Facility management. Past. Present. Future.

May 16, worldwide industry experts celebrate the World Day of Facility Management. The annual holiday has been held for 10 years and is called upon to note the important role of FM for business and the popularization of services. This year’s theme sounds like “Providing positive experience” and reflects the key role of management facilitation in real estate management: creating a positive experience for consumers, customers and employees.

A few words about the history of the Facility management

Separate facility services, such as cleaning, security, maintenance, have existed for a long time, but only in the 70s of the last century did they seriously think about the influence of buildings and premises on productivity. The impetus for the development of the profession was the International Association of Facility Management (IFMA), founded in 1980 in Houston, USA. During this period Facility management was defined as related services for building services, dividing services into hard and soft. In the second half of the 80’s, there appeared a specialty of facilitation management in several US educational institutions.

The nineties were marked by the spread of the profession around the world and the transition to the integration of services. The development of computer technology and rising energy costs have made significant changes to the Facility management industry. In the 2000s, energy management became an important component of the development of the FM market. During the same period, the first technological solutions of CAFM (building infrastructure management system) are actively developed, which makes the business facilitation more transparent and controlled for the client.

The current stage of the industry development is characterized by the following trends:

• Displacement towards integrated facilitation management, that is management of all processes inside the building.
• The most important technologies for the facilitation of management are the Internet of things, artificial intelligence, Big Data and automation of all possible processes. These solutions allow you to significantly optimize costs and increase the efficiency of all processes associated with the real estate object.
• Ubiquitous use of innovative solutions to provide positive experience for the client and the end user of products and services
• Long-term contracts. Recent research shows that companies in developed countries increasingly contract with facilitation companies for 3-5 years, instead of updating annual contracts

Let’s talk about the numbers

According to various experts, the Facility management market ranges from 1.1 to 1.3 trillion US dollars. Depending on the countries in the industry, up to 10% of the able-bodied population is involved. In developed countries, 1-2% of GDP falls precisely on FM. These figures indicate the importance of this market for the economy of any country.

According to experts, this figure will grow, because only integrated facility management in 5 years will account for 14% of the market.

The development of technology entails the need to involve a large number of highly qualified specialists for the introduction of the Internet of things, machine learning and the correct analysis of a large body of data related to the real estate object. Therefore, the benefits of attracting professional FM companies are becoming more evident.

The Ukrainian fasiliti market is at the stage of formation. The lack of awareness of companies about the benefits of FM, savings, increased productivity, cost optimization is an important factor hampering the development of the industry.

“The development of the facility in Ukraine will occur together with increased competition. Owners of real estate will begin to understand that it is more profitable to give objects to management professionals, while receiving not only high-quality service, but also the integration of all business processes into a single system, experience and innovative solutions from facility companies. One of our tasks is to develop the national market of fm on the example of implemented projects, “Sergey Shulga, the owner and CEO of SHEN, said in an interview.

To date, in Ukraine, only 3% of companies use facilitation services.

Low competition, lack of prescribed rules of the game, weak legislative base, lack of training of specialists at the university level, low culture of technology use, lack of confidence in outsourcing companies significantly influence the formation of long-term partnerships with FM companies.

Of the positive trends, it should be noted that in 2016 in Ukraine, the Association of Facility Management was established to support honest market players, develop uniform standards of work and thereby improve the quality of services provided.   Also, on the basis of SHEN, the Academy Facility, which trains employees, has been successfully operating for several years. At the moment the Academy studies and implements international educational experience and tests working programs for training at the national level

An important step in the development of the market is the introduction of an industry IT solution for transparent business management. Automation of processes related to real estate management solves a whole complex of tasks related to planning, control, data collection, building chains, keeping records, transparent and understandable work with contractors. In addition, the client has the opportunity in real time to receive all the necessary information on the state of his object and the work carried out in it. Without such technological assistants, now there is not a single FM company in developed countries.

In conclusion, we would like to congratulate all managers involved in the Facility market with a professional holiday, wish energy and development, strive to be the best in achieving the goals set and hope for your active participation in the development of the market in Ukraine!