FACILITIES MANAGEMENT: Definition, Functions, and Importance

Facilities management is difficult to define because of its extensive reach. The functions of facilities management go much beyond “managing facilities,” whereas a Sales Manager is solely responsible for monitoring the performance of salespeople in companies. As a result, it is frequently difficult for companies to reap the benefits of a qualified facilities manager.
So what is the significance of facilities management? To properly grasp what facilities manager does, what they’re responsible for, and what impact they have on a firm, it’s best to break down their scope of work.

What is Facilities Management?

In a nutshell, facilities management is the day-to-day activities required to guarantee that an organization’s physical environment supports its demands and critical functions.
Numerous factors contribute to an organization’s basic functions, especially when considering the wide range of businesses that require facilities management. It could be a school district with many buildings, a manufacturing corporation with a single major manufacturing plant, or a commercial office space renting out a single floor of a city skyscraper. Whatever business you work in, facilities management (a facilities manager) guarantees that your physical spaces and assets can serve your organization’s needs.

Why is Facilities Management Important?

All organizations exist to accomplish a basic role, which might range from earning money to meeting the needs of a community. The backbone of any successful organization is facilities management. They provide assistance in a variety of ways:

#1. Productivity

The first and most important duty is to ensure that the personnel, employees, and tenants can carry out their jobs properly. This involves ensuring sure the place is clean, organized, and ready to use. It also implies that vehicles, equipment, and technology are operational when required.

#2. Safety and comfort

Making sure that all building occupants are secure and comfortable is intimately related to productivity. It is vital to ensure that buildings and equipment are inspected to ensure that they satisfy safety requirements in order to reduce liability and risk. Facilities managers keep an eye out for methods to improve tenant comfort.

#3. Profitability

Productivity, safety, and comfort must be efficiently created. Because facilities management is frequently the most expensive expense due to its broad impact across the firm, all efforts to reduce superfluous operational costs are critical to the business’s bottom line.

#4. Scalability

As firms grow, extend capital assets, change sites, or adjust to changing work environments (the introduction of a virtual work environment, for example), facilities management is at the forefront of guaranteeing the success of these transformations. To best advise on new prospects, the team must be familiar with the facilities, as well as the people and assets housed within them.

#5. Sustainability

Beyond EHS (environment, health, and safety) compliance, facilities managers have a social obligation to promote greener practices within the firm. This can include reducing waste, improving energy efficiency, or implementing new best practices. Sustainable facilities management improves the organization’s brand image and lowers overall energy consumption expenditures.

What a Facilities Manager Does and Doesn’t Do

To properly understand what facilities management is, let’s look at the two types of services they provide on a daily basis: hard services and soft services.

#1. Hard Services

Physical structures (the components that cannot be easily removed) are related to hard services. Corporate facilities management is sometimes required by law to guarantee the health and safety of employees or building occupants:

Building upkeep
HVAC system upkeep
Water and energy management
Elevators and escalators light fire safety
Drainage and plumbing

The role of facilities management in this situation is to limit the possibility of accidents and disasters, which could result in high insurance costs. Companies that need to keep track of repairs may consider using facilities management software.

#2. Soft Services

Soft services are concerned with making the workplace more comfortable and secure.
Several of these facility management work descriptions are optional and can be added or withdrawn after quality and budget reviews:

Cleaning and custodial services
Security precautions
Upkeep of parking lots
Pest management
Recycling trash disposal
Restocking furniture and equipment
Information technology
Documents management
Grounds upkeep, landscaping, and mail management

Employees frequently prefer the functions of facilities management to make their lives easier. Companies may gain an overview of their costs with our integrated workplace management system solutions, allowing them to prioritize these soft services accordingly.

Facility Manager vs. Property Manager

A property manager is a role that is frequently confused with a facility manager, and it’s simple to see why. This is most evident in commercial real estate when property owners and corporations are distinct entities. This does not apply to owner-occupied facilities (i.e., the organization leaders are also the building owners).

Nonetheless, a property manager and facilities manager will be present in certain commercial real estate settings. The property manager is engaged by the property owner (landlord), whereas the facility manager is employed by the residing organization (tenant). As a result, property managers are in charge of everything related to the commercial buildings themselves (building and grounds upkeep, utilities, capital improvements, and so on), while facility managers are in charge of everything related to the occupants, staff, and assets inside (workspace management, asset maintenance, catering, etc.).

What is the Organizational Structure of a Facility Management Department?

The department structure, like most aspects of facilities management, varies substantially depending on the size and industry of facilities management.

For smaller firms, the facilities management division may consist of simply one person who is in charge of everything. When this is the case, the facilities manager (or facility manager if referring to a single facility) is heavily involved in day-to-day operations.

Certain services are allocated to focused facilities professionals or teams as firms grow. A maintenance manager, transportation director, or production manager, for example, may be brought on board to oversee those specialized services.

Some organizations may divide their management into zones, locations, buildings, or regions, with a building manager or regional manager in charge. In either of these cases, the facilities manager (or, more likely, the facilities director or vice president of operations) is free to handle more strategic tasks in collaboration with executive leadership.

Outsourcing Facilities Management

Many firms will want to outsource varied levels of facilities management (from outsourcing the entire department to only a few selected services).
By eliminating in-house training and salary expenditures, outsourcing can be a cost-effective solution. Each organization must analyze the costs and benefits of outsourcing for themselves. More specialized, less frequent services are frequently outsourced, whereas standard, routine services remain in-house.

In-house	Outsourced
Core to organization function	Peripheral to organizational function
Frequent	Infrequent
Common	Specialized
Low training costs	High training costs

What are the Requirements for a Facilities Manager?

The position of a facilities manager is not for the faint of heart, and it frequently necessitates years of experience or education. A facilities manager typically starts out as a maintenance technician, building manager, mechanical engineer, or another comparable job title. As they gain expertise, they advance to higher-level director roles, allowing them to supervise more of the department’s strategic functions.

Depending on the size of the firm and the level of competition, educational requirements might range from a high school diploma to a 2-year associate degree or a 4-year bachelor’s degree in facility management or engineering. Many candidates will additionally add a facilities management certification to their studies.
The three most common are:

Facility Management Professional (FMP)
Certified Facility Manager (CFM)
Sustainability Facility Professional (SFP)

A facilities manager needs a diversified skill set due to the wide range of responsibilities they are expected to fulfill:

Strategic planning of facilities
Leadership and communication
Project management
Business and financial knowledge
Technical ability (maintenance and technology)

Facilities Management Technology

Facilities management teams are held more responsibility than ever for preserving accurate and accessible data, selecting sustainable building strategies, and prioritizing building and environmental health.
There are numerous tools available to assist teams in achieving these objectives.

#1. Utility tracking software

Most businesses seek to reduce their energy expenses, keep their facilities as energy efficient as possible, and achieve sustainability goals. Yet, due to the tedious data collection method, most people opt out of these projects. Utility tracking software automates this time-consuming operation by importing utility bill data from an organization’s facilities management software system. This enables employees to:

Discover trends to support capital investment initiatives and equipment improvements.
Get a breakdown of costs by building to identify waste or inefficiencies.
Manage energy consumption for each building and forecast future spending
To identify inefficient activities, assess and compare expenses across buildings.

#2. Sensor technology

Leading facilities management teams employ sensors to drive operational choices and make buildings more efficient. When air quality, occupancy, and equipment sensors identify anomalies during data gathering, they can notify you. This information has the potential to improve occupant comfort and health, equipment performance, and building efficiency. Consider connecting these sensors to your facilities management system to deploy technicians, prioritize work, and make data-driven operational choices to take action swiftly.

#3. Facilities Management Software

Facilities management software is a digital application that helps facility management’s day-to-day activities. The software assists organizations in the following ways:

Routine servicing and janitorial services for all sections of your facilities will keep your buildings clean and safe for occupants.
A planned maintenance schedule and input process will prevent details from falling between the cracks.
Combine your communication into one location with real-time updates for everyone involved in a task.
Make data-driven decisions based on the performance of your people and equipment.

Although there are distinct types of facilities management software (CMMS, CAFM, IWMS, or EAM), the distinctions are fairly hazy. Each software supplier will have their own feature set (regardless of what category they fall into).
When choosing software for your facilities, it’s important to start by establishing the needed capabilities for your firm and then selecting the suitable solution.

What is the Future of the Facilities Management Industry?

Smart technology, like practically every other industry on the planet, has propelled the field of facilities management.
To remain competitive in today’s market, facilities management, whether managed domestically or outsourced, must incorporate a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) with a mobile application.
Cloud-based automated solutions decrease the hours of wasted time spent on manual operations and prevent delays caused by human error.
A CMMS can change work order procedures, preventative and predictive maintenance duties, asset, vendor, and inventory management.
Facilities management service providers will already be employing these capabilities, and companies that want to run smoothly may explore management software through MRI.

Facilities Technology Management Companies

Even today, many smaller firms may decide to undertake facilities management internally.
Yet, there are thousands of possibilities for facility management services available, and organizations of all sizes have been developing the facilities maintenance industry just by outsourcing a task or two.

Offering integrated building and facilities management is a growing trend in the business. This broad range of services adds value and promotes higher quality. The following services are provided by the top ten integrated facilities management companies:

Leadership
Services for meeting rooms
Risk evaluations for businesses
Services Provided by Catering
Planning for Business Continuity
Fleet management
Contract procurement
Services for the front desk
Utility management
Response to an emergency

Companies that purchase facility management services profit in various measurable ways, in addition to freeing up their own people to focus on goals more directly connected with their core business.

Enhanced Productivity: A single point of contact removes redundant functions, streamlines communication, and improves workflow processes.
Increased Productivity: Facilities management descriptions include maintenance methods to prevent breakdowns, which frequently interrupt output.
Enhanced Expertise: The role of facilities management workers is to already have the technical know-how, saving companies time and money on in-house training.
Cost Savings: In addition to saving time on training, companies save money on personnel, employee benefits, payroll, inventory, and other expenses.
Improved Quality Control: Facility management services create consistency and dependability because proven methods are already in place.

Conclusion

Facilities management delivers value both on a daily and long-term basis, from equipment maintenance to building an atmosphere that supports the company culture.
High-performing companies recognize the importance of addressing building facilities management. Facilities management companies are expected to provide solutions that are based on cutting-edge technical developments in this element of their operations.
If you aren’t already using an automated solution to manage your facilities, work orders, maintenance, assets, and more… It’s a good place to start.