The Growth to Outsource Facility Operations
According to an article by James McDonald written for iofficecorp, the CBRE sites interest to outsource facility operations as one of the big trends in facility management. By utilizing subcontractors to complete tasks such as those related to facility management, individuals free up more time that can be dedicated to innovation and growth (CBRE).
The 2018 CBRE report created to aid individuals in reaching their objectives through informed management predicts that within the next 5 years, the outsourcing market in facilities management could reach $1 trillion (Maidment, O’Connor).
According to the report summary, this prediction in part comes from the increased need for flexibility as more individuals look for schedules and workspaces that are productively utilized and more accommodating to the individual needs of businesses (Maidment, O’Connor). With more outsourcing will come a learning curve as organizations transition to this model and also in the journey to find contractors who are a good fit for the company’s specific goals.
Increase Collaboration Between the Facility Team and the Outsourced Services
The report’s forward, written by industry leader Ian Entwisle, also introduces the idea that social influences in addition to the integration of technology have been some of the reasoning behind the evolving industry (CBRE). Entwisle states that there is a trend of wanting to build a collaborative partnership that is malleable enough to be altered over time (CBRE). Essentially, as businesses begin focusing more on the user or client experience, they must operate in a way that allows them to quickly maneuver to meet those needs.
The report states that company leaders hope to view service providers as more of an “extension of their team” in order to achieve this goal (CBRE). This relational model lends itself to the need for good fits between clients and service providers.
In order to join forces and establish a positive, productive client/provider relationship, companies can look to digital resources such as efacility for assistance. Tools like efacility that capture the history of a facility allow for easier transition as the need for flexibility increases.
Maintaining Transparency and Quality When You Outsource Facility Operations
One concern for company leaders in relying on outsourcing is the loss of transparency with workers and the oversight of quality control. Additionally, when handing over tasks to independent contractors to outsource the facility operations, there is often a lot of information and history that must be relayed in a short amount of time.
If managers must go through multiple companies to find an appropriate contractor, then much time can be wasted and frustrations can result. If a contract ends, the knowledge gained by the technicians from that particular organization could be lost along with much of the experience gained. That being said, once a stable subcontracting relationship has been established, there are many positives that can come out of the move.
Integrate Digital Tools into Facility Management
In order to mitigate this concern, business owners can integrate digital tools. An article written for Facilitiesnet suggests that clear expectations and goals be established between the business and service providers as well as performance measures and a means for assessing that needs have been met (Friday).
Through the integration of efacility, managers can clearly see that the facility’s expectations of the business are being met. This type of tool can also be utilized to clearly communicate the needs of the business as it would ideally contain a comprehensive peek into the inner workings of the facility’s upkeep.
Resources such as efacility can also help to increase consistency in addition to establishing clear means for communication. Specifically, efacility can help to capture how work has been done in the past to provide new contractors with adequate knowledge to effectively and efficiently complete a task.
The technology also assists with capturing the way in which contractors tackle a task in order to ensure that quality and consistency are maintained. efacility can provide managers and service providers a true opportunity to collaborate. Recently completed tasks can be recorded for future reference and documents can be easily shared and accessed through the application.
Free Up Time When You Outsource Facility Operations
As companies outsource, efacility helps managers to continue to maintain the crucial components of quality and transparency. In an evolving landscape, business leaders can rest assured that utilizing digital tools will free up the time and space to innovate in order to meet the ever-changing needs of consumers.
About Us
Most administrators tasked with management facility operations and maintenance within a fixed budget lack immediate access to all the information they need, organized, and consolidated in one place. At efacility, we help facilities gather, convert, organize, and distribute all of their information, no matter what form it’s in. When you have a proven way to immediately access your facility’s information, you can stay on top of preventative maintenance, respond to requests in minutes instead of hours, and reduce emergencies, all of which will keep costs down and make your boss very happy.
References
CBRE. (2018). Top trends in facilities management 2018 edition: How society, demographics and technology are changing the world of FM. CBRE http://cbre.vo.llnwd.net/grgservices/secure/CBRE%20Top%20Trends%20in%20FM%202018.pdf?e=1595791714&h=46f1bde81d63cb0e11f858afac48a507
Friday, S. (2018, August 28). 4 Strategies for Balancing Facility Outsourcing Quality and Cost. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from https://www.facilitiesnet.com/outsourcing/article/4-Strategies-for-Balancing-Facility-Outsourcing-Quality-and-Cost–17909
Maidment, J., & O’Connor, T. (2018). Top Trends In Facilities Management, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from https://www.cbre.com/research-and-reports/EMEA-Major-Report—Top-Trends-In-Facilities-Management-2018
McDonald, J. (2019, February 4). 10 Facility Management Trends You Need to Know. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from https://www.iofficecorp.com/blog/facility-management-trends-2019
