As seen in The Sunday Business Post 27th of July 2008.
It is estimated that the facilities management (FM) industry is currently worth around €3 billion in Ireland. This reflects a healthy growth in a sector about which little was known or understood less than 15 years ago.
Several factors are driving the development of FM, not just in Ireland but internationally. They include economic development, increasing globalisation, an increase in the understanding of the merits of outsourcing.
Thomas Hinnerskov, managing director of ISS Facility Services, Ireland, says some international trends are now manifesting themselves here.
“There has been growth and we anticipate further growth in awarding international contracts whereby the customer is looking for one supplier in several countries. Another trend is the shift from FM to Integrated Facility Services (IFS), as customers realise that FM managers are focused on procurement of a single service, whereas IFS captures synergies between the services.”
With IFS, the contract shifts from input-based (ie hours supplied) to an output-based (ie results and performance) contract, regulated by Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Hinnerskov said increased internationalisation has driven large businesses towards centralising purchasing decisions and therefore making the move towards awarding multinational contracts.
“The market is maturing and customers are gradually shifting towards buying more integrated solutions. Price, cost and service level dynamics raise the need for productivity improvements and efficiencies through new ways of working.”
In keeping with this trend, ISS recently won the global IFS contract with Hewlett-Packard, which marked a major milestone in the company’s ambition to be the world leader in integrated facilities services.
The deal with HP is its first large multinational contract. Hinnerskov said ISS service contracts used to be locally based and only a few were cross-border contracts with international companies.
“Those days are over. Now, ISS is ready to fight for international contracts with global customers,” he said.
“Customers seek to reduce the number of suppliers they have so that they can focus on the core business. Large contracts are key to greater efficiency.
“At ISS we have created a business model which builds on local strengths and caters for international needs. To have global reach requires new skills and strengths,” he said.