We believe FM is important, not just to the UK economy as a whole, but to the everyday safety, convenience and enjoyment of us all.
By some measures, FM contributes 8% of UK GDP. FM is a business- critical service, underpinning much of the UK’s key business sectors – all retail, leisure, hospitality, education and office- based work is made possible by effective facilities management.
However, we don’t believe that FM always delivers the value that it should. Dissatisfaction with providers is common, and the industry giants are barely profitable. That points to systemic challenges.
Moreover, there is little variation in the way services are delivered and managed in FM. Most providers and users of services follow similar assumptions and principles, which preclude positive change.
The business practices in FM lag far behind those in other industries. Where manufacturing, retail and leisure (to name a few) have been changed immeasurably by new thinking and new technology, the core of the FM model remains the in the 1980s.
Change is needed. And when the ‘rules’ accepted by the industry preclude change, you need to change the rules. In ‘The new rules of FM’, we set out Cloudfm’s new rules of FM – why the old rules are wrong, how to break them, and what to put in their place.
Why do we care so much about FM? Well, everyone cares about it, they just sometimes don’t realise that it’s FM they care about.