Facilities Management Association

The question mark symbolises the FM industry all too well. There has always been plenty of confusion about what FM actually is and what it does - and worse still - what the benefits really are.

Many outside the industry (and even some within) stll don't understand it fully. If you are an in-house FM, this could include your directors; if you are a service provider, it could be your clients or potential clients. What is FM and how should it be delivered? There are so many service models out there to choose from.

Irrespective of the delivery model – from single-service, through bundled and integrated to TFM – recession has driven customers to focus on cost as never before. Margins, already slim, have been pared away still further. The result is frequently a bare-bones service with little management value-add.

The industry is moving rapidly down the path to commoditisation where services are bought largely ‘off the shelf’ on the basis of cost. Is this the best strategy for customers? Does it meet the needs of providers? Is it what the industry as a whole really wants? 

That’s a bleak picture. But there are some successful relationships standing out in stark contrast; some contracts where trails are being blazed through innovation, collaboration and hard work. FM still has a critical role to play in corporate success – but that message is in danger of getting lost, left behind by the commoditisation freight train, and ultimately that means the demise of facilities management.

If you believe there is more to FM than low-value services; if you want to understand the drivers that are shaping the industry today; if you want to be a part of defining a different future and ensure your partners, clients and suppliers are as well, you need to get involved in Workplace Futures 2011.

Visit the dedicated website for more information and for booking details