carbonbuildings, they will not be built. All ofthis supports the UK ClimateChange Act of 2008 which set uslegally binding targets to reducecarbon dioxide emission by 80%over the levels in 1990.

UK policy on sustainability ischanging rapidly with newdocuments and guidance comingout almost weekly. In the summer of2011, we saw the Low CarbonConstruction Action Plan launchedwhich promotes the concepts of‘whole life carbon’ and the use ofbuilding information modeling, orBIM.

Focus on buildings in useIt is becoming clearer that our focusneeds to be not just on buildings withlow operational energy. It must alsobe on the design of low embodiedenergy/carbon buildings, on howwell we maintain our buildings andon how we occupy and manage ourbuilding stock in a sustainable way.In August 2011, the governmentpublished the document ‘Enablingthe Transition to a Green Economy:government and business workingtogether’ which sets out where weneed to go from here. In December2011, government set out ‘TheCarbon Plan: delivering our lowcarbon future’ which can draw uponpowers in the New Energy Act 2011published on 18 October of that year.

Yet, sustainability is not just aboutenergy and carbon. It coversresource efficiency and we arelearning to do more with less. We allneed to embrace the fact that weneed to use less oil, gas, water, steel,aggregates, copper, timber, etc.Sustainability has to do with livingwithin the planet’s resource system.This has become much harder as theworld population has increased andcontinues to rise. In addition, livingstandards have risen across theglobe and those in developingcountries are demanding equivalentlifestyles to those in the richer nations.

With the new financial pressurebeing experienced in Europe, Ibelieve we should really beembracing the challenges outlined inthe Stern Review on the economicsof climate change. To have a realfuture, we must promote occupantbehaviour that embraces living withinthe limits of our planet – oftenreferred to as ‘one planet living’.

3 Sustainability: where to from here? Ant Wilson

Director - Sustainability & Advanced Design - Building Engineering, AECOM


“one thing is very

clear for all of us: we

must learn how to

keep new buildings

performing as intended

and work hard at

improving the existing

building stock”

To this end in the builtenvironment,planning policy andBuilding Regulations are continuallychanging with a major reviewunderway now to come into effectnext year (2013). Planning for climatechange is now commonplace, anddesigning with attention tomaintainability and flexibility is nowseen as extremely important.

Delivering results We must deliver on cutting ouremissions from all housing stock andthe non-domestic building stock. Weneed buildings that are bettermaintained and continuouslycommissioned. Systems such as theSoft Landings Framework for betterbriefing, design, handover and in-use building performance havemade people think about post-occupancy evaluation, evaluatinghow buildings actually perform froma comfort/well-being perspective aswell as an energy/water consumptionperspective.

We have targets to achieve zerocarbon buildings by 2019 set by ourgovernment and, following EPBD2, arequirement to have near-zeroenergy buildings by the end ofDecember 2020. To help with thischange, the steel sector funded athree-year research programme thatinvestigated how zero carbonbuildings could be achieved today.The project was called Target Zero.This was funded by Tata Steel andThe British Constructional SteelworkAssociation (BCSA) and the findingsare published online(www.targetzero.info). Five reportsare now available to download fromthe Target Zero website, coveringschools, warehouses, supermarkets,office and mixed use (hotel)

developments. Each report coversthree key areas: operational carbon,embodied carbon and how toachieve BREEAM ratings of verygood, excellent and outstanding. Thefindings are fully costed and usemarginal abatement cost curves toidentify the most cost-effectivecarbon savings.

Looking forward, as technologyadvances and the cost of renewableenergy declines through cheapersolar thermal panels andphotovoltaic cells, the toughchallenge of zero carbon becomeseasier to achieve. This future willembrace the proposed Green Dealand pay-as-you-save mechanisms,although precisely how the GreenBank fits in with other governmentincentives, such as the Feed in Tariff(FIT) and the Renewable HeatIncentive (RHI), still needs to beexplored.

Nonetheless, one thing is very clearfor all of us: we must learn how tokeep new buildings performing asintended and work hard at improvingthe existing building stock. Theexisting stock must be refurbished,seeking to bring it into line with thenear-zero energy philosophy. Clearly,if we are to maintain and improvebuilding performance through thefine-tuning of our building systems,then the role of facilities managersmust become increasinglyimportant.

http://www.frluk.com


“in most organisations

the delivery of

sustainable goals is

achieved through the

FM activity”

It may be that the only people who careabout the future of facilitiesmanagement are those in the facilitiesmanagement industry. There iscertainly neither proof nor reason thatour clients much care about how ourservices are described, packaged orformulated. For them, all that matters isoutput: what do we contribute to theirorganisation’s objectives and the abilityto deliver its core services?

And so for any discussion about thefuture of FM, we risk talking only toourselves – a most self-indulgent anddangerous behaviour which could leadto us forgetting that our customers are,and always will be, our raison d’être.

The customer perspectiveLet us therefore consider not where FMis going, fascinating as that discussionmight be, but where our customers aregoing and where there might be anopportunity for FM to go as well. Indoing that, I don’t want to lose sight ofthe great changes that have beenmade to move what we do from simplesingle service propositions towards anintegrated service offer. But it is worthchallenging some of the assumptionsthat have arisen in the last five years orso, which I believe have created anartificially limiting set of options forclients. For example, it seems to bewidely held that these are mutuallyexclusive alternatives:

• Workplace management vs facilities management

• Tactical delivery vs strategic contribution

• Operational stability vs service development

• Risk minimisation vs value add• Local vs international sourcing• TFM vs single service• In-house vs outsourced provision.

In fact, I believe these are simply poleson a broad axis of options available toservice users, and that in practice thevast majority of organisations usecombinations of these factors fromdifferent sources at different times toachieve their objectives as operationalcircumstances change and theirchallenges develop. The only ‘wrong’answer, I suggest, is in being toowedded to any one of the aboveoptions – which is why we believe thatintelligent independent advice isneeded to help frame decisions on howto obtain FM service delivery.

By this point, you may be wonderingwhat any of this has to do withsustainability. And the first response isthat, if the FM industry is to have asustainable future, then we need bothto foster a more flexible set of offersfrom the supply chain and toencourage our clients to be lessprescriptive in the models they adopt,making their choices on the basis ofinformed options, not ‘one size fits all’solutions.

More fundamentally, though, the FMindustry does have a serious problem.Its services are being rapidlycommoditised – the value add drivenout, often because benefits ofintegration have not beendemonstrated, or perhaps becausesome parts of the supply chain focuson ‘service delivery solutions’ and noton the management elements offacilities. Clients too are culpable in notobtaining the best outcome, byconsistently seeking the cheapestsolution rather than the most effectiveoption and by engaging in short-termrelationships which detract from theability to gain understanding of anorganisation’s needs and strategy.

Dave WilsonDirector, Agents4RM4 Beyond FM: meeting the sustainability challenge


"while the future of

FM itself may not

matter to our

customers, what we can

do for them should ”

Whoever you think is responsible, thebasic facts for the FM industry areundeniable: margins and profits arebeing driven down, relationships areshort and change too often, and ourcollective value proposition isevaporating - cost cutting and costcontrol is what we offer, and rarely morethan that.

From sustainable to responsibleAnd so, eventually, we come tosustainability. I believe that in mostorganisations the delivery ofsustainable goals is achieved throughthe FM activity. Although mostorganisations are focused at themoment on carbon reduction, wherethe facilities manager’s ability to drivereduction in energy consumption andto source low carbon materials is vital,carbon is obviously only one part of asustainability programme. Again,facilities managers often have the keyrole to play in formulating anddelivering policy objectives: our skill setand motivation, along with our pivotalposition in organisations and our long-standing commitment to reducingwaste gives FMs a unique opportunityto be the leaders in this activity.

However, I have argued before thatthere is more to this than justsustainability: a large part of thecorporate responsibility agenda canbe discharged by facilities managers. Ifyou think that is fanciful, consider howclosely our combination of People,Place and Process mirrors the TripleBottom Line.

Imagine, if you will, that we take off theblinkers that we have created forourselves by talking about facilitiesmanagement. Think not about what we

do – forget cleaning, security, cateringand maintenance. Forget offices andfactories and shopping malls and soon. Rather, concentrate on the skillsand processes we employ, thestrategic planning that we do … andapply those to the planet.

Doing that, imagine us as stewards ofthe planet – at whatever level weactually work, just think of what we doas being about helping ourorganisations to act responsibly,towards all stakeholders and towardsthe world we inhabit, while stillcontributing towards commercially oreconomically viable operations. Wecan, if you like, call that responsiblemanagement. And I suggest thatfacilities management as an industry,profession or discipline (as you prefer)is uniquely placed – with theprocesses, skills and commitment – todeliver responsible managementtechniques. That opportunity, toseriously add value to ourorganisations and create a trulysustainable operating model for them,is one we believe that our industry mustembrace if it is to have a future of itsown. And while the future of FM itselfmay not matter to our customers, whatwe can do for them should - if we worktogether to articulate it.

Figure 1: The IFMA definition of FM

Figure 2: The Triple Bottom Line

http://www.speedyservices.com


“the design of the

physical work

environment is strongly

linked to business

performance”

Volatility in the global economy,generational shifts in the workforce,rapid evolution of technology and theongoing and increasing commitmentto sustainability have collided - andthe result is a significant impact onworkplace environments and realestate strategy.

The economyThe uncertain global economicclimate has forced companies toemphasise efficiency in managingreal estate holdings more now thanever. And this combined with theimpact of globalisation means thatworkplace thinking has generallyshifted from a single-site approachto a portfolio-wide approach.

Single source procurement featuresprominently in current global realestate strategy, whilst regionaldifferences pose challenges to howthe workplace must accommodatethe different needs across a varietyof geographies, cultures and globaleconomies. The key is finding abalance between standardisationand cultural identity, and notimposing a ‘cookie cutter’ solutionacross the portfolio.

Cost per square foot continues to bethe primary performance metric forreal estate, with square feet per

employee and percentage of vacantspace following closely. As one mightexpect, in the current climate trendsacross global portfolios tend towardsconsolidation strategies. Facilitiesmanagers are finding themselvesasking whether they should relocateor stay put when leases are comingto an end; they are looking atsubleasing options for excess spaceand working out how downsizing canmake enough difference to thebottom line.

Gensler has defined six basic realestate options for companies lookingat consolidation strategies:

1. Stay & pay - Should we just leavethe space the way it is and ride outthe cost? 2. Relocate - Is it possible or evensmart to move? 3. Compress & dispose - Could we fitin less space and get rid of theextra? 4. Compress & save - What if wedarken space and eliminate servicesto it? 5. Compress & sublet - Could we fitinto less space and sublease so thatwe could pick it up later? 6. Enhance the environment - Couldit make our people more effective,compensating for increased realestate cost?

Generations in the workplaceFor the first time we are seeingalmost equal ratios of men andwomen in the workplace and a broadgenerational diversity, with threegenerations often co-working andsharing the same environment.

This provides a number ofchallenges for the designer.

While the traditional officeenvironment remains important,most organisations understand thatwork doesn’t always have to happenthere. We have undertakensignificant research into themotivations of the three primarygenerations - the Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials - and across allgroups the notion of some form offlexible working is important.

The Boomer generation comes from abackground where the core value ofhard work is upheld and respected.As would be expected, they are oftenin positions of power and are mostlikely to hold the traditional ideals ofhierarchy of space. However, whensurveyed 87% still voted in favour of aflexible workplace with an element ofmobility.

Generation X was brought up tovalue independence. They are the‘latch key kid’ generation and, assuch, a mobile work environmentcomes naturally. They adapt well tochange and have engaged with therapid developments in technologyover the last 20 years. They areresourceful and self-sufficient, andwork to live rather than live to work.Generation X workers attachimportance to human interactionhowever, and are happier engagingface to face. Nothing beats a lunch.

The Millennials (or Generation Y) arethe fastest growing segment of theworkforce. They are technology-driven, not remembering a timewithout the internet. Their preferredcommunication is digital and theconcept of a work–life balance,antiquated. Millennials aspire to a‘bring your own device’ work-lifeblend.

5 The Workplace: planning for an uncertain future Krista LindsayPrincipal and Workplace Practice Leader EMEA, Gensler

Workplace utilisationSince 2005, Gensler has beenconducting surveys of US and UKoffice workers to determine how theworkplace environment affects theirproductivity, creativity and attitudesabout work. The 2008 survey was anin-depth look at work mode drivers,seeking to understand in detail theactivities people engage in to getwork done and the spaces neededto support them.

The research indicates that activitiesin the workplace - work modes - canbe grouped into four key elements:focus, collaborate, learn andsocialise. These work modes providea framework to identify the waysspace is used and allocated.

Through this understanding of howpeople work, organisations canharness the power of the workplaceto support their highly valuableworkforce, drive innovation andadvance their business objectives.

Our surveys concluded that top-ranked companies have betterdesigned workplaces than averagecompanies and that the design ofthe physical work environment isstrongly linked to businessperformance. Companies with higherprofit growth had the highest numberof survey respondents who weresatisfied or highly satisfied with theirphysical environment.

When conducting the research wealso found that often as much as50% of the time people are not at

their desks. This fact has led manycompanies to realize that 1:1 deskratios leave them with an under-utilised office, often with large areasof space without people. To leveragespace and make it work harder,companies are implementingmobility schemes to increase spaceutilisation and also, more importantly,space effectiveness.

Forward-looking organisations areinvestigating mobility strategies at aglobal level and focusing on howtheir workforce uses its space. Amobility strategy is not simply a fewemployees working from home fromtime to time. It’s a fundamentalchange in work practice.

TechnologyTechnology is without doubt theprimary factor leading the change inthe way we are able to work. An ageof computers has removed vastamounts of clerical processing fromthe workplace. The move from CRTto flat screen monitors opened upthe possibilities of bench working,and the move to mobile devices andwireless networks provides theopportunity to release us from thedesk completely. Flexibility is keynow, with spaces designed for rapidreconfiguration. Mobile videoconferencing technology is alsochanging the landscape. Wherepreviously companies would invest inlarge expensive telepresence set-ups, smaller flexible environmentscan be used in conjunction withmobile devices.

SustainabilityAs long-term proponents ofsustainable design, we know that asustainable approach producesresults that matter to clients: reducedenergy and operating costs, brandadvantages, longer propertylifecycle, enhanced humanperformance and overall betterquality of life. We also know thatincreasing government regulationsand corporate social responsibilityrequirements will keep pushing theboundaries, forcing us as designersto think ever more creatively.

To conclude, we are on the brink ofan exciting new shift in the way wethink about the workplace.Developments affecting both realestate strategy and workplaceenvironment will see the officechange dramatically - however, webelieve in its new and evolving form itwill remain very much part of thefabric of our working lives for quitesome time yet.



“FM service providers

can play a decisive and

positive role”

The facilities management sectorfaces a period of significant changewith increasing economic andenvironmental pressures. There hasbeen a dramatic increase in globalconsumption and carbon emissionswhich is having a detrimental effecton the planet. There are shortages inbase products such as water, energyand primary materials withsubsequent increases in costs,along with the implementation oftighter governmental controls andstandards.

In the UK, this situation isexacerbated by ageing buildingstock, constrained building fabricand inefficient use of space.Customers are looking to the FMindustry to provide cost-effectivesolutions whilst also improving onservice quality. It’s a challengewhere FM service providers can playa decisive and positive role,especially when they are embeddedwithin customers’ organisations. Bysuggesting, implementing andencouraging adoption of energy-efficient practices, technologicalimprovements and alternative waysof working, FM companies can helpclients reduce their dependency andexpenditure on energy and othercostly resources, safeguardingprofitability while meetingenvironmental targets.

The way we work and how buildingsare used has changed, and with thehelp of technological advances andwith the right implementation, thereis further scope within workingpractices themselves. Greaterworking mobility, with the ability tocommunicate via WiFi, means the old

one-desk-per-worker model nolonger applies. Embracing newtechnology can increase overallworker efficiency and productivitywhilst also saving costs. Additionalsavings can be made through‘greener’ practices, such asreducing waste by adoptingsustainable supply chains andminimising water consumption byinstalling self-cleaning buildingproducts such as ‘smart glass’.

Assessing requirementsThere is no ‘one size fits all’ answerand each building and customerrequirement should be assessedindividually to determine the bestoverall integrated solution. Thissolution may require a team ofmultiple suppliers and technologyproviders in order to collaborativelydraw on their individual expertise.The FM provider is ideally placed todeliver this to the customer in ahassle-free integrated offering. Toensure this is provided efficiently,sustainably and cost-effectively, it isimportant to consider the wholesupply chain. For example, atEMCOR UK we are working withAction Sustainability to implement anew British Standard, BS 8903, forreducing waste in the supply chain.

The introduction of new technologiesand working methods is not enoughon its own. To ensure new ways ofworking are successful, it is essentialto gain buy-in from the outset, andbuilding users should be educatedand involved throughout the process.This is an important step inbehavioural change: without thecooperation of building occupants,new processes and schemes can fail.

6 Buildings of the future, services of the past Paul WorlandBusiness Development Director, EMCOR Group UK

Learning from the pioneersAlthough some organisations arebeginning to adapt and change theway they work, others are alreadyshowcasing buildings of the futurewithin their portfolio.

In the UK, KPMG is setting the pacewith their new office development inCanada Square, London. Hereemployees work within an open plan,non-assigned desk environment,with a range of alternative areas forindividual output and collaboration.Combined with practices such assmart metering and lighting linked toavailable daylight, this innovativeapproach to building utilisation hasresulted in a 40% reduction inenergy consumption and a 50%reduction in carbon emissions.

The building is 400,000 sq ft with anoccupation of 5300 people. It isfocused on providing quality spaceto maximise collaboration, teamworkand individual effectiveness. Ian Tew,Head of European Workspace, seeshis role as ‘minimising peoples’downtime’, not just running thefacilities. What is really admirable isthat the KPMG workspace andfacilities team does not plan to stopthere: they continue to challengeworkspace utilisation and areworking to achieve 50% non-assigned desking and a 50%reduction in their carbon footprint.

It would seem that FM is changingacross the world. Facilities and citiesare being designed and built to meetthe future shortages in energy and

base materials. In Abu Dhabi, theworld’s first fully sustainable city,Masdar, is in development and hasthe target of being totally self-sufficient. The aim is that Masdar willprovide the highest quality of life andwork environment with the lowestenvironmental footprint. It will utilisecutting edge R&D, pilot projects,advanced technology and materials,and revolutionary sustainableconstruction. It will be a ‘smart city’with sustainable power generationand sophisticated tools to monitorpower, water and CO2 generation.Six buildings have been completedso far in this 6 km² city which isexpected to have 40,000 residentsand 50,000 commuters ultimately.

Another example that shows thepossibilities of such advancementscan be found in Songdo, SouthKorea, where the largest privatesustainable real estate venture inhistory is taking place. Measuring 6km² in size, and built on an artificialisland 56 km west of Seoul, Songdowill utilise the best technologyavailable and will include transportcontrol hubs, wireless technology,telepresence screens, publiccommunication systems and smartnumber plates. Songdo will be a fullywired intelligent city with the ability toregulate and produce energy to fulfilits own needs. This will include theimplementation of rooftopvegetation, home waste removal,segregation systems and homeenergy generation systems.

Demanding moreAs you will see from the aboveexamples, change is already takingplace - and the frequency and extentof this is sure to increase in thecoming years as communities andorganisations begin to realise theoverall benefits of such developments.The services of today will not be theservices of tomorrow. There havebeen many developments includingself-clean materials, photovoltaicenergy, improved diagnostics, remotemonitoring and control, wirelesstechnology and anaerobic digestionof waste for energy. Theseimprovements will lead to less waste,greater productivity, improvedemployee satisfaction and decreasedcosts, and this is merely the start!

It is imperative that the FM industryremains on top of technologicaldevelopments and evolutionary waysof working to ensure that we staycompetitive. Customers will soon bedemanding more, and cutting costs -along with a higher quality of service- will no doubt be on the top of theiragenda.

Not only do FM companies need tobe aware of these newdevelopments and customerdemands, but they also need toensure employees are up-skilled tomaintain and operate the newsystems and buildings of the future.It is unclear how quickly thesedevelopments will occur, but it doespose the question ‘are we ready forthe change?’.


http://www.cofely.co.uk

http://www.hssoutsource.com/cleaning

7 Technology in FM: software, shelfware, nightmare


“view technology as a

long-term business

investment rather than

a quick-fix remedy”

There is no doubt that softwareenables facilities managementprocesses to become morestreamlined. Experiencing a surge inpopularity over recent years, FM andworkforce management softwarepackages (outside of CAFM) havenot only become a tool throughwhich an organisation can gaingreater control, but are largely seenas a staple strategic element inensuring optimisation of a business.

Fundamentally, the goal oftechnology in FM is to helpmanagement and operations todeliver the best possible service atthe least possible cost. We wouldadvocate investment in technologyto increase profitability throughworking more effectively – but wealso caution organisations to takethe time to properly evaluate thespecific needs of the businessbefore jumping onto the promisesoffered by new technology. It isessential to view this as a long-termbusiness investment rather than aquick-fix remedy.

Preparation is criticalConsidering what software wouldbest suit your business andfathoming out exactly what thissoftware does and what it willactually deliver can be confusing.Similarly, not understanding whateach stakeholder will gain from theinvestment is a sure-fire way tomaking a bad decision. Everyone,from the board to the frontlineteams, needs to gain from theinvestment – something that is toorarely understood, and as a result,the workforce (who are oftenexposed to the technology on adaily basis) don’t buy-in and thesystem either fails totally or fails to

deliver its true value to theorganisation.

The regular users are the key tosuccess. We have been involved ina number of projects where anorganisation has tried and failedbecause they simply didn’t engageproperly. Add to that the cost ofpurchasing and implementing anew software solution, and all of asudden it becomes a daunting,time-consuming and very high-riskprospect. In a busy world wheretime is valuable, it may be temptingto skip this initial phase of researchand stakeholder engagement – butdon’t ever be tempted to short-cutthis part of your journey. It is vitallyimportant that this groundwork iscompleted to ensure that yourbusiness is investing into a softwaresolution that will actually make apositive difference to the way thatyou are working.

The other key message is that thereis no one solution out there that willmatch the exact needs of acompany. To pick a softwarepackage off the shelf and seeeverything change overnight is notsomething that is going to happen -especially if you have no concreteidea of all the problems that needrectifying or the objectives thatneed satisfying by the newtechnology. Many evolve or getcreated with the new solution. Knowwhat you want to happen: definewhat your company sees as beingacceptable and what needs tohappen for the company to beexceptional…and then begin yoursearch for a software solutionbased on this information. Manageon the outputs, not the inputs.

Graeme HughesChief Executive Officer, Innovise Software

“progressive

organisations are

making their

technology decisions

with a focus on

processes”

Once a business has realised itsneed for a software solution,justifying the cost of implementinga new system is the second hurdlefor organisations looking to find amore efficient way of optimisingworkflow and sharing and obtainingaccurate management information. Understanding how increasedefficiency and tighter processeswill reduce your largest costs is thecornerstone to any businessstrategy that aims to save costs andoptimise workflow. For instance,payroll comprises a huge part ofthe overheads for any service-based business. Such companieshave to tread a fine line betweenpaying an attractive salary to theiremployees and remainingcompetitive for their clients. Forcompanies whose employees tendto operate at the lower end of theremuneration scale, salaries andbenefits are often as generous asthey can be, but are not toodifferent to the minimums set out bygovernment legislation, removingany scope for efficiency savings inthat respect. Where margins aretight, it becomes even more criticalfor service providers to minimiseany unnecessary costs. As payrollis the largest expense item,managers need tools to ensure thatancillary costs are identified andreduced or even eliminated.Knowing how much money can besaved through tightening up on thisprocess, as well as other areaswhere money is easilyhaemorrhaged (staff absence,unpaid invoices due to ill-plannedor incomplete work, as examples)would provide a sufficient case forinvestment in a software solution.

Getting buy-inOnce an organisation hascompleted its self-evaluation,researched the software optionsthat could be implemented tosatisfy the objectives and identifiedthe areas where a software solutioncould be best applied to save costsyet increase productivity, the finalchallenge is to ensure that thebusiness as a whole is trulyengaged with the new technology.Unless this is done successfully,any new way of working will not bewhole-heartedly adopted, thetechnology will not be usedproperly and new procedures willfail, often immediately.

Technology is indeed a critical tooland investing in software thatincreases business productivity isalways a good bet; but with theabove information in mind, it isimportant to not rush out with thecompany credit card just yet.

Progressive organisations aremaking their technology decisionswith a focus on processes, sodeliberation as to what the softwareallows you to do rather than thefeatures of the software itselfneeds to take place – be careful notbe blinded by the promise andunderstand what it is that yourcompany actually needs.


Introduction


“there are arguably

lots of areas and issues

around which the FM

industry needs to re-

invent itself. Here are

a handful of what I

think are the more

important ones”

Facilities management as a disciplinehas grown and developedsuccessfully over the last 25 years orso. It is now a recognised componentof the ‘shared services’ infrastructureof the enterprise value-chain. In myview, however, it has reached a crisispoint in its evolutionary path.

Two significant drivers have causedthis – the massive economic andsocietal changes the world iscurrently experiencing, and therapidly diminishing shelf-life of thecurrent FM value proposition (now20+ years old).

A tired propositionIf you take a look at the websites ofthe current FM service providers inthe UK you will soon realise that, forthe most part, they are all saying thesame things. The words that occurover and over again are ‘reducedcosts’ and ‘improved efficiency’. Theindustry has been saying - and selling- this for decades. The problem thiscauses, however, is that cost (orinvestment) and process efficiencyare a means to an end, and not theend or outcome itself. As an industry,FM therefore has not been selling thevalue it brings, but has backed itselfinto a position of being anincreasingly marginalised commodity,with the wafer-thin profit margins thatgoes with that.

If the industry is to have a bright future,it needs to change itself and quickly.

A new storyThere are arguably lots of areas andissues around which the FM industryneeds to re-invent itself. Here are ahandful of what I think are the moreimportant ones:

1. Workplace: 12/1.3/80These three numbers need to beremembered and understood. Theydescribe where the best workplaceleaders are headed in terms ofaverage occupancy efficiency acrosstheir office portfolios:

• 12 sqm (net internal area) perworkspace • 1.3 supported occupants perworkspace• 80% utilisation per workspace.

There is little doubt that matching thedesign, configuration and use ofoffice workspaces to the waysorganisations are now working isincreasingly becoming mainstream.The significance of these threenumbers is perhaps greatest whenreflecting on the potential impact theyhave in shaping organisationalculture, communities and workpatterns. But in these economicallystressed times, the scale of possiblecost reductions they embrace cannotbe ignored either. If your existingnumbers are 20/0.8/50, then movingto 12/1.3/80 represents a staggering63% improvement in efficiency.

2. It’s about people first, then real estate Following on from the march of thetruly flexible workplace, asorganisations become more complexand dispersed, the strength ofcommunity and a strong culturalidentity become increasinglyimportant and acts as glue to bindpeople together. This relates directlyto a need to see the FM role from adifferent perspective. It is no longerexclusively about bricks and mortar,buildings, facilities or financial assets;rather, it is about people as well. Thespace is provided for people to

8 What is FM anyway? Do we need a new story to tell? Barry VarcoeGlobal Head of Corporate Real Estate & Facilities Management, Zurich Financial Services

“achieving

differentiation will

become increasingly

important over the

next decade”

undertake value-adding activity in,either as employees or customers. Aprimary focus therefore needs to be onunderstanding what those peoplereally need and how they will relate to it.

3. Coordinator to integrator FM outputs involve bringing togetherthe deliverables from many separateservice sectors into a cohesiveworking or customer environment. Formany years we have done thisreasonably successfully through thecoordination of these otherwise siloedcomponents – with a thin veneer ofmanagement across the top. Weseldom truly integrate them, however.When we figure out how to integratethese resources and competenciesinto new end-to-end servicepropositions, we will take a big stepforward.

4. Beyond service to experienceFor an industry that still too oftendoesn’t get the basics of serviceright, moving on to the next step mightseem ambitious. But the world ismoving on, and we need to keeppace. Increasingly what differentiatesand wins new customers is theexperience you create. This is true ofthe workplace, too; and the goodnews is that it doesn’t need to costmuch, if anything. In my experience,great customer experiences start inthe mind of the deliverer through theirattitude. Throw in a reasonableamount of innovation and creativity,and it is amazing the impact that canbe made.

5. InnovationAs an industry we talk a lot aboutinnovation, but in truth we don’t domuch about it. In the future, though,we will have to. If nothing else spursit on, we can rely on the incoming

generation of workplace users todemand it. While most of us readingthis article can be considered to bedigital immigrants, the newgeneration is made up of digitalnatives. Furthermore, they haveaccess to unparalleled knowledgesources. The incumbents of the FMindustry must overcome any inertia ormisinformed comfort zone, and alignmigratory digital skills to these vastknowledge resources and their onebig advantage – experience. And thechange needs to be both structural(innovation process, systems andinvestment) and cultural (behaviour).

6. DifferentiationWhat do you want your customers toremember you for? What makes youstand out from the crowd? Achievingdifferentiation will becomeincreasingly important over the nextdecade. Key to this will, for many, bea change of perspective, away fromemphasising what they do andreplacing it with a conversationaround what they achieve.

7. From cost to value – our new storyIn my view we need to make the next10 years a decade of value, not cost.FM needs to demonstrate thepositives about what it produces, andnot merely the reduction or removal ofnegatives. If we can focus more onour benefits and outcomes andcollect the evidence to prove them,our message will become far morecompelling. Let’s talk about tangiblevalue we add, rather than just the costwe avoid. Perhaps then our relevanceand significance to the enterprise andits leadership will be transformed aswell. It needs to be!


http://www.norlandmanagedservices.co.uk


“transformational

programmes enable

new ways of working”

2020 Vision is the BBC’s response tothe challenge of matchingaccommodation needs andresources, together with getting bothstrategy and implementation right.

Designed as a long-term vision forestate transformation, the 2020 Visionprocess is now well over half way –and we are successfully delivering onits goals. The process aims to bring the BBC’sproperty portfolio into line with theCorporation’s strategic objectives ofbecoming a more open organisationand one that has a betterengagement with its audiences. Theproperty and facilities contribution tothis lies in reducing the scale of theestate and improving the quality ofthe accommodation. This is aforward-thinking strategy whichidentifies ways in which the BBC

property estate can become moreappropriate to a rapidly evolving BBC.

This vision is being delivered througha combination of significantrationalisation and efficiencymeasures involving acquisition, newdevelopment, refurbishment anddisposal transactions. The BBC hadbuilt up a large estate over its historyand this programme aims to reducethat by more than 30%. This willrelease capital back to the BBC tofund program making. Alongsidethis, we have completely revampedand streamlined our entire supplychain into a cost-efficient andfocused team with a small number ofstrategic partners.

The strategy to deliver this vision isbased on five key principles:

• Flexibility: property must not constrain the BBC’s freedom to change• Technology: property must be ableto cope with technological needs ofthe future without expensivereconstruction• Talent: accommodation must offerattractive working conditions, in acompetitive market for talent • Audience: as we are funded by thelicence fee, our buildings mustwelcome the public and link withcommunities• Cost: strategies must help the BBCsave money.

Status at March 2012We are well underway in deliveringour vision with a number of majorprojects either complete or in the finalstages.

After one of the most challenging andambitious construction projects everundertaken by the BBC, the W1 projectis now open for business and partiallyoperational. We have started the move-in process - World Service is leaving itshistoric home in Bush House and thefirst battalions are now broadcasting tothe world from their new home. BBCNews will start their move fromTelevision Centre later this year.

New Broadcasting House, as this sitewill be known, is a complex project,not least due to logistical problems ofbeing in the city centre, the Grade IIlisted status of the original buildingand the fact that two tube lines rundirectly underneath it – not to mentionthe challenge of bringing togethersuch a diverse group of BBCactivities. On completion it will meanthat for the first time all the BBC’snational and international radio,television and online news serviceswill be under one roof. Throughcreative and collaborative thinking ontechnologies and resilience, NewBroadcasting House has provided amuch more efficient and effective useof space, providing big savings forthe Corporation.

09 Property: how to be a good juggler in a tough market Chris KaneHead of Workplace, BBC

“we have to

encourage people to

work in new ways in

order to use less space,

to share technologies

and to work

collaboratively”

Another success story helping todrive us closer to achieving our visionis mediacity:uk.

Approximately 2000 BBC staff arealready working from this new centrein Salford, including 6Music,Children’s and Sport. Staff movedfrom the BBC’s old home inManchester, Oxford Road, which wasthen subsequently sold. In addition, alarge number staff moved fromTelevision Centre in London.

Mediacity:uk has successfullyprovided a highly visible BBC centrefor audiences and visitors and aflexible and effective place to work, aswell as establishing a creative hub inthe north of England.

Along with these large projects, thereare a number of smaller projectswhich involve exiting leases andselling freeholds, where possible, inorder to consolidate the BBC intomore efficient and effective hubs.

However, collocating teams does notnecessarily automatically produceefficiencies. We have to encouragepeople to work in new ways in order touse less space, to share technologiesand to work collaboratively.

The way forward A number of challenges face theBBC, and it is these that lie behind theneed for this estate transformation.We need to achieve 20% cost savingsin a constrained economy andproperty market. In order to do this,we need to substantially reduce thespace we occupy. At the beginningof the 21st Century the BBC estateexceeded 600,000m². We’recommitted to reducing this by175,000m² by 2017 (including

Television Centre), which is areduction of approximately 30%. By 2020, we will attempt to reducethis by a further 100,000m², leavingus with 315,000m². This is almost a50% reduction overall.

To achieve these targets, projects arerequired which involve moving largeamounts of people and technology,encouraging people to work in newways - and, of course, as we are abroadcasting company, we need todo all of this while ensuring we stayon air.

These are not just property projects.They are transformationalprogrammes that enable new ways ofworking. The key to successfullydelivering them is the introduction offlexible working to foster workplaceefficiency, together with proactiveportfolio management.

On the first point, workplaceefficiency, we are moving the BBCfrom having one workstation for everyperson to having one workstation forevery 1.3 people. We will aim toincrease this further to 1.5.

On the second point, proactiveportfolio management, there will beno net additions to the BBC estate.The key driver in the future isrationalisation and in order to have asmaller estate, this needs to bemanaged proactively at an estateportfolio programme level, rather thanas individual workplace projects.

We are already well underway indelivering on our aims and willcontinue to learn lessons fromprevious projects, as well as seekinginnovative solutions to drive forwardand achieve the BBC 2020 Vision.



“we should be adding

demonstrable value to

our customers’ business

outcomes”

The images being presented to usacross our media, on an almost dailybasis, depict a world where chaos, inone form or another, is now the norm.From the Blackberry-transmitted ArabSpring to stark images of a five-yearlong austerity-fatigued Greekpopulation, the images tells us all thatthe world is going throughunprecedented and almost certainlyirreversible change.

The recessionary pressure deliveredglobally by these austere times hasimpacted extremely negatively on thevalues and behaviours of procuringcustomers in the engagement offuture supply chain partners and hasseen them retreat to the behaviours ofthe 1990s where contracting was costfocused, adversarial andcharacterised by little value forcustomer or supplier communities. Inwhat many call the ‘Information Age’we appear to have learnt nothing.

We are an industry that knows the costof everything and the value of nothing.

The rise of the cost-cuttersToo many procurement exercises areheld for invalid or inappropriatereasons, carried out by direct andindirect agents with vested interests inoutcomes which all too often defeatthe strategic intent. Every loweconomic cycle will see a rise ofindependent ‘expert advisors’ or

procurement specialists with a trackrecord of reducing costs andinvariably damaging businessoutcomes, souring relationships andundermining the very trust we all seekto foster. Too frequent are the storiesof customer contactless projects, withinaccurate and scant information;outlandish risk transfer aspirations;site visits on roller skates; three weeksto bid. However, it is the rise of theweb-based procurement exercisewhich has the most damaging effecton outcomes.

We are an industry involved in themanagement of customer assets andresources. We should be drivingvalue through our customers’ corebusiness, adding demonstrable valueto their business outcomes. Is thistransformation of inputs into efficientoutputs achieved through thesophisticated method taught inmanagement training programmes?Have we taken the inputs andtransformed them incrementally intoagreed outputs for our customerswho are now operating on a globalperformance datum? Or are wemerely doing as we are told?

We are practitioners of amanagement discipline, irrespectiveof its prefacing noun, within which thevalues, behaviours and actions of ourrespective teams should be focusedon the generation of managementinformation from which soundmanagement decisions are taken andvalue is demonstrated. How havethese requirements been captured inrecent procurement exercises? Isappropriate consumer time madeavailable to discuss the achievementof new world outcomes?

The wrong argumentA huge amount of time is invested inthe parochial arguments of how weshould or should not bundle servicesin the achievement of value, or navelgazing into why our profession is notregarded more highly. If this effortwas channelled into the appropriatedefinition and construction ofprocurement processes which wouldidentify common objectives, risks andopportunities, the business outcomesfor our customers would betransformed.

The advent of mechanisms such asBS 11000 will undoubtedly help;however, their introduction andimmersion as the ‘standard’ is someway off, and it will take a very braveperson to introduce such mechanismsagainst the current economiclandscape. And can we blame them?Our industry has not demonstrateditself as a trusted partner.

Indeed we must challenge whetherwe as an industry are ready toengage with our customers on theseintellectual levels with the maturityand objectivity required forsuccessful outcomes; or are wecontent to continue to play theabhorrent game of arbitrage?

In seeking to break the chicken/eggconundrum we must considerwhether any customers are braveenough to embrace the challenges ofstructure and function, process andprocedure and we must encouragethem to ask, are we the bestorganisation to provide thisfunction/outcome with theseprocesses and procedures, and ifnot, how do we find the rightorganisation that is?

Paul Crilly10 Procurement: defining what you need and how to get it

All too often the process ofprocurement is seen as the panaceato a wealth of organisational andprocedural weaknesses that haveresulted in inefficient and ineffectiveservice and that have failed to beaddressed by successivemanagement teams hamstrung bypolitics and tradition.

New modelsWe must be clear that in the bravenew world, governed by globalcompetitiveness and exponentiallyincreasing information demands,there is no place for these behaviours.If you are a service provider waitingon change, the waft of air on yourshoulders is those agile organisationsthat have realised this, sought toengage and challenge customers,breaking down barriers andtransforming outcomes, as they runpast you. They are not waiting for you.Whilst the bulk of our industry isengaged in parochial bundlingstrategy discussions, some disruptiveforward-thinking theories are beingintroduced. The advent of mutualorganisations within mainstreamcontracting will present majorchallenges for businesses whoseprevious employee relationsexperience was more defensive thanproactive, who struggled to considerthem as a stakeholder and wouldnever have considered them asshareholders. Mutuals are not newand we have a lot to learn from thismature sector where total income isaround £90bn annually. Thecombined service provider My CSP isa real example of the serious intent ofthe UK government to deploy thismechanism, and with a long-termfunding challenge stretching yearsinto the future this disruption is here to

stay. No doubt other derivatives ofthese models will also be introducedas the private sector works out how toextract value from such concepts.

A notable feature in theaforementioned chaos is informationtransmission. In the future, theseinformation technologies willrevolutionise our industries. For asector just starting to use its CAFM asslightly more than a helpdesk and itsBMS as more than a time-clock, wehave some evolving to do. There isnow little excuse for a lack ofworkforce connectivity andinformation availability, save for theone where the procurementmanagers seek to remove theseinvestments ‘as a saving’. We mustembrace game-changingtechnologies and embrace thepersonnel who use them instinctivelyfor the betterment of the outcome.Too many people are only too willingto cite data protection or intellectualproperty rights as barriers toimplementation. Whilst we must beclosely mindful of adherence to thislegislation, approached appropriatelythey are not barriers to achievementof real efficiencies. For those whowait, the internal financialstakeholders have some powerfultools at their disposal.

Data analytical tools are alreadyoffering customers data miningcapabilities unavailable only a fewshort years ago, and these will driveour behaviours going forward. As anindustry we cannot wait for AuditorCo. to tell your customer that CrillyPlumbing also does electrical work foryou but you have coded it incorrectly. In a world where traditionally the FMbudget has been the default

destination of unknown costs, orproject completion gap funding,clarity is coming.

Radical overhaulAs we see our world evolving beforeus, we must rise to the challenge ofmaintaining our competitivenessagainst the new global datum. Wemust challenge the organisation andfunction of our customer as an entityand establish our rightful place withinthat organisation on equitable status.It is difficult to see how we canachieve this without a radical overhaulof why, when and how we procure ourservices.

The future presents a world withgreater customer/supplier/communityinteraction and integration, and wemust learn these new ways. Enablingthis will be widespread sharingtechnologies, and we must embracethese whilst attracting talentedindividuals for whom sharing issecond nature.

As the use of technologies increasesand greater transparency is created,this will in turn create themanagement platforms for decisionmaking that will see buildingownership profiles shortenconsiderably, building use profilesalter dramatically and the workerplaced firmly as the focus of supportwherever they are. The future is notworkplace, it is workforce; a multi-stakeholder, potentially shareholding,but very mobile workforce.


http://www.swg.com


“the future of FM will

be about more than

just managing the

building envelope”

The workspace has undergonedramatic change during the lastdecade, but this is as nothingcompared to how ‘new ways ofworking’, new organisationalstructures and telecommuting willimpact the work environment as weknow it in the near future. Thiscontinued change will significantlyimpact the demand for newworkspaces and hence it will impactthe facilities management industry.Four megatrends are the primarydrivers behind this change: the rise ofknowledge workers, the burst of newtechnology, Generation Y entering thejob market and globalisation.

New ways of working arecharacterised by being creativeproject-based work, often group- orteam-based, conducted in multiplelocations, including home and localcoffee shops, and withcommunication tools playing asignificant role. This means that moreoffices will be built with sharedworkstations and drop-in desks, andas flexible rooms with multiplefunctions.

One of the major questions in the FMindustry today is how the facilitiesmanager will seize this opportunityand support the organisation inunleashing the potential that newways of working have to offer. Will FMrespond by working more

strategically, focusing on added valueinstead of playing a pure cost-savings game? And how will itleverage technology?

No doubt, in the future, FM will beabout more than just managing thebuilding envelope. The function of FMmust grow into information provision,focus on space utilisation andsupport of the core business of theC-suite via a unique and compellingvalue proposition.

These demands can only be met byFM through careful selection of, andstrategic alignment with, externalsuppliers who can access the latestdevelopments and international bestpractices, as well as utilisingresources to focus on what is core forthe company, including how to attractand retain talent for the future.Outsourcing will naturally play a keyrole in this.

11 International trends: learning from others Andrew Price - Group Senior Vice President - Head of Global Corporate ClientsPeter Ankerstjerne - Group Marketing Director, ISS World Services

“the right FM partner

will secure continuous

workspace

optimisation and

access to the latest

developments and best

practices”

The changing face of FMThe mega-trends driving change willimpact facilities management in atleast seven ways:

1. Proactive strategic partnerships.Workplace strategy is about usingspace more efficiently and effectivelyto the benefit of all stakeholders. Itmust be aligned with the overallcompany strategy.

2. Focus on value creation. FM hashistorically focused too much oncosts and too little on value. Cost willcontinue to dominate the agenda but,by shifting focus to value, will be moreabout FM seeing its mission as morestrategic and broader than previously.

3. Sustainability is an importantstrategic topic, as buildings accountfor almost 40% of global energy use.FM responsibilities in sustainabilityare increasing, and the pressure todeliver will increase.

4. Better use of space. Spaceutilisation rates can be increased byadopting new workspace designssuch as flexible workstations, adistributed workplace strategy and amobile workplace strategy.

5. Leverage technology. FM must usetechnology to make theseworkplaces/spaces efficient andeffective by evaluating andembracing all available and emergingtechnologies.

6. Becoming information providers.The vast amount of data on buildingsand employees will make FM able tomap visually who interacts withwhom, where they interact, how longthey work together, how they moveand speak, and how comfortable theyare during their interactions.

7. Personalised service. FM mustmove focus away from servicingbuildings to supporting workspaces,and this will require a morecustomised, personalised service tosatisfy customers’ specific needs.

These pressures that facilitiesmanagement (and corporate realestate) face can only be satisfiedthrough the support of, and alignmentwith, an organisation’s externalsuppliers. Finding the right FMpartner will secure continuousworkspace optimisation and accessto the latest developments and bestpractices, as well as unleashingresources to focus on what is core forthe company.


http://www.titanelevators.co.uk


“marketing,

positioning and

branding are always

forward-looking”

The role of a marketing andcommunications function is to supportthe strategic direction of anorganisation. It needs to understand thestrategy and make sure that it iscommunicated in the simplest way to allstakeholders, across all forms of media.

In simple terms, the vast majority ofbusinesses have a strategy that istrying to achieve sustainable profitablegrowth. The choice is around whatstrategic direction the organisation willtake. It can concentrate on doing whatit does in its current markets everyday, and make sure that it’s the best itpossibly can be. Or it can addadditional skills and address newmarkets, or even transform itself intosomething completely different. Buteither way, it will be planning for long-term success.

There is no right answer for corporatestrategy, in FM or any other sector. It isjust as valid to be a local single servicecleaning provider or a global integratedFM business. The key is to be the verybest at what it decides to do. There isplenty of room for successfulbusinesses of all shapes and sizes.

The way that a business is perceivedin its market, together with itsreputation, is influenced by its brand,how it positions itself and how itmarkets itself.

The power of brandA business’s brand defines who it is– this is made up of values,behaviours, ethics and culture. Itdoesn’t change much over time andis hard to shift because it’s part ofthe corporate DNA. It’s made upentirely of the organisation’s peopleand the products and services that itprovides. Some businesses, such asApple, have a brand that is totallyformed by the innovative quality of itsproducts. For others, like Virgin, it'sall about customer service.

How a business positions itself iswhat makes an organisation stand outfrom its competitors. It’s thecombination of the way services areprovided and the brand values thatare attached. The positioning willalways evolve as markets andservices change to enable theorganisation to differentiate and stayahead of the competition.

The power of communicationTo promote the positioning of thebusiness, it needs to work out whichstakeholder groups should betargeted and then use the mostappropriate media channels to marketto them and communicate with them.Doing this in an integrated way sothere is consistency across allchannels is vital for success. In recentyears, it has become clear that therehas been a significant shift in theimportance of different channels in themarketing mix, with online methodssuch as websites, email, social mediaand search engines right at the top ofthe list when it comes to budgets, andmore traditional forms of print, radioand TV advertising losing out.

It should not be underestimated justhow dominant social media is

becoming; it will rapidly not be anoption to ignore social media if anorganisation wants to be able tocommunicate effectively with itsstakeholders. What is interesting isthe current mismatch of skills inorganisations with a greater skill basein advertising and a skills gap in allforms of social media.

The implications of this areconsiderable. Where not so long agomarketing consisted of calling yourlist of contacts from your own littleblack book, these days customerrelationship management systemslike salesforce.com are holding allcustomer data across organisations.Now information is no longerpersonal, it belongs to everyone.

The point about marketing,positioning and branding is that it’salways forward-looking, so work donenow will have an impact on the future.It is important to project where abusiness is going so that it can beunderstood by the stakeholders. It isalso important to keep the messagesintegrated so that everyone has thesame understanding at the sametime. As marketing channelsconverge and the speed of responserequired for social mediaengagement increases, having anintegrated team that covers internaland external communications will bean advantage.

And finally, in a world where speed ofcommunication is unprecedented(and reputation can be made orruined by ‘word of mouse’), wouldn’t itbe nice if Twitter could be used formore things in FM. Think how manytrees could be saved if tenders weredone online in 140 characters or less.

12 Marketing, positioning, branding: how do we do it? John TellingGroup Corporate Affairs Director, MITIE


“social media is a

fundamental shift in

the way that we

communicate”

The social media revolution is afundamental shift in the way that wecommunicate, and it is affectingeveryone. An important part of onlinemarketing and PR strategies forbusinesses in all industries andsectors, many FM organisations nowrealise that they have no option but toembrace this.

Within the FM industry, organisationsare increasingly using social media tocommunicate more fully withcustomers, improve their brandawareness and generate more salesleads via social networking sites suchas Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

We work with businesses from a widerange of industries and sectors inorder to ensure that their social mediaactivity is closely aligned with theiroverall business objectives. Werecommend that every organisationgives full consideration to the ways inwhich social media can specificallyhelp them to achieve their marketingobjectives; for instance, raising brandawareness or changing brandpositioning. Such objectives can betranslated into messages that youwish to convey over the multiplecompany social media profiles.

As briefly mentioned above, there aremany ways in which facilitiesmanagement organisations andprofessionals can use the varioussocial media platforms to enhancetheir business activity. For instance,many FM organisations are usingsocial media to communicate withclients and prospects, demonstrateexpertise, post industry and companynews and hold competitions.

All of this activity helps to build brandawareness, enhance existingrelationships & build new ones.

Another important audience for the FMindustry to connect with is the press.There are a number of key industrypress active on social media,especially on Twitter.

Connecting with industry press oversocial media can be particularlybeneficial for a number of reasons.Firstly, it is another way in which yourmarketing/public relations teams canbuild relationships with influentialjournalists. Secondly, industry pressfrequently use social media to requestcontributions to upcoming featureswithin their publications. Finally, whenthe publication does post news whichis of relevance to your company, youcan build this into your onlineconversations to add credibility.

The potential to position keyspokespeople, and an entireorganisation, as thought leaders isalso very important for the FMindustry. For example, opendiscussion groups on LinkedIn allowprofessionals to lend comment to awide range of industry topics.

Increasing your reach far beyond thatof your connections, groups such asthis facilitate thought provoking onlineconversations, which can in turn beused to demonstrate the expertise ofan individual professional or an entireorganisation. Frequently, these onlinegroups are closely linked to offlineevents, therefore representing anopportunity to build a substantialnetwork of contacts.

13 Communication in FM: is social media the future? Katie KingManaging Director, Zoodikers Consulting


“social media

represents a

revolution”

Planning your strategySo, what makes a good social mediastrategy? This all depends on whatyou are trying to achieve.

Firstly, a well-structured social mediaengagement strategy should possessa central creative concept which canbe deployed across differentplatforms. This does not mean thatyou should be duplicating contentacross the social media platforms,rather that you should decide upon acentral ‘campaign’ idea and that allplatforms should echo this.

Also, as mentioned, the strategyshould be clearly linked to widerbusiness goals. It should be clear asto how you expect social mediaactivity to help you to achieve overallbusiness and marketing objectives.For example, is your target market onsocial media? Could LinkedIn beanother way to maintain relationshipswith your existing clients, thereforebuilding brand advocacy andincreasing the likelihood of referrals?

Finally, ensure that your social mediastrategy includes evaluation andmeasurement information. Socialmedia is measurable, but it isimportant to ensure that you are notsimply measuring vanity metrics suchas ‘number of likes or followers’. Whilstthis is indicative of how many peopleare receiving the messages that youare pushing out online, it is not enoughwhen examined in isolation.

Facebook pages and LinkedIn groupsboth come with their own analytictools, enabling you to view data onunique page views, potential organicreach and membership numbers.Twitter, however, does not have its ownanalytic tools and therefore requiressome clever measurement. For

instance, consider setting up alanding page specifically for websitevisitors that have come from Twitter.You can also look at the analytics foryour website to ascertain whatpercentage of traffic has originatedfrom Twitter. Furthermore, you canlook at the number of activelygenerated tweets, number of retweetsand URL links to gain an overall viewof engagement via the platform.

As the various social media platformsevolve, it is likely that themeasurement and evaluation toolsavailable will also go from strength tostrength. Social media will not deliverresults overnight, but you will certainlystart to see results from around month3 of your campaign.

One final point of note is that ofprotecting your FM organisation andemployees in their use of socialmedia. It is of great importance thatyour company has a social mediapolicy in place which states whatemployees can and cannot say aboutthe company online. Furthermore,contracts of employment shouldinclude relevant clauses for those whohave access to company social mediapolicies. This should not only be fornew members of staff, but should alsobe added to existing contracts.

To conclude, social media representsa revolution. Never before has the FMindustry, or any other industry, beenable to approach journalists,prospects, partners and suppliers sodirectly. The various social mediaplatforms offer a cost-effective way ofmarketing your business, deliveringcustomer service and much more.Many statistics suggest that socialmedia is now something that nobusiness can afford to ignore, if theywish to secure a profitable future.

http://uk.issworld.com


“communication

between buyers and

suppliers is in danger

of taking a backward

step”

Of the many changes we have seenwithin the turmoil of the FM marketover the last few years, perhaps theleast widely foreseen was the changein the procurement arrangements forservices. With so much attentionfocused on the evolution of deliverymodels, it wasn't highlightedstraightaway that the relationshipbetween client and supplierorganisations has been changing.

FM is a simple business, stillemerging as a discrete discipline,and despite my urgings to make aquest for elegant simplicity whereform follows function, theprocurement of this simple set ofservices is becoming ever morecomplex, and not to anyone's benefit.Despite the advent of an array ofcommunication channels that werebarely imaginable even ten years ago,communication between buyers andsuppliers is in danger of taking abackward step, burying practicalhands-on disciplines in a war ofwritten words.

Back in the Eighties, suppliers formedrelationships with their clients throughface to face interactions. Tradeshows, industry functions, games ofgolf. They spent time together, gettingto know one another’s businesses,and as we were all told in the adverts,

‘it’s good to talk’. However, it wasdifficult for new suppliers to break intothese close relationships, andsometimes they became toocomfortable to achieve best value forthe client organisations.

Then along came the PublicProcurement Directives. This set oflegislation was the first piece of lawapplying in England that prescribedthe buying process itself (principallyour law in respect of buyers andsellers relates to the contract itself,howsoever it is reached). Fortunatelyfor the commercial world, it onlyapplied to the public sector. Boomtimes meant that the commercialsector could not get enough ofoutsourcing as businesses grew, andthe FM suppliers grew alongside.

A new worldNow under the grey clouds ofrecession or zero growth, costreduction and the hunt for value are atthe top of the agenda for allorganisations public and commercial.One unforeseen fall-out from this hasbeen the rise in influence of theprocurement function withinorganisations. Those clients uponwhom suppliers have lavished time,attention and sporting events are notbuying their own services any more.They have been relegated to‘technical specifiers’ with a place onthe evaluation panel, and the processis led by the procurement team.

Procurement people do not want toplay golf, or come to our FMconferences or bond with us over abeer - we have to communicate withthem in a different way. That way isthe formalised procurement process,which nowadays includes a first-stage request for information,

followed by a lengthy tender typicallyinvolving many thousands of wordsof written text, financial breakdownsand presentations. Frequently thewhole document is submittedthrough an electronic portal, withquestions fired into faceless boxes,and perhaps an information daywhere the whole of your market turnsup in an attempt to glean some ofthe touch-sensitive information aboutthe organisation. Most of theevaluation process becomes a focuson how well organisations can writeabout what they do.

It does not matter whether we thinkthis is wise; whether it’s a sensible wayto choose important service partnerswho are an essential ingredient of ourworkplaces, our productivity, ourbrand; whether it is the best way toachieve best value and forge effectiverelationships. Buyers are having theirmoment in the sun: the situation looksunlikely to change in the short tomedium-term, so any time spentagitating for the process to change istime that could more fruitfully be spenton honing your organisation’stendering techniques.

If an organisation was going to startdoing business in a newgeographical marketplace, significantresearch would be undertaken into allelements of that market, includinglanguage, culture, business practicesand customs. The same should alsobe true when identifying newinfluencers, specifiers and spenderswithin customer organisations. Ifbuyers seem to be speaking a foreignlanguage, learn it or enlist the help ofan interpreter. Talk about the thingsthat interest them. Ask yourselves‘what have we got that they want toknow about?’.

14 Bridging the gap: Communication Between Clients and Suppliers Lucy JeynesManaging Director, Larch Consulting

Introduction

“it comes back to

communication –

speak the same

language. Even in the

age of tenders and

Twitters, it’s still good

to talk”

Raising your gameMost FM service providers wouldprivately agree that one of their keypriorities in the current tough marketis to raise their game on tendering.Three of the most common mistakeswe see from bidders at the momentare:

Not allowing enough timeOften the time commitment tocomplete a bid thoroughly isunderestimated at the start, andorganisations are running to playcatch-up, barely completing thedocument before the deadline.Ideally, enough time should beallowed to get a second opinion (fromsomeone within another team in yourcompany or an expert) and hone thebid until you feel confident it presentsyour company in the very best light inrespect of this particular opportunity.Nothing feels as bad as knowing youhave not done your business justice.

Not following the instructionsThis sounds obvious, and yet is one ofthe main reasons why organisationsdrop marks in a bid. A rigorouschecking process needs to be inplace to match up each part of eachquestion to a correctly formattedanswer. It is all too common forevaluators to assess harshlyquestions beginning ‘list’ which donot contain a list, or questions askingfor specific information, eg financialstatements, which is not included.

Not trying hard enoughTender documents are not anexercise in cutting and pasting.Where a contract is being placed formillions of pounds-worth of work, as

is commonly the case in our sector, itis surely not too much to expect someoriginal work to be undertaken toconvince this important prospectiveclient that your organisation is thebest partner for them right now. Oftenbids are submitted that are clearlypatched together by sharing out thequestions, and knocked up within ashort space of time. Documents thatlook like a first draft are sent in a finalsubmission that looks unfinished,unstreamlined and with visible joins.This is not the way to present aseamless, unified FM service.

And what can the buyers do from theirside, should they wish to improvecommunication with their FMsuppliers? The process is there tosupport you; you are not there tosupport the process. Make yourprocess work for you and not theother way around.

Focus on the fact that theprocurement process should enablethe market to make its best offer, andgive the opportunity for organisationsto articulate their competitive position;their differentiating features andbenefits; their unique proposition;their best price. Ask imaginativequestions to draw these out.

And finally, buyers and FM providersboth have a vested interest inensuring the client achieves servicesthat meet their expectations. Workingin a collaborative rather than anadversarial dialogue pays dividends.It comes back to communication –speak the same language. Even in theage of tenders and Twitters, it’s stillgood to talk.


http://www.shredit.co.uk

Introduction


Meeting customerneeds...

Facilities management must bemore flexible in what it offers andmore closely engaged with thecustomer to ensure it delivers what isneeded. This is the key to protectingthe value in FM.

FM’s future lies in taking up theopportunity to add real value toorganisations – and to be seendoing so.

Engaging end users early andappropriately – in planning,decisions and implementation – isalways a critical success factor.

This is increasingly a world oftransformational programmes thatdemand the introduction of flexibleworking to foster workplaceefficiency together with proactiveproperty portfolio management.Senior-level buy-in to the strategy isessential to success.

Closer alignment betweenorganisations and their supplychains on goals, objectives andstrategies is vital.

Rising to the propertychallenge...

We must focus on how wemaintain our buildings, how we canoccupy and manage them insustainable ways.

FMs must be prepared to play anincreasingly important role inimproving building performance.

Organisations are thinking morebroadly about workplace issues,pushed by global economicconditions. FMs must ensure theyunderstand the property, human,cultural, technological and economicfactors in order to respondeffectively.

There are no ‘one size fits all’answers. Solutions must be tailoredto buildings and user requirements.

Securing buy-in and educatingthe people on the ground is criticalfor success in change initiatives,especially in energy saving. Withoutthe cooperation of buildingoccupants, new systems andprocesses can easily fail.

Protecting and growingthe FM business...

The rules have changed: facilitiesmanagement faces a new ‘normal’ interms of both the marketplace andcustomer needs and expectations.We must embrace these changesand ensure the discipline movesahead positively.

It is imperative that the FMindustry remains on top oftechnology developments andevolving new ways of working toensure we stay competitive. This hasdefinite implications for our skillsdevelopment programmes.

FM technology should be seenas a long-term businessinvestment, not as a quick-fix.Careful evaluation of needs andpotential solutions is critical.

A major question for FM is howthe industry will respond totechnological, social and culturalchange – by supportingorganisations to unleash thepotential, becoming more strategicand focused on added value; or bysticking to the cost savings agenda.

A growing commodity view of FMindicates a procurement strategy inwhich the emphasis is on cost,threatening our value as realcontributors to organisationalsuccess.

Communicatingeffectively...

Your brand and what it stands foris constantly being assessed rightacross the marketplace. Getting themessage right, and ensuring it isreinforced consistently, is in yourhands.

Social media offers hugepotential to FM companies tocommunicate directly withcustomers, suppliers and other keygroups. It may seem to bring somerisk; but so does ignoring it.

Despite all the change in themarketplace – and indeed becauseof it in many cases – effectivecommunication remains a vital skillfor FMs.

Getting your message acrosssuccessfully will only work if youwork at it.

15 Conclusions, lessons & advice

Facilities Management Mobile Software Solution

For case studies, webinars & articles on mobile technology in Facilities management visit www.totalmobile.co.uk

TotalMobile’s Mobile Working solution improves the productivity of remote workers like repairs operatives,cleaners, inspectors and security personnel. It’s flexible to suit a diverse range of job roles, making it the idealsolution for facilities management. The solution is available on a wide range of different mobile devices.

TotalMobile replaces paperwork to connect remote workers directly to their back office systems. They can;· Obtain a schedule of their jobs for the day· Fill out forms, capture signatures and photos· Access information like equipment manuals, case histories and other documentation

The benefits· More “First-time-fixes”· Cut down on travel to and from the office or depot· Reduce administration· Increased efficiency and productivity· More jobs completed per day. · Significant cost savings

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http://www.totalmobile.co.uk

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Facilities Management: new needs. new solutions 6362 Facilities Management: new needs. new solutions

16 Acknowledgements

www.workplace-futures.co.uk

This White Paper grew out of the

Workplace Futures conference

series.

Each conference programme since

the launch of the series in 2007 has

tackled a different issue in the FM

sector; but an underlying theme

throughout has been the

comparatively low 'name

recognition' that continues to

characterise facilities management,

along with the associated tendency

toward under-appreciation of the

value it both represents and

contributes to UK plc.

www.i-FM.net

Workplace Futures is organised

each year by i-FM, the

award-winning web-based news

and information service catering to

the needs of the facilities

management community.

Updated every business day, the

site delivers a unique service -

easily accessible, fully searchable

and highly topical.

The pioneer when it was

established more than a decade

ago, i-FM is still the only online

resource an FM needs.

www.fmassociation.org.uk

Workplace Futures is supported by

the Facilities Management

Association (FMA):

The FMA is the only trade body for

employers in the FM sector, and

works for its continued growth and

development. FMA member

companies have a collective annual

turnover of more than £40bn and

employ more than 500,000 people

across the UK.

If you’re in FM, you need to be on i-FM.


If you don’t have access to the site - then please sign up at:

www.i-FM.net/signup

http://www.workplace-futures.co.uk

http://www.i-fm.net

http://www.fmassociation.org.uk

http://www.i-fm.net/signup