Facilities managers are looking for new ideas
Successful relationships between facilities-management companies and their clients is assuming greater importance as the emphasis shifts from a pure cost and service-level focus — according to a survey* commissioned by Interserve and undertaken by Sheffield Hallam University in conjunction with i-FM. 90% of respondents asked for new ideas to be offered by their suppliers during the preparation and management of outsourced contracts.
At the same time, there is a discrepancy between what buyers want in terms of contract innovation and how this is being measured. 68% of those engaged in innovation link it to their strategic objectives, and 86% rank it as important (the second-highest ranking) when evaluating tenders or bids — but only 24% actually list it as a requirement in their contracts.
The study surveyed 227 private- and public-sector buyers and providers from across the UK. Objectives for outsourcing remain similar to 2012 — with financial savings (72%), access to better technical expertise (64%), transfer of risk (59%), access to best practice (56.5%) and reduction of in-house staff (56%) all scoring highly.
However, while results from 2012 show that reducing costs was more important than quality, the latest report predicts that value for money will come from a great emphasis on innovation, service quality and customer satisfaction.
The report also rates longer-term contracts of over three years as more preferable in the majority (91%) of cases in helping organisations achieve their objectives. Communication (76%) and working together as a team (76%) were ranked as the top areas for joint buyer and supplier improvement.
Commenting on the findings, Bruce Melizan, executive director at Interserve said: ‘Previous surveys concluded that the industry has been focused on taking out cost, but this year there has been a subtle shift towards finding ways of delivering services differently. Although some customers are still unwilling to rank issues like innovation at the top of their priority list when outsourcing, it is increasingly seen as a vital part of service delivery.
‘The other significant trend is the value placed on building longer-term contracts. In 91% of cases these are seen to provide more benefits than shorter-term contracts in building relationships.’
*The key findings of ‘Time for a change in facilities management’ can be downloaded from the link below