How Sodexo uses RICS IBOS for strategic decision-making

by Will Borthen , 索迪斯 , in collaboration with RICS.

Sodexo, an organisation that provides a diverse range of expertise including facilities and property management services, is using the RICS International Building Operation Standard (IBOS) framework to measure, manage and improve the way buildings perform for people.

IBOS goes beyond traditional ways of assessing building performance to add another dimension – user experience. The framework enables users to better understand a building’s regulatory compliance, functionality, sustainability and performance.

Sodexo’s client base covers a wide variety of sectors across 55 countries. It has found that occupiers are facing challenges as inflationary pressures erode property maintenance and life-cycle budgets. In addition, the window for achieving net-zero carbon is narrowing, and future estate requirements are unclear.

Across the built environment, senior leaders understand the need for data- led decision-making, and as a result are seeing exponential growth in the amount of data generated and used by organisations. Functional teams now have access to high volumes of granular data that supports their operational and tactical decision-making. However, it is difficult to understand how this disparate information can be consolidated to provide strategic direction.

Achieving an organisation’s operational, financial and sustainability objectives requires insights from all aspects of the business, to enable a considered view of interwoven risks and opportunities.

Sodexo’s Building Performance Index (BPI) has been developed to address these challenges, allowing occupiers to focus on the key issues for strategic decision-making. The BPI draws on multiple data points from several systems and sources to convert high volumes of complex data into digestible and meaningful insights for senior stakeholders.

Sodexo aligns with the IBOS framework

Following the publication of IBOS in February 2022, Sodexo has aligned its systems to the framework, which provides a consistent method of measurement and data organisation. Sodexo is currently introducing the BPI solution for the Metropolitan

Police to support policy development and strategic objectives in the following key areas:

???????????Portfolio planning decisions providing insights into the performance of each property and how fit-for-purpose it is, using empirical evidence to understand how extensive the estate needs to be.

???????????Life-cycle investment decisions - analysing the impacts of asset performance on operations and using this to allocate limited budget towards the highest priorities.

???????????Net-zero carbon planning - understanding the most suitable approach to carbon reduction for the estate, allowing users to more easily optimise carbon emissions and ensure a coherent, estate-wide strategy.

???????????Financial business case and funding proposals - providing senior stakeholders with a logical and industry-recognised standard that supports investment proposals in a form that can be understood by non- technical budget-holders.

IBOS offers a consistent approach across property portfolios

IBOS offers the Metropolitan Police a standardised approach to measuring the performance of each building in its portfolio, and demonstrates tangible improvements over time as buildings are upgraded.

By implementing IBOS as part of the BPI, Sodexo has been able to help its client collect and organise data with consistency. This will allow the Metropolitan Police to make better-informed decisions about buildings in its portfolio and about the way it operates, leading to improved building performance.

Success leads to wider use of framework

Since successfully integrating IBOS into its own systems to support the Metropolitan Police, Sodexo is deploying similar approaches with other clients, and will continue to use the IBOS framework as a consistent measurement system.