The Catch-22 of Facilities Management

In today's financial crisis, budgets are being slashed and panic seems to be ruling over reason in many cases. Regardless of any financial crisis, the facilities management of buildings is still of utmost importance with fines and mismanagement consequences firmly in place. In our last newsletter Stokes Perna spoke about Essential Safety Measures (ESM)schedules and the importance of having this information up to date. With the release of the Building Regulations 2006 it is now a requirement for all public buildings to have an annual essential safety measures report prepared before 13 June 2009. There is also an additional requirement for buildings constructed prior to 1994 to be issued with an ESM. After this date, all new buildings will have an essential safety measures list as a schedule to their Occupancy Permit. I would say that this will affect every Facilities manager, Property manager & Property owner out there.  It will also create opportunity for every FM service provider.

 

How then, does the savvy Facilities Manager convince his CEO and CFO that regardless of the fact there is no money available, it’s imperative that some is found in order to implement strategies and processes that will eliminate risk and potential litigation? There are two ways:

1.    By presenting a very convincing factual business case

2.    By presenting a convincing business case together with a payment strategy which will not cripple the organisation.

 

So how does the Facilities Manager go about putting this together? The first thing you need to do, is to research the legal consequences of not having a compliant building. You need to have sound facts from reliable sources. This has to be the opening of any good business case. The dollars that your company will be up for if you do not meet your building management legal requirements will far outweigh the cost of implementing the tools to make sure you do.

 

With that little horror story in place and their attention captured, you are ready to talk about the day to day benefits and savings of implementing the system. This is the cream on the cake, it’s appealing and suddenly very appetizing. 

 

We all know that the purchase of a total Infrastructure and Resource Management software system will present a challenge to your staff. A change in business practice will occur and management needs to be confident that the processes and outcomes of implementing a new FM system will outweigh any possible resistance to this change.

 

Demonstrating a business case to a large degree depends upon what you already have and what management areas need to be addressed. However, if you don’t already have a Works maintenance management system, this is the obvious system to put forward as this will help you to meet your legal obligations. Some scenarios and benefits that will support your business case are:

 

Scenario: You can introduce a web based kiosk service for work requests

Benefit: This frees staff from phones so they can get on and do the real job

 

Scenario: You will have automated email sequences

Benefit: This frees staff from constant update request client calls

Scenario: You can now schedule work on assets so staff don't need to remember when to undertake the work
Benefit: This is particularly important from a compliance perspective as it helps ensure you meet legal obligations of the occupancy.

Scenario: All work done in the building(s) is tracked and costs can be recorded to give a full spend on works per annum

Benefit: Budgeting and contract management capability enables you to monitor spend against key areas.

 

Scenario: Asset information such as warranties and service contracts are all centralized in the one system

Benefit: You will no longer pay for work when the asset is under warranty or during defects liability periods.

 

Scenario: A good FM system will allow you to track and manage Energy, water and waste against KPI’s

Benefit: You are reducing sustainability risk, deterring liability and achieving corporate and community objectives.

 

Scenario: ESM management is in place

Benefit: Up to date reports and automated planned maintenance schedules in place on all of the ESM thereby preventing legal problems pertaining to the new building regulations.

 

Scenario: Supplier/contractor management capability

Benefit: Updated accreditation information is within the system, thereby reducing risk of non-compliant contractors.

 

Scenario: Web based solution

Benefit: Enables all staff and contractors to log-in and have a real time update of work status.

 

Scenario: Internal history log

Benefit: Every action is logged with a date and personal identification to enable the tracking of responsibility.

Scenario: Instant reporting or automated reports

Benefit: Up to date instant reports can be automatically scheduled to run at any specified time keeping the relevant staff up to date.

 

 

There are many more scenarios, but these are instant quick results that even the most blinkered of managers can relate to.

 

So, now you’ve got this far with your business plan, you’ve researched what dollars you will liable for if you don’t comply with regulation; you’ve identified some critical quick wins that a system can offer which will appeal to the CEO and now you need to research the perfect software solution for your company.

 

Of course your preferred system needs to be simple to use; easy to implement; flexible to adapt to your business processes; based on up to date platforms to enable it to grow with your changing environment. It must integrate with your current existing business systems and the support must be first-rate and meet your overall company response time requirements. You need a professional proven software partner who takes time to understand your business processes and who can help you to implement change with minimal disruption.

 

Of course you need look no further than FM Innovations, but in many cases you may need to evaluate several software solutions and companies in order to present an unbiased and well researched business case.

Your business case is now almost complete. However there is one more sweetener you can include which will remove any possible barriers on the road to victory. This is the sugar on the top of the cake. Payment incentives.

 

Any forward thinking software provider will be as well rehearsed as you to the consequences of the financial crisis. This is where creative payment is necessary and flexible payment schedules made available to suit your budget. No large upfront financial outlays, just small monthly payments in either a software rental agreement, or a Lease/Purchase agreement. If you can not get the upfront budget you require, regardless of how good your business case is, then take the pain away from the decision makers and show them an alternative payment solution.

 

So yes, it is a Catch-22 that even in a financial crisis, to avoid dire consequences and manage our buildings effectively we need to spend money to save money. However, unlike the official meaning of the phrase, in this case there IS a choice.

 

 

For further information on our software solutions and our flexible payment plans, please contact us directly.

 

Kristiana Greenwood