Facility management (FM) plays a fundamental role in the maintenance of operational efficiency and the well-being of people. As facility managers, it’s crucial to be aware of these FM trends and incorporate them into your business models.
Property owners are always looking for ways to improve the quality of their workplaces. Integrated facilities management benefits not only the built environment but also its building users – this is why IFM is becoming a popular solution. A recent survey of international facility management professionals from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors revealed that Integrated Facility Management (IFM) is becoming a strategic management discipline that is crucial in improving an organization’s productivity and ensuring the well-being of its people.
What are the benefits of Integrated Facilities Management (IFM)?
Integrated facilities management is growing in popularity. When you leverage the power of one provider through IFM the benefits are endless, but let’s highlight 5 real benefits that you can be certain of when you transition to an integrated approach.
IFM saves money and creates value. You can leverage the experience, size, and scale of an integrated facilities management provider to lower overall facility management costs. With multiple vendors managing different components, redundancy and overlap are inevitable – IFM and one dedicated team mean unnecessary spending is easier to identify and so are cost-saving opportunities.
IFM is simply more strategic. At its core, IFM is a consolidative move. It’s designed to bring together people, processes, and technology for operational improvements and competitive advantage. Viewing FM tasks from a strategic lens provides increased visibility on how to deploy more effective, streamlined processes.
IFM drives consistency across the portfolio. It creates a more flexible, scalable delivery model that can be implemented across your portfolio, driving consistency. Subject matter experts are all on the same team, which gives them the ability to share information and use their experience from similar portfolios to recommend industry best practices for your operations.
IFM is proven to improve performance. An IFM approach focuses on outcome-based management. It reduces management complexity allowing you to benefit from a true single point of contact that takes the stress off you. They are accountable for coordinating and accurately monitoring service performance delivery and adherence to the required outcomes set out in the contract.
IFM drives continuous improvement because it focuses on the bigger picture and ensures all tasks are aligned with overall facility goals. You will benefit from improved data, analytics, and reporting that will only get better over time as processes and procedures continue to refine. Sharing best practices across sites also achieves continuous improvement.
Is IFM Worth the Investment?
IFM focuses on the bigger picture and ensures all tasks are aligned with overall facility goals. You will benefit from improved data, analytics, and reporting that will only get better over time as processes and procedures continue to refine. Sharing facility management best practices across sites also achieves continuous improvement.
In a nutshell, outsourcing and streamlining all the facility management activities for one team of experts to perform, you can contain costs, improve overall performance, and free yourself up to focus on your core business responsibilities.
Like with any change it can seem daunting – implementing a new management approach will require planning and preparation but what you can be sure of is that the real benefits of integrated facility management are worth the investment.
Learn more about our integrated facility solutions by contacting us.
