Maintaining a facility takes an entire department, and some organizations are struggling to either find staff or justify having it in-house. To address facility staffing problems and related issues, one solution is outsourcing an organization’s facilities management department.
Touching upon this topic is Ryan Schad, director of alliance management for outsourced facilities management for Eli Lilly and Co., who will be presenting the session “Best Practices for Integrating Outsourced Facilities Management” at NFMT 2024 in Baltimore from March 12 to 14.
FacilitiesNet: What are some key strategies for developing a business case for outsourcing facilities management?
Ryan Schad: It is critical to evaluate other ways to measure value than just bottom-line savings; such as: does a potential partner have deep knowledge of your enterprise? Can they provide advanced technology to accelerate future savings? Are they skilled at providing operational support to your business outside of traditional facilities management? Can they share best practices to prevent future problems?
FN: What insights or best practices are there to address potential service disruptions during critical transition phases, and how can facility managers effectively mitigate such challenges?
Schad: There are obvious tools such as robust contingency planning and staffing on-site, backup resources to resolve unexpected issues. Somewhat surprisingly, implementing a comprehensive communication strategy for leaders and impacted employees throughout the entire transition, Go-Live, and stabilization builds trust and forgiveness when issues arise. While this sounds simple, proactive communications are never urgent and therefore often get deprioritized.
FN: What strategies are there for integrating outsourced facilities management while starting up a new facility?
Schad: It is important for clients to understand that they must continue to be engaged in the on-going partnership with the facilities management provider, it is not a “black box” that you can wind up and walk away from. Tactically, the facilities management partner must have strong, local leadership and an organization with low turnover before ongoing success is possible.
To learn more about integrating outsourced facilities management, be sure to check out Schad’s session at NFMT 2024. Register for NFMT here.
Jeff Wardon, Jr. is the assistant editor for the facilities market.
