Webinar summary: Facility Management - Opportunities & threats for managing your buildings

Read the summary report of the September 2024 webinar hosted by François Vanden Hende, Facility Management expert for ERA Group. An Arts et Métiers engineer with over 20 years of experience, François has held positions as Director of Technical Services, Prevention and General Safety, and Buildings at sites that can accommodate tens of thousands of visitors per year. Here, he shares his vision and advice for controlled and optimised building management.

• What is the objective of Facility Management?

To ensure the smooth running of infrastructure and the efficiency of activities by seeking to:

> improve the quality of life of occupants

> increase operational productivity

> while optimising costs

> and complying with environmental and sustainability standards.

Facility Management represents:

£1.6 trillion in global revenue in 2023 - £360 billion in Europe in 2024.

With growth of >10% globally by 2032 and >3.72% in Europe by 2029.

(Data from Global Market Insights and Mordor Intelligence)

• The invisible workers serving the company

The nature of facility management professions is to blend into the background. We only notice them when something goes wrong. However, they represent a very wide range of professions, many of which exist in all structures regardless of their legal status.

• A strategic tool for the company

The SWOT analysis of Facility Management must be taken into account. This allows us to:

• exploit its strengths: Efficiency and productivity - Cost reduction - Compliance and security;
• seize the opportunities associated with changes in this sector: innovative technologies such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence - Sustainability and CSR, given that buildings account for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe - or flexibility with the strong growth of hybrid working since the Covid crisis, which is leading to peaks in footfall on certain days of the week that Facility Management will help to manage.

It is also necessary to:

• take into account its weaknesses: recruitment in these professions remains difficult – initial investments can be significant (in terms of finance, training and long-term knowledge retention) - the high level of complexity inherent in this position (multiple areas of expertise, stakeholders, priorities, very short-term actions and other long-term actions) - and finally, the issue of sovereignty, with the need for the company to monitor and control its services internally;
• anticipating threats: economic pressures and intensified competition between suppliers, leading to inadequate services and, ultimately, significant additional costs - regulatory changes.

• Supporting the company through Facility Management

Facility Management helps to address several issues encountered within organizations:

• In terms of growth and profitability:

It is used to plan expenditure, manage services efficiently (cleaning, security, etc.) and optimise sites from an energy perspective.

• In terms of digital transformation & cybersecurity:

It ensures the security of sensitive facilities, contributes to business continuity, and enables flexible and appropriate use of space.

• In terms of talent management and corporate culture:

It provides teams with a modern, friendly and attractive working environment. It is also a tool for implementing CSR policy (temperature and lighting management, waste management, etc.).

In conclusion

Facility Management is at the heart of the company's operations: it is necessary for the proper functioning of buildings and essential for the comfort of the teams who work there.

It also plays a role in the company's strategy:

By playing a major role in the interconnection of systems, Facility Management is an essential part of the company's risk management strategy and overall strategy. It is the ""heart of the reactor"" of organizations.

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