How do you justify the ROI of FM investments?

1 Define your FM objectives

Before you can measure and communicate the ROI of your FM investments, you need to define your FM objectives and align them with the organizational goals and vision. What are the expected outcomes and benefits of your FM projects and initiatives? How do they contribute to the productivity, performance, satisfaction, and well-being of your employees, customers, and partners? How do they enhance the efficiency, quality, safety, and resilience of your facilities and operations? How do they support the social, environmental, and economic sustainability of your organization and community?

2 Choose relevant FM metrics

Once you have defined your FM objectives, you need to choose relevant FM metrics that can quantify and demonstrate the value and impact of your FM investments. Depending on your FM objectives, you may use different types of metrics, such as financial, operational, functional, or strategic. For example, you may use metrics such as cost savings, revenue generation, asset utilization, energy consumption, carbon footprint, service level agreements, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, innovation, or risk reduction. You should also consider the baseline, target, and actual performance of your FM metrics, as well as the time frame and frequency of measurement.

3 Use a robust FM framework

To ensure the validity and reliability of your FM metrics and ROI calculations, you need to use a robust FM framework that can guide you through the process of planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating your FM investments. A FM framework can help you establish clear roles and responsibilities, define the scope and scale of your FM activities, identify the inputs, outputs, and outcomes of your FM investments, apply the appropriate methods and tools for data collection and analysis, and report the results and recommendations in a consistent and transparent manner.

4 Communicate your FM value proposition

The final step to justify the ROI of your FM investments is to communicate your FM value proposition to your senior management and stakeholders. Your FM value proposition is a concise and compelling statement that summarizes the benefits and advantages of your FM investments, as well as the costs and risks of not investing in FM. You should tailor your FM value proposition to the needs and interests of your audience, use clear and simple language, highlight the key findings and insights from your FM metrics and ROI calculations, and provide evidence and examples to support your claims.

5 Engage your FM stakeholders

To increase the acceptance and support of your FM investments, you need to engage your FM stakeholders throughout the process of justifying the ROI of your FM investments. Your FM stakeholders are the individuals or groups that have an interest or influence in your FM activities and outcomes, such as senior management, employees, customers, partners, suppliers, regulators, or community members. You should identify and prioritize your FM stakeholders, understand their expectations and concerns, involve them in the decision-making and feedback processes, and address any issues or objections that may arise.

6 Continuously improve your FM performance

Justifying the ROI of your FM investments is not a one-time activity, but a continuous process of improvement and learning. You should regularly monitor and evaluate your FM performance, compare it with your FM objectives and benchmarks, identify the gaps and opportunities for improvement, and implement the necessary actions and adjustments. You should also review and update your FM metrics and ROI calculations, as well as your FM value proposition and communication strategies, to reflect the changing needs and realities of your organization and environment.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?