Businesses increasingly outsource the provision of their facility services rather than keep them in-house. This decision has a major effect on business efficiency. Outsourcing tasks like cleaning, security, catering, green care, and technical maintenance to a professional partner brings definite benefits.
Outsourcing facility services: dare to let go
If your company chooses to outsource facility services, you want all related care to be taken off your hands, and to let go of them. However, the outsourcing of facility services sometimes triggers a fear of losing control, of trusting somebody else to do the job right. If your business chooses to keep services like cleaning, green care, security and others in-house, you will maintain control, although this choice will not always yield the expected efficiency.
A good and dependable facility partner will keep you informed continuously on everything going on in your buildings, thus obviating any need for you, the client, to monitor the work in progress. As your facility partner provides a committed inspection team, open communication as well as digital tools monitoring the status of the works, you will be able to concentrate fully and with peace of mind on what really matters, i.e. running your company.
“Since the arrival of Cleaning Masters, everything has been running smoothly. There is no need for us to follow up anything. This is the purpose of working with a facility partner.” (Marie Pierre Lambotte, purchasing manager with Marichal Ketin)
You no longer need to take care of replacing employees who are ill or on vacation
Working with a facility partner will enable you to focus on other matters than facility management. You will no longer have to deal with the personnel management of your own employees engaged in facility work. If an employee calls in sick or if somebody is taking a planned vacation, your partner will solve the issue proactively by ensuring timely replacement. A long-term partner will train his workforce to ensure the use of innovative techniques on the client’s premises, supported by state-of-the-art knowledge and knowhow. These may not be available in your company.
Do you have broken equipment in need of replacement or repair? Do you need to replenish your stock of products? Your facility partner will take care of it. Such worries will be history.
“Cleaning Masters really unburdens us. I no longer need to worry about employees becoming ill in Summer or around Christmas. Somebody else has been taking care of these concerns. Now I have extra time to deal with other matters.” (Jens Jaecques, Facility manager with CAW Noord-West-Vlaanderen)
An external facility partner: part of your team?
Choosing an external facility partner will obviously come with the fear of losing one’s corporate culture. As a result, some businesses are reluctant to allow external partners to operate on their premises, because it may take some time for the personnel of the external partner to become familiar with the values and standards of the company.
However, the integration process will prove to be smoother than expected if you choose a committed partner. As time goes by, the personnel of the facility partner will become full-fledged members of your team. In terms of productivity and the durability of the partnership, this is bound to yield good results.
“The cleaning masters working with Etex are really a ‘part of the team’. It does not matter whether they formally belong to either Cleaning Masters or Etex, as we are all ‘one happy family’, we speak the same language.” (Stijn Van Hoof, Facility manager with Etex)
Outsourcing facility services: an extra cost or a recipe for long-term savings?
Obviously, cost plays a major part in the decision process when businesses contemplate a facility partnership. It is a decisive consideration. Is it cheaper to outsource your facility services rather than keep them in-house? Just looking at the cost of the cleaners, handypeople, security guards, etc., does not always yield an affirmative answer.
However, the picture changes when one looks at value for money, especially long-term. You no longer need to worry about the quality of the work performed. Additionally, you no longer need to invest in training your employees. Finally, you gain a lot of time. Considering all the above, we can say that your company will become more efficient as time goes by and that this will yield extra cost-efficiency.
“A single point of contact, open communication, competitive prices, qualitative services, and flexibility on both sides are the foundation of a durable partnership. That is undoubtedly what we have with Cleaning Masters.” (Jan Michiels, Facility coordinator with Vivaldis Interim)
The facility partner as a full-service partner
Finally, we discuss the scalability of facility services, which is a great advantage of outsourcing such services. Does your company operate multiple sites all over the country? Then, a partner with establishments across the country will be able to guarantee the same, uniform service provision in all your buildings.
“We have thirty-five sites. I cannot visit them all to check cleaning quality. Their inspection team ensure that everything is cleaned properly.” (Johan Gerits, Facility manager with the APK Group)
Apart from cleaning, do you also need a partner for green care or technical maintenance? If you do, outsourcing your facility services to a facility partner would be a smart idea. You would keep the same SPC for the diverse services and any problems or questions could be managed by a single partner.
Are you looking for a partner capable of providing all the above advantages?
