Overview
The current situation has fortunately, or unfortunately, given the FM service providers that rare chance of being at the very front news these days, shying, showcasing, implementing know how methods, readiness plans and tests, etc. to the extreme limits.
Overall, the response has been great with many signs of appreciations and acceptance from the client’s point of view.
Although, we have rightfully earned an equal seat from the board’s point of view, our journey is just about to get even harder.
Clients and their board alike have finally acknowledged and strategically accepted the fact that for their survival, it is paramount that they focus solely on core related business and matters.
However, by shifting non-core functions away, their expectation on quality, cost, sustainability, governance, etc. will become even greater.
From the client’s point of view, they will settle for “nothing but the best”.
And, from our point of view, we have only two options available which are to “either get it right or get it wrong”.
Of course, the logical wish is to always get it right. But, to get it right, we need to get out of this small, narrative world created and think beyond every possibility available out there.
As the purpose of this article suggests, the key is to successfully create that right synergy amongst FM players and partners alike out there.
Let us put it simply, we are living in a fast-moving environment. Adapting to these rapid changes, courtesy of internal and external factors which are simply beyond our limits to predict or manage, pose huge challenges to all of us.
We know that we are solely in charge of non-core functions, we know client’s expectations, we know the trends, we know geographical demand and so on.
So, we might think that some magic answers might be to expand our operations across the world, adopt or develop latest tech, etc.
Well, we can say for sure that these magic answers are partially true.
Let us take our first example “Expansion Strategy”.
Logically, we must be able to offer services across the world as or if required. Therefore, having presence and operations everywhere world would be the natural step on the drawing board.
However, country or area laws, compliance and regulations, labor laws, resource availability, general business environment landscape, local competition and practices, infrastructure, etc. are not easy straight forward to plan or anticipate.
We are not saying that this is impossible. We can of course operate everywhere from east to west or north to south.
However, the cost of doing so will be high with many uncontrollable overheads spiking out of control. In return, such costs will inevitably reflect negatively in our books and margins.
We can of course avoid this fate and pass costs over to the client. But by doing so, our services would be less competitive from the commercial point of view.
Now, let us take the second example of “Adopt or Develop New Tech”.
The new tech is already here and revolutionizing everything in the way. It means that we are no exemption to this phenomenon and adapting to these changes is a matter of survival.
We have for quite some time got used to FM systems currently in place like BIMS, CMMS, or other similar systems around. It has helped us on keeping pace with managing KPI’s imposed by the client, on keeping an effective operation in place, management, sustainability, etc.
The next wave of IoT, AI, drones, etc. based services are on the way and it will shape our industry once again.
Robot cleaning, 3d and soon 4d live monitoring platforms as we are there, automatic predictive repairs, self-repair materials, super strong nano-based products, etc. are, or will be the new form of life.
Again, some may assume that we can pour huge amount of our revenue in R&D. But as a matter of fact, we do not have that big pocket in the first place. And even if we do, the experience around has showed us that life expectancy can be very short.
There are already many big high-tech enterprises around proudly showcasing their latest avatar alike products.
So, the most logical step for us would be to embrace the tech available albeit with some specific modifications to suit our needs.
Conclusion
Being part of these big changes happening around us is exciting and challenging at the same time.
IFM and FM industry is going through fundamental changes. Therefore, a multidimensional approach is needed.
Our future direction dictates that we need to learn the language of cooperation, partnership, IoT, AI, Robotics, etc.
And to take care of vital non-core business, we need to have scale, outreach, latest tech and know how in place. To do that, we must create a giant mixed pool of diversity, talent, tech, savings, quality, etc.
We can do it as long as we understand our future, believe in ourselves, in our shared value, goals and vision.
Therefore, it is essential that to survive, bringing all these pieces together under one roof is a must at this point.
MULTIDIMENTIONAL THINKING – TECH – SCALE – GLOBAL ALLIANCE
Welcome to the future!
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