Mature customers seeing the big picture

The market for outsourced FM solutions may be a fairly young sector, but it’s evolving rapidly. A year ago, we reported here in Nova that IFM solutions were gaining ground, but mostly among large private corporations. But now the market has gone even further.

“IFM solutions are now an established concept in the FM sector attracting all types of company, large and small. We’ve also seen more industrial customers starting to consolidate their services. New services and customers are integrated on contracts, such as industrial services for industrial customers and PPPs for the public sector“, notes Jens Ebbe Rasmussen, Coor’s Business Development Manager.

There is also a clear tendency towards expanded FM assignments among those companies that have really decided on IFM solutions. Contracts are getting more in-depth and broader-based. Customers are adding more services, more sites, and even more countries to their deliveries.

“Right now, we’re seeing a continuous inflow of tenders initiated by customers, whereas previously, we were the driver.”

But why is the interest and maturity of customers growing right now?

Jens thinks the explanation lies in greater demand for flexible solutions. In these times, businesses must be able to realign quickly and adapt their business to changing external conditions.

“The business best able to cope with change will strengthen its positioning and competition most. In an increasingly globalised world, competition is becoming more intense. Some of the factors that will affect nearly every company in one way or another over the next five years are:

• New products
• New customers
• Changed legislation
• New competitors
• New demands from employees
• New production facilities
• Altered economic conditions

The result is a need to quickly realign FM services, and here, there’s a big difference between negotiating one agreement with a single IFM provider compared to 20 different agreements with 20 different single service suppliers. This also results in more in-depth partnership between the customer and supplier, because the supplier must also be able to realign and develop its delivery at the same rate.“

“Every purchaser wins from having fewer relationships with suppliers who take far-reaching responsibility for adapting service delivery to changed needs and new circumstances. For IFM providers like Coor, this is obvious. Our flexibility and rapid adaptability are qualities that our customers really value—over time.“

The migration towards IFM solutions is Nordic wide, and in the past year, has extended to Finland. Compared to its Nordic neighbors, outsourcing levels in Finland are high, but primarily for single services.

“In the last recession, Finnish companies also started to change their behavior to consolidate more services. We are now seeing far more IFM business than previously. It’s hard to speculate as to why this trend-break has occurred now, but one likely contributor is watching international competitors choose IFM solutions,” adds Jens.

What other trends are featuring on the market right now?

“Generally, we’re seeing the share of services providers delivering themselves increasing. There’s an estimated split of 60:40 between self-delivered and external. This means that providers have still better room to maneuver for fast realignments. Other trends are parties that only operate as advisers but not executing losing ground, and IFM solutions evolving from being a simple issue to one dealt with at management level.“

Coming issues:

In coming issues, you’ll be able to read more about how IFM is gaining ground in manufacturing and the public sector—and why.

Want to know more about the benefits of IFM solutions?

Just contact Jens Ebbe Rasmussen.