PREPARING FOR THE “NEXT NORMAL”
The last few months have seen a tremendous change in all our personal and business lives. Many industries have changed dramatically and will likely never look the same again. For retail and commercial assets in particular, lower utilisation has applied immense pressure on FM budgets. Leasing has fallen and average office leases have shrunk by 15% in the US alone.
COVID-19 has obviously been a catalyst for massive change. What we have seen as a result of the pandemic is an acceleration into digital transformation for a lot of businesses, along with fundamental changes in revenue streams.
We are all trying to prepare for the “next normal”. As organisations stabilise and reopen, we all must be laser focused on understanding how our customers can grow their businesses. This is driven by how decisions are made, how we work together and how we aim to serve our customers’ customers better.
Ultimately, how do we continue to deliver value? Customers are expecting us to step up and provide them with intelligence they need while they are focusing on reopening and growing their businesses.
One thing that many now require is more flexibility. FMs in healthcare and retail in particular have been asked to take on more of a safety role, managing higher hygiene requirements from cleaning to contact tracing.
From an FM perspective, we need to look at the wider Asset Management picture to seek out these opportunities.
Source: Salesforce.com - Covid-19 Recovery Playbook May 2020.
Source: Salesforce.com - Covid-19 Recovery Playbook May 2020.
INTERSECT OR INTEGRATE?
Industry perception of FM is that it is limited to the functions of Operations and Maintenance. Engagement terms unfortunately lend themselves to a short-term view within these two functions. However, Lifecycle Delivery is central to the wider AM ecosystem as it has key interfaces into Asset Information, Risk, and Strategy and Planning. What’s evident here is Asset Information forms a foundational support across the entire AM model – and various elements of Asset Information often form part of the FM scope. This is the key to larger opportunities for FMs and a genuine route to enabling the entire AM function.
As an intelligence hub, FM fuels decisions across the entire asset lifecycle, in turn practically influencing all AM functions. There is no question of intersection - FM and AM are totally integrated.
Source: Scope of Asset Management, 2014 Institute of Asset Management: www.theIAM.org/copyright
THE FAST EVOLVING FM LANDSCAPE
The FM landscape is rapidly evolving, and customer expectations are changing – daily at the moment. There is a growing demand to be the single source of truth, enabling bi-directional flow of information and intelligence – in particular between lifecycle delivery and other Asset Management functions. This is amplified by the perpetual strain on managing the delicate balance between the asset cost, risk and performance.
So, what’s changed? No longer are we just thinking of Equipment Run hours, but, people movements, dwell time and facility hotspots. No longer are we just considering BMS (Building Management Systems) information, but environmental and comfort intelligence through IoT. The implementation of IoT devices is enabling the measurement and control of energy efficiency and occupant experience.
No longer is the trade-off simply between OPEX and CAPEX, but Lifecycle Intelligence – Informing Asset Capital investments, Lifecycle optimisation, Asset Repurposing and Decommissioning.
No longer is an FM just a Service Provider, but an integrated Partner.
AssetFuture - FM and AM
Data is a fact, it is merely a commodity. The value lies within how we interpret it. This is the intelligence layer that customers really need. Customers are expecting more from all of us, so how can FM and AM better align, step up and lead the industry? How can we take a wider strategic and advisory role?
Imagine if we could get deeply aligned and be the expert our customers need, and enable optimised decision making.
Creating value through the evolution of FM
Getting deeply aligned means understanding the customer’s organisational strategy and integrating teams who are culturally aligned. A good indicator here is when it is difficult to know who the customer is, and who is the FM! Getting this right will create a strong foundation to enable a line-of-sight from strategy all the way through to operational delivery.
Importantly, the industry is looking for experts to take FM (and AM) solutions to the next level. This requires building out the right capability beyond FM, which can leverage technology and information as a strategic asset to expedite customer outcomes.
And finally, it all comes together to optimise decision making. FMs are best placed to be the intelligence hubs for the industry. They can align strategy and generate insights to ultimately manage investments, balancing Cost, Risk and Performance.
Many organisations are already on this journey. Now is a good time for businesses to figure out exactly where they are on that journey and what enablers they need to accelerate change.
What does an integrated future look like?
Our prediction - an integrated, humanised engagement enabled by information and technology. This, of course, may involve AI and automation down the path. Some functions will be replaced, and new functions will be born.
As we emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns, organisations across different industries are realising that they can aspire to much more than simply a safe return to work. McKinsey notes that they want to take what they have learned during the COVID-19 crisis and create a new kind of operational performance. But it warns that "Facilities management leaders can’t simply flip a switch to harness these trends. Some companies will need to adjust their strategy, organisational capabilities, and culture. And considering that a few of these trends are still in their infancy, executives should focus on laying the foundation."
The future is a time when our clients purely focus on their core business. FM Industry players will form central asset intelligence hubs for the asset owner. Data Continuity will be realised, where data and information will be seen as an available resource across the lifecycle of an asset. The point of difference will be how you match your expertise and interpret intelligence to generate exponential value.
So really, the future is a collaboration between Facilities and Asset Management, driving exponential value for our customers.