What is FM?

Internal management of services

Not so long ago (still 30 years), companies managed their services in-house. You had cleaning staff, reception personnel, technicians, a reprographics manager... And all these people were on permanent contracts with you.

Purchasing products, sponges, carts, ... managing leave, absences... Unexpected absence of reception staff at 8 am? Complicated...

Without the network, methods, or tools, managing these services in-house was time-consuming and not very optimized.

I invite you to read our article on the history of cleaning: From maids to industrial cleaning. The dynamics of evolution are very similar.

Advantages

A sense of belonging? It's hard to find that elsewhere these days. While the company's value could have been a strong point, service providers integrate so well today that it's no longer a selling point. Internal progression? More like a dead-end when no career or training plans are offered. There are some great employee testimonials who have moved to the service provider side, with successful careers to show for it.

Drawbacks

Poorly optimized = expensive in terms of resources, time, social and professional risks (MSDs, etc.). The list goes on.

Outsourcing Mono Services

30 years ago, in response to corporate demand, professionalization by trade began to skyrocket (the history of FM outsourcing). Numerous building service companies were established and grew. All of them offered services, with varying degrees of professionalism and varying degrees of honesty regarding margin levels. Multi-service already existed, but in France, single-service was the norm.

This model is still present in some medium and large companies.

Among clients, some maintain large in-house general services / Facilities Management (FM) teams.

They purchase services themselves and manage them on a daily basis.

Cleaning, reception, fire safety, elevator operator... everything is managed internally. For technical maintenance, some keep technical managers and buy in batches rather than hiring a multi-technical service provider.

Benefits

For large companies, creating a sufficiently large team of General Services / Real Estate Management / DET is entirely possible. With more than a dozen employees dedicated to these functions, these are internal skills that you can professionalize. Integrated into the structure, the function is adapted to the life and needs of the company.

Drawbacks

Just as you are not an expert in supervising cleaning staff, you are also not equipped to recruit, train, and manage a pilot internally for all of these services. You do not have an internal training program, career plan, or an easy replacement for this role. It is not your core business.

And on the financial side?

The advantages: if bought well, you keep the profit margin for yourself.

The cons: requires skill to optimize, to purchase wisely... and a significant volume of purchases.

You also retain the risk and responsibility for service providers, quality, termination, etc.

FM multi services

First steps towards outsourcing services, the services are grouped into lots.

Hard FM / Multi-technical Services: All services related to the technical maintenance of buildings (heating, cooling, water, elevators, fire safety, regulatory checks...)

Soft FM / Occupant Services: Building service provisions excluding technical maintenance. This includes, among other things, cleaning, green spaces, reception, food & beverage...

And sometimes, they can still be separated according to their uses:

• Safety / Security
• Restoration / Catering / Food & Beverage

Benefits

Massification: by grouping into lots, more business volume is given to a provider. This allows them to add more management and optimize services, visits, etc.

Professionalization of management: It is industry experts who pilot the services.

Reduction in the number of contacts and invoices.

Drawbacks

Requires keeping people at your place to manage and control these service providers. Attention must be paid to the layered management structure. The FM provider will need a supervisor (dedicated or not) for their services. It is important that this management does not overlap with your teams (does FM result in savings?)

IFM / Integrated Facility Management

A solution that has been adopted for many years by our Nordic and Anglo-Saxon friends is the complete outsourcing of service provider management. Hard, Soft, Catering, car fleet, etc. It's a company and its dedicated Manager who will ensure the proper functioning of your building.

Experiencing strong international growth since the 2000s, and within the country for 10 years, it's the new trend in large companies.

Complete or partial outsourcing, this trend aims to professionalize the role of Facility Manager / Building Manager.

At client sites, day-to-day management is delegated to FMers to focus on strategic building management: Real Estate, QWL, CSR, ESG, office life, layout, investments, ... all topics at the heart of the DET or real estate management, previously overwhelmed by the burden of daily issues without real added value.

Benefits

Professionalization of management: you have individuals skilled in service and trade management, dedicated to these tasks. They are driven by a company offering training and career development specific to these roles.

No duplicates, you optimize service management through complete outsourcing.

Time-saving: Everyday topics are taken care of.

One single invoice, one point of contact, save money.

Continuity of services: Vacation, sickness, unexpected absence, you no longer have any questions to ask.

Quality guarantee: you have transferred the contractual and quality risk. Your FM provider must find the solutions for you.

You benefit from professional tools (usually expensive to develop for a single company).

Drawbacks

You have less in-house expertise in general services.

You need to find a reliable and trustworthy service provider.

Switching providers is less obvious in FM than in single service.

You must ensure that there are not too many intermediaries (overall financial balance).

HM / Hospitality Management

I almost forgot THE latest trend. Indeed, happiness management existed before COVID. But since the purpose and meaning of being in the office has changed, the hospitality/happiness management professions have experienced a boom.

We're talking about the "hotelification" of the workplace.

We aim to create an experience for the employees.

People no longer come to work behind a desk. They come to interact with colleagues, create connections, get a corporate boost before going back home to work remotely.

We improve well-being at work, while gaining in attractiveness and talent retention!

IFM and hospitality Management seem to be winning votes?

Yes, but be careful, buildings need to be of a significant size to implement them without major additional costs.

One must invest in hospitality as a full-fledged HR tool.

The middle ground chosen by many companies not having this critical size has been service buildings. By this, I mean co-working spaces like WeWork.

The service is great, but may not be suited to the specific expectations of your business. And of course, coworking has a cost... which can discourage some.

So it's impossible to get an IFM for my SME/SMI without blowing the budget?

But of course! It was necessary to create a service in response to this need: fm4all was born.

The motto? Facility Management for everyone!

The management, governance, and purchasing structure of fm4all is designed to be adaptable to both the smallest and the largest surfaces.

From 50 square meters, you can call on us!

Get affordable, custom-built office spaces with integrated user services!