During the Association of Facilities Management Practitioners, Nigeria (AFMPN) event celebrating the 2021 world FM day, Duncan Waddell has this to say when asked about the benefits and value add of strategic facility management.

Truly, the adoption of standards show standard approach to developing a strategy, there are financial benefits and financial gains.

If you as operational facility manager can demonstrate and talk to other experiences globally about how a strategic approach can hit the bottom line, you will gain access to the boardroom very fast, yes you need to prove yourself but it is important to understand that there are other demonstrable value propositions from around the world that can be shown to the boardroom that if you adopt this approach, these are the potential returns.

Read also: What is facility management?

Benefits of strategic facility management approach

Management system standard ISO 41001 which incorporate deliver of an FM strategy

• It has been shown to have significant benefit financially to an organization.
• It shows that Retention of customers is significantly high.
• It shows that Return on investment is about 30% more that companies that don’t adopt a strategic approach.
• It shows that the company image and the standing of the organization in the market place increases by about 60%.
• It shows that the adoption of the management system standard reduces the number of complains about the organization Because there is existing system in place to deal with that.

If you start talking to board directors about making more profit, having longer term customers, or repeat customers, you get the board to start taking interest. This is not just talking about you can run facilities cheaper, this is about how a better run and more efficient facilities can deliver a better bottom line and more profits and more societal benefits to the outcome of good facility management.