Facility Management Outsourcing: Pros, Cons, and Best Practices

Outsourcing the management of facilities has become a popular strategy for many businesses. Opting to outsource can give improvements in quality, compliance, cost management, and workplace experience. It also puts operations into the hands of the facilities management experts and freeing teams to focus on core business functions.

Before choosing an outsourced facilities management provider, such as Macro, two questions should first be considered:

·??????? What are the pros and cons of outsourcing for your business?

·??????? What does best practice look like when choosing an outsourced strategy?

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Who is Macro?

Macro is a privately-owned, global facilities management and workplace experiences organisation. Trusted by some of the world’s most iconic brands and household names, we provide facilities management, FM consultancy and helpdesk services to clients across 45 countries. Since September 2002, Macro has established a reputation for transforming client facilities; empowered by local knowledge, supported by global best practise, and committed to looking after the future of the planet.

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What are four of the biggest benefits of outsourcing your facilities management?

1)???? Cost savings

Significant cost savings can be created with an outsourced strategy as it eliminates the costs associated with an in-house team, such as recruitment, training, and employee benefits. An outsourced strategy can also leverage economies of scale to give lower consumables costs. They will also have a better expert eye for innovation, technology, and processes to create efficiencies and cost-saving initiatives.

2)???? Expertise

Companies who outsource benefit from the expertise of facilities management expert providers at their fingertips. This team of professionals will understand changes in trends, regulations, innovations, and policies which will inform a dynamic and current facilities strategy, creating savings and efficiencies.

3)????? Scalability

As businesses grow into new sites or new territories, their facilities capacity will need to expand. An agile outsourced facilities management provider will support in scaling demands and adapting to changing needs. This eliminates any extra pressure on the in-house team, and costs of hiring new staff or investing new infrastructure.

4)????? Mitigating risk?

An outsourced facilities management company has the experience and resource to identify, manage and mitigate any risks associated with the built environment. They will have the expertise to ensure all areas of risk are considered and resilience is built into the facilities for business continuity, such as compliance and disaster recovery.?

What are the four biggest disadvantages of outsourcing your facilities management?

1)???? Loss of control

Many businesses are reluctant to relinquish control of the running of their facilities to an external company. Concerns around quality of service, quality and legality of colleagues, compliance, reliability, and overall workplace experience can arise.

2)???? Confidentiality and security concerns

The introduction of an external company to manage highly confidential or sensitive functions could make a business more vulnerable to data security issues if proper safeguarding and compliance is not followed.

3)???? Misaligned goals

Poor communication, a lack of alignment on values and a lack of relevant experience can cause problems with unmet expectations. A service provider may not communicate their strategy fully or a client may not communicate their needs clearly. This has the potential to negatively impact performance.

4)???? Loss of in-house expertise

Losing in-house expertise places the entire onus of the performance of facilities on the service provider, requiring a high level of trust. This may make it difficult for a business to identify and rectify issues and make it challenging to bring functions back in-house if needed.

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How does Macro best practise eliminate all of these disadvantages?

1)???? Clearly defined objectives

Macro deliver all services to a pre-defined Scope of Works, with clear objectives developed with a clear understanding of your business.

2)???? Thorough due diligence

Vetting supply chains is imperative to trust their experience, expertise, resources and quality to minimise performance failures.

3)???? Stipulating success

Identifying what success looks like for the facilities management contract, establishing performance metrics and reporting will ensure transparency of performance.

4)???? Strong communication

Creating communication channels is critical to ensuring accountability, meaningful action, and swift problem resolution.

5)???? Prioritising partnerships

From the outset a partnership mentality is needed for optimal success, with collaboration and shared values embed into every facet of the contract.

6)???? Agile approach

Regular reviews identify the changing needs of a business, and an agile approach to facilities management ensures those needs are continually met.

7)???? Continuity plans

Seamless transfers of responsibilities derive from identifying timelines, milestones and potential scenarios to be prepared for. This gives optimal resilience and business continuity.

In summary

Facility management outsourcing has the potential to give huge benefits, such as:

·??????? Operational and cost efficiencies,

·??????? Best practice,

·??????? Specific expertise,

·??????? Scalability,

·??????? Compliance,

·??????? Risk mitigation,

·??????? Business continuity.

Common challenges can be overcome with thorough due diligence, prioritising a strong partnership, and clear communication throughout the contract.

A transformative and reliable service provider, such as Macro, will prioritise your business’ goals, align with their values and drive continuous improvement, saving you money whilst enhancing your workplace experiences.