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Friday 1st February 2013
1 February 2013
Speaking last night at the headquarters of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Gareth Tancred told an audience of senior estates and facilities professionals that the IT function had faced similar issues to those now faced by FM in proving its strategic value within an organisation.
Today, twenty years later, job titles such as 'chief information officer' were testimony to IT's subsequent success in making its case.
In a wide-ranging discussion on the issues surrounding FM's strategic input, Tancred pointed out that FMs would struggle to break away from operational pressures in the current economic conditions.
"We can't get away from fact that there is huge pressure on the bottom line," said Tancred. "Organisations are under constant pressure to get a return for their shareholders, and earnings per share is a key metric in any PLC."
What was required, said Tancred, was for FMs to find ways of proposing solutions to the kind of problems bound to become of strategic importance in the years ahead. Citing the carbon agenda and energy management, Tancred said: "FMs have to find strategic solutions to these issues and make those known to their boards so that they don't face those same issues down the track."
Tancred's comments came during a panel session held by RICS to discuss issues raised in its report on FM, Raising the Bar, which was published late last year.
Topics discussed during the hour-long session included the difficulties of settling on a fixed definition of FM, and the requirement for the sector to attract young people who could already demonstrate strong business acumen.
It was broadly accepted that FMs were typically good financial managers - a result of their cost control and contract management obligations - but there was a wider range of views about the educational pathways now available in the sector. Consultant Bernard Williams also questioned whether the same individual could be both strategic and operational. "They are two completely different mindsets," he suggested.
Other speakers at the event included Iain Brodie (chair of the RICS FM group), Steve Probert (president of CoreNet), Geoff Prudence (chair of CIBSE's FM group) and Deborah Rowland (Head of FM at the Government Property Unit).
FM can follow IT's lead in gaining a wider strategic role within organisations, claims the chief executive of the BIFM.
Speaking last night at the headquarters of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Gareth Tancred told an audience of senior estates and facilities professionals that the IT function had faced similar issues to those now faced by FM in proving its strategic value within an organisation.
Today, twenty years later, job titles such as 'chief information officer' were testimony to IT's subsequent success in making its case.
In a wide-ranging discussion on the issues surrounding FM's strategic input, Tancred pointed out that FMs would struggle to break away from operational pressures in the current economic conditions.
"We can't get away from fact that there is huge pressure on the bottom line," said Tancred. "Organisations are under constant pressure to get a return for their shareholders, and earnings per share is a key metric in any PLC."
What was required, said Tancred, was for FMs to find ways of proposing solutions to the kind of problems bound to become of strategic importance in the years ahead. Citing the carbon agenda and energy management, Tancred said: "FMs have to find strategic solutions to these issues and make those known to their boards so that they don't face those same issues down the track."
Tancred's comments came during a panel session held by RICS to discuss issues raised in its report on FM, Raising the Bar, which was published late last year.
Topics discussed during the hour-long session included the difficulties of settling on a fixed definition of FM, and the requirement for the sector to attract young people who could already demonstrate strong business acumen.
It was broadly accepted that FMs were typically good financial managers - a result of their cost control and contract management obligations - but there was a wider range of views about the educational pathways now available in the sector. Consultant Bernard Williams also questioned whether the same individual could be both strategic and operational. "They are two completely different mindsets," he suggested.
Other speakers at the event included Iain Brodie (chair of the RICS FM group), Steve Probert (president of CoreNet), Geoff Prudence (chair of CIBSE's FM group) and Deborah Rowland (Head of FM at the Government Property Unit).