Three Ways Facility Executives Can Meet Their Budget Challenges
Are You Challenged with Holding Down Costs While Increasing Services and Customer Satisfaction?
Facility management (FM) executives today are asked to maintain or reduce budget while solving a complex challenge. Throughout the country a significant number of large enterprises are consolidating regional offices into one central multibuilding corporate campus. The reason for this trend goes beyond reducing space and saving money.
Companies want to create work environments that feature high-quality amenities and services. The goal is to attract talented employees who will enjoy working in one appealing location, and by being motivated to interact and collaborate effectively on a daily basis, help drive business growth.
Where Can FM Executives Find Savings?
One strategy we frequently encounter, based on our work with clients and discussions with FM professionals, it to try and squeeze costs out of a traditional group of Facilities Management services. The problem is that these services represent low-hanging fruit that have been picked many times over. There’s only a continually diminishing amount of cost savings that can be generated in such areas as landscaping, office cleaning and janitorial/housekeeping activities.
All this suggests that there is a need to “think different” about where facilities executives can generate savings in the coming year and beyond. This includes considering what we at Canon Business Process Services consider to be a range of nontraditional Facilities Management services.
Rethink Your Current Processes
Let’s spotlight the services in which FM executives can potentially reduce the staff, space and costs:
- Corporate Campus Logistics
- Office Moves, Adds and Changes
- Office Services and well-executed administrative functions
- Mail and Production Management
- Shipping and Receiving
- Information Governance (Records Management)
- Print and Business Process Outsourcing
Looking Ahead
It is important to remember that FM executives do not have to select either reducing costs or improving facilities services; they can achieve both goals simultaneously.
The key to success is to closely examine current services from the viewpoint of leveraging creative new strategies to meet budget and operational challenges. These strategies are a way to “think different,” a way to discover untapped opportunities based on maximizing people, process and technology. This can be done utilizing internal resources, a qualified outsourcing provider or a combination of both. FM executives who put this blueprint into action are in an excellent position to help their companies succeed in the days ahead.