1. What is your view on “Changing Face of Facilities Management” ?

How the future of FM Sector in India looks like? [AN]: What has traditionally been an IPC driven market, is now evolving into an open , dynamic environment, where local players jostle with the IPC to offer an integrated FM solution tying in quality service (SOP, well trained and groomed manpower, helpful and assistance driven help desk, alert maintenance) cost optimisation (to the client),and leveraging technology to deliver a better quality of service. Clients will choose from 3 models – i) a vendor who in turn sub vends contracts, ii) A vendor who owns all manpower and iii) A client who deals directly with sub vendors and manages the show himself/herself . Further, billing will move from a i) pure cost + model, to either ii) a hybrid model of cost+ and Service Level model or iii) pure service level model.

2. As an user/operator in Facility Management, what are the qualities you look for in your vendor/ supplier before choosing them for FM operations?

Given the criticality of the quality of service provided by either of the 3 models above, one would tend to go towards option ii) or iii) to have more control on the quality of service delivered.

3. Technology Disruption and industry 4.0, what impact they have on the imminent future of Facilities Management in India?

Currently there exists no integrated solution to manage the gamut of Facility Management Services from a technology perspective – security, billing and collection, scheduling, building a neighbourhood community exists in bits and pieces. Vendors are now stitching together a bouquet of services and on the cloud (opex) which clients can pick and choose the service they desire. Quality and adoption is key here

4. How do facilities professionals move away from the Mindset of an ‘Administrative Support’ function and be recognised as key critical resources for the enterprise ? What are your thoughts on this?

For any role to function and get out of a mindset jam, it should have a revenue/ROI focus, that gives it seriousness. Some smart, small players are focussing on this – their billing model is now on a hybrid of cost+ and service level which benefits both and improves the value for money proposition. Further, FM companies must look at gaining the trust of the client by offering value added continuous improvement programmes, and international best practices

5. Your views on The Economic Times “Facility Management Summit” and how important do you to feel is the need of organizing such summits?

This is a brilliant initiative to bring together on a common platform, industry experts, partners, best practices that will only raise the bar on the QOS offered in the FM space.

Ajay Nambiare

Head -Customer Care & Property Management

L&t Realty- Facility Management

For more information about the Facility Management Summit, please visit: http://et-edge.com/conferences/sfm/