One of the most common questions Coor is asked before negotiating an FM contract is: what kind of facility services will I benefit more from, integrated services or a single service solution? In order to answer that question, we must start by looking at the differences.
The meaning of integrated services
Erik Sörnäs, Vice President at Coor, explains that Coor’s FM journey began as an integrated facilities management (IFM) provider. An IFM provider takes total responsibility for a large number of facility services and needs that may arise in the customer’s workplace. Based on its expertise in this area, Coor began developing FM solutions for helping companies improve and develop their work environment.
“We started out by almost only providing integrated services, known as IFM services. However, in recent years we’ve started focusing more and more on single service contracts. This change we’ve undergone as a company has come about in response to customers’ evolving needs. Neither solution is better than the other. It’s about meeting each customer’s specific needs, which can vary widely depending on a large number of variables. A large corporation with many offices in several countries will have completely different needs compared with, for instance, a small rubber company, whose needs may also be very specific.”
Benefits of integrated service solutions
“There are countless benefits, but the main advantage is that integrated solutions makes the service provision more efficient because it’s easy to find synergies between the services. This might mean, for instance, that when the receptionists take their lunch break, staff from the goods department can cover for them. Or that the cleaning staff can fill the coffee machines, which saves the need to procure a separate coffee service. Integrated solutions creates an easily overviewable and manageable flow, which also helps to encourage innovation in the workplace. Another benefit is that with an integrated service solution, the customer only has one follow-up system and one provider to discuss and negotiate with.”
The process of FM solutions
“Procuring an IFM contract is a large and complex undertaking, and a company may not be able to procure all the services at once. Many companies see the process as a journey where they start by outsourcing single services and later outsource activities they don’t regard as part of their core business. Another thing to consider is that a company may have very specific needs if they operate in a niche segment, and we must be able to offer these customers equally specific single services.”
What type of customer are you?
Needs of an IFM customer
- You count yourself as a large company. You have a large number of employees, and you may operate in several different offices with similar FM needs.
- You have a need to outsource your facilities management services to a single provider. When you outsource these services to separate providers, things tend to get out of hand and hard to manage. You need help in evaluating the right solution.
- Your company has identified a strong need to improve its workplace environment and wants to do this with the help of innovative FM solutions.
- You want to adopt an all-in solution, and to avoid having numerous contracts with different providers.
- You want a system that allows you to monitor performance, KPIs and developments.
Needs of a single service customer
- You regard your company as slightly smaller or medium-sized, and it is easy to overview the FM services you have procured.
- You may have very specific needs for niche expertise.
- You want to be able to build a pleasant and sustainable work environment and find it easier to overview this aspect when procuring single services.
- You don’t have the possibilities or resources to procure an IFM contract yet, but you want to see how introducing innovative single services can help improve your work environment incrementally.
- You do not procure a large volume of single services, so one of your employees oversees the service provision.
- You need services provided after the company’s opening hours.
Finally, Erik emphasises that both the above solutions have some benefits in common. Companies that outsource one or several FM services can:
- Usually expect to achieve cost savings
- Enjoy greater flexibility than if their own employees perform the services
- The staff performing the FM services come into a company where these services are part of the core business activities, so there are greater opportunities for development