IFM or Single Services? Let us guide you!

Facility Management (FM) is becoming increasingly important to companies today, and over the years the needs for FM services have evolved and the providers have adapted to a changing and fast-paced industry. Coor figures out which FM solution suits your company best.

One of the most common questions Coor faces when starting FM procurements is: am I an IFM (Integrated Facility Management) or single customer? To be able to answer that question, we first need to find out what the differences are. Erik Sörnäs, Deputy Senior Vice President at Coor, says that Coor's FM journey began in what is called Integrated Facility Management. A solution that takes overall responsibility for a large number of services and needs that can conceivably exist in a workplace. It is in that expertise that Coor built its foundation and began to develop how the working environment in companies can grow and improve.

"Coor started by almost exclusively offering integrated deliveries, so-called IFM solutions, but for several years we have focused more and more on what we call single services, i.e. business that refers to single services. The change we have undergone as a company is about that we have to be where the customers are. It's not about one solution being better than the other, but meeting the customer's specific needs and they can differ a lot depending on a lot of different variables. A large company sitting in many different offices in several countries will, for example, have completely different needs than a smaller rubber factory, which may also have very specific needs."

What are the benefits of IFM?
"There are a number of advantages, but the big advantage is that you can create an efficient delivery because you can easily find synergies between the services. This means that when, for example, the receptionists need to take a lunch break, then the freight staff can cover. Housekeepers can look after coffee machines which needs to be refilled instead of relying on a separate coffee supplier. It creates an easy-to-manage flow that also enables increased innovation in the workplace. In addition to this, the customer gets a supplier who takes overall responsibility, they get a system for follow-up and have only one supplier to talk and negotiate with."

Which customer is better suited for procuring single services?
"It can be a big device to buy up IFM and you may not be able to buy up everything at once. Many companies see this as a journey where you start by reviewing individual services and then outsource the ones you don't sees as part of its core business. Then it is also about the fact that you can have very specific needs because you are in a very niche industry, and there we must be able to meet the customer with specific single services."

In conclusion, Erik points out that there are common advantages with both solutions above. Companies that outsource FM services, one or more, can:

1. Usually count on a cost saving

2. Gain greater flexibility than delivering the services with your own staff

3. The personnel who perform the services come to a company where FM services are part of the core business and are thus given greater development opportunities

Erik Sörnäs, Deputy Senior Vice President at Coor

Integrated or single – which FM customer are you?

Common needs of an IFM customer

• Often IFM customers are large or medium-sized companies, where there are great synergies to be gained with a supplier for several services and locations.

• When FM services are portioned out to several different actors, it has a tendency to grow and become difficult to maneuver. You need help reviewing this.

• You want to get a comprehensive approach, and want to avoid a large number of agreements with different suppliers.

• You want to be able to follow up the performance, KPIs and development in a system.

Common needs of a single customer

• You may have very specific needs for niche expertise.

• You do not have the opportunity or resources to start an IFM procurement yet, but want to see how individual outsourced services can improve your work environment in stages.

• The volume of the individual services purchased is manageable, so control of the delivery can be done in a relatively flexible way.