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1 April 2019 | Ashley Kirk
Outsourced facilities management is continuing to defend itself in the glare of a national spotlight. For this month's Think Tank poll we asked if you think the market is changing to favour smaller providers?
Here is Ashley Kirk's opinion on what he thinks is happening.
In my 12 years in the FM industry I've noticed a swing away from using smaller, local businesses to buying facilities services from the larger, more well-known companies.
It was like buying the big, household brands buyers perceived the big names as synonymous with quality and reliability, and therefore with less risk. This 'safe pair of hands' approach has now shifted away from size and scale, I believe, to expertise.
Clients now look for the experts in their field. They look for FM suppliers that know their service inside out and that have highly trained and experienced staff, as well as having the commitment to invest in and the expertise to successfully apply innovation and technology. And they look for companies that will invest resource into their contract.
For some larger FM companies, this is scalable. Whereas a mid-sized regional business is able to invest in localised management with more time, resource anda keener sense of 'community'.
Ashley Kirk, AM Services Group commercial director