Facilities management, also known as facilities management, is related to the union of several departments of a company to guarantee its functionality.
In this sense, the metaphor of the company as a living organism is interesting: there are more essential organs for its maintenance, but the efficient functioning of all the organism's components is important to keep it healthy and in full performance within an ecosystem .
Based on this reasoning, we realize that companies, as well as organizations, have different departments and that they are all integrated in some way.
Therefore, the malfunction of a certain area can harm the whole and that is why managers need to develop a macro vision, identifying sectorial interdependencies.
That is where facilities management comes in. It is a type of management that has become a trend among successful companies of different sizes.
The term emerged in the United States in the 1960s to identify the management that understands and enhances the points of intersection between the different sectors of a company, aiming to maintain its functionality.
In fact, regardless of the size of the company or the business segment, it needs to work in a physical headquarters, that is, have a space to carry out its operations.
Having a headquarters implies a series of issues that become the manager's responsibilities. In other words, management that takes into account all these factors is necessary for the company to be successful.
These factors, as well as their union, are indicators of how the company's organizational structure was conceived and directly interfere in its operation.
The management of these factors, of course, also has a great weight in the formation and consolidation of the organization's image.
In other words, management needs to be comprehensive and careful because it is also based on it that employees, customers and partners will form a concept about the company.
To maintain, through proper management, a productive functionality, the company needs to coordinate aspects such as information technology, human resources, internal procedures, physical space infrastructure, among other factors.
It was this perception of a connection between the different areas of a company for its operation as a whole that stimulated the development of facilities management.
Over the last few decades, this type of management has made a difference in companies of all types and sizes and can help you manage your business as well.
If you did not know this concept yet, this article will help you. In the next topics, we will better explain what facilities management is, its importance in the business context and how to implement it efficiently in your company.
What is facilities management?
Interdisciplinary is a key word when trying to understand the concept of facilities management.
As we have already seen, facilities management seeks to unite the different departments or responsibilities of the company to ensure its functionality.
For this, it is necessary to understand in detail, within the specificities of each company, how these segments are interconnected.
In short, facilities management is a management that seeks to manage the interdisciplinary practices that are essential to the company's operation.
We are talking about practices that are part of the organization's daily life and involve the activities of different sectors.
They are not the ultimate goal or mission of the company, but they are fundamental to achieving that goal. That is why they are called middle activities.
In other words, the facilities, which can be translated as “facilities”, are activities that lead to the improvement of all the organization's processes.
The main activities of facilities management
Facilities permeate the entire structure necessary for the smooth functioning of organizations, which is why facilities management has grown in the market, developing increasingly more specialized and professional services.
Next, we will talk about the main services related to facilities management.
- Maintenance: The facilities management inserts corrective, preventive and predictive maintenance into the company's routine, so that all equipment, machinery and offices, as well as the company's hydraulic and electrical infrastructure, are always fully operational. The objective is to prevent any failure from causing financial and employee productivity losses;
- Security: The security systems aim to maintain the integrity of the company's physical infrastructure and provide employees with constant peace of mind in carrying out their tasks. They also cover data security, which, especially after the LGPD came into effect, has become fundamental for the operation of companies.
- Cleaning: Proper cleaning of the physical spaces where the companies operate, as well as the equipment used, is very important for the creation of good working conditions for employees and for the safety of users when using the final product. It also allows for an increase in the useful life of the equipment used, in addition to helping to develop a positive image of the company in front of its target audience.
- Food: Food services are common in large companies, which usually offer meals inside their headquarters, in cafeterias. This practice, in addition to saving time, helps with employee satisfaction, improving their productivity.
The importance of facilities management
The main advantage of facilities management is cost reduction. The savings obtained with the implementation of this management are visible, both in fixed expenses - since there is an increase in productivity and extension of the useful life of equipment and infrastructure in general - and in variable expenses, since many surprises are avoided, for example , in the maintenance area.
By reducing costs, it is possible to redirect financial resources to other areas, allowing for greater investment in other areas of the organization.
This is not just true for large companies. Small businesses can also achieve considerable cost savings through facilities management.
However, the larger the company, the greater the demand for a specific department to take care of facilities management.
This need arises because the greater the physical space and the number of employees in the company, the more numerous will be the requests regarding the facilities.
How to implement facilities management?
If you want to use facilities management in your company, the first step is to be aware of the specific legislation that governs each of the services covered.
This way, their managers will be able to keep the service contracts in line with the rules and regulations.
Next, you must define and seek to meet goals related to quality indicators, such as the average time to solve problems and equipment expenses, for example.
Within this reality, it is interesting to have companies specialized in facilities management, as the definition of this line of management implies the integration of areas that previously had little dialogue within the company and the latter is often not able to effectively promote this union.
Hiring a specialized company, for example in the areas of maintenance and security, promotes an improvement in the quality of these services.
This way, facilities management provides for the development of all activities within compliance.
Contrary to what it may seem, by hiring a specialized company, there is a reduction in expenses associated with these services, in addition to an improvement in their efficiency.
But don't think that this type of contract exempts managers from monitoring the provision of services.
In order for the goals to be achieved, it is necessary to maintain a close relationship with the companies that will perform the services and constantly check their quality.
A good tip is to use technological resources to monitor the execution of services.
There are great software that help communication and execution of internal processes in organizations.
Network monitoring can be a great ally to make productive use of all available technological resources, both in monitoring the execution of outsourced services and in the routine of internal procedures.
Now that you know how to implement facilities management, we also recommend reading our article on network monitoring to help you extract the maximum benefit from the technological resources available in your company. Have a good reading!
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