PREDICTIONS FOR FM’S RECOVERY FROM THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

With continued fiscal uncertainty, this industry, like many others, must be prepared for a year where resourcefulness is the top priority. A skills shortage, pressure for sustainable solutions and demand for cost efficiencies will play a lead role in the unfolding story of 2023. 

However, the resilience this industry has shown over the course of the last two years puts us in a strong position to recover from yet another economic downturn.

With customers needing to look for efficiencies while ensuring healthy environments, we’ll see more demand for integrated facilities solutions. 

A functioning facility is a complex combination of specialised components and systems, each with specific needs and challenges. Keeping the whole entity running requires deep expertise in a variety of areas. There needs to be a full understanding of how each part works together, how it’s maintained and how it can be made even more efficient. 

Historically, specialised services have been supported by a variety of providers, but the more services one company can support, with expertise across a breadth of cleaning, maintenance, technical, security and other services, the more holistic and cost effective the facilities management operation becomes. 

I believe the future for FM will be centred around unification: one team, one purpose, one provider. Having a supplier offering a full suite of specialised services that includes security as well as HVAC and mechanical, indoor air quality, disinfection, electrical, guest services and every other critical component specific to your building means they can deliver an integrated solution that helps make a client’s operation more streamlined, more dependable and more cost-effective.  

When everything works as expected, clients and their occupants feel more comfortable in the space. Whether clients manage a small office building, a corporate campus or an office park, the importance (and the hassles) of achieving high-quality building maintenance isn’t easy.

 Having a single-source provider of facilities expertise, a well-trained and experienced team will perform the services that are needed and exceed performance and cost expectations. This has never been more important, or attractive, to customers in difficult fiscal times. 

John McPherson, managing director at ABM