Case Studies

Use of technology in FM

by Mark Rowe

Technology has become an important part of the world we live in, writes Trust ID.

Thirty years ago in 1985 there was little dependency on technology bar perhaps a video recorder. Fast forward to 2015 and it has become easy to become lost in the myriad of technology based products being made available to us.

We stand surrounded in a room where tech giants compete against each other at the highest level, pushed by young entrepreneurs and smaller businesses with innovative ideas – all putting forward plausible cases for us to adopt their solutions. Spinning 360 degrees at the centre of this commercial storm stands the customer, sometimes taking ill-informed recommendations from non-experts about which product will help the most, save time and look cool … more often than not realising later that there was in fact a more suitable solution out there for them had they only waited, researched, and really thought about whether they needed it or not.

In our personal lives, it is almost permissible to have products that, when all things considered, we do not really need. With excellent marketing campaigns it can often be a case of the cool-factor outweighing functionality, necessity and even quality of the product, forgiven only by an acceptance that something better might come along and when it does, we will just go and buy it. In business, however, there isn’t the place for this air of nonchalance and inconsequence and a more detailed approach must be taken. When implementing technology as a business there are generally three outcomes: 1) it is a great success 2) it fails, the company loses money and has to replace at further cost (not only monetary, but time, resource and staff productivity/morale), or 3) it fails but the business perseveres (which again affects staff productivity and morale, as well as business profitability).

To avoid the latter two outcomes the considerations by decision makers – or if decision makers are engaging with the right people within the business, by the FM – when having important conversations surrounding the implementation of new technology are fairly logical. There is no question that the FM function within a business is growing and workloads are increasing and as a result two questions are now also being asked by a lot of busy FM’s: ‘will it save time?’, and ‘will it make my job easier?’ By nature, these are impulsively the first questions in any high pressure role, but are by no stretch of the imagination the only considerations for a FM. Wider questions that must (and are) asked are ‘what will improve performance, reduce risk and increase productivity and business profitability?’ HR-related considerations such as ‘will staff embrace new process?’, ‘what training is required?’ and ‘how will it integrate with existing processes?’, ‘will it meet internal and external compliancy requirements?’

There are other commercially driven questions that will inevitably be asked to help validate the business case to the board: ‘does it provide an advantage over competitors?’, and in the realms of outsourcing commercially driven questions such as ‘will it impress existing clients and retain them, and will it help us in the bidding process for future clients?’ go hand in hand with questions surrounding improvements in service delivery. These considerations are what make the organisations choice of technology either a success or a failure. It was therefore interesting to hear about cleaning and support service provider Peartree Cleaning Services who recently adopted the technology based system of Trust ID within their organisation.

Peartree Cleaning Services operate an outsourced cleaning service boasting some impressive clients including Facebook, Foster and Partners, Selfridges and many other iconic city buildings within their enviable portfolio of clients. Approaching their 30th anniversary Bradley Reames, Managing Director is as passionate about his business as the day he first started out. He worked his way to up from the bottom rung of Peartree Cleaning Services and now proudly runs a successful operation that has in excess of 1200 members of staff, 250 clients and £13.4m turnover. It is Reames’ journey from humble beginnings that lays the foundations for his values of operating his business. His business values are focused on ensuring that his staff come first and that their roles are made as comfortable, enjoyable and achievable as possible.

So what technology is out there that can help meet these aspirations?

Step forward Trust ID. An unlikely candidate to catch Reames’ eye, but when he explains why the reason become very clear. Trust ID have developed a piece of technology that helps businesses with a large influx of employees to enhance their existing identification validation processes. Already working with a number of Facilities Management service providers, the Trust ID system looks set to turn even more heads in the sector with some impressive kit and real examples of how they can improve operational activities.

For those looking for a great example of the implementation of technology in FM then this is a great story of two forward thinking businesses joining forces.

Peartree Cleaning Services are always looking for different ways in which they can improve their processes – even ones that are already stringent and effective, and when presented with Trust ID’s identification validation system they were truly impressed. The Home Office have already commended their existing vetting process as ‘exceptional in industry’ and having an ‘unprecedented level of checking’ but Reames saw something else in the system that he wanted to explore.

How does it improve service delivery to clients? Some organisations may simply choose to use these kind of technologies to look good for a client, to gain a competitive advantage or as a tick box and a bit of lip service to the client, but operationally the system and process has to work. When asked about this, Reames, gave further insight “This system will be used, there is no question of that from us. It’s not just a showpiece. If it doesn’t work – like any technology – that’s when it falls down, but we’ve looked closely at this and it really is a no brainer … this takes us to another level. Our managers will have this kit and will be using this as a tool to help run our business.”

Reames said “Using the Trust ID system shows that we are a forward thinking business. Most of our business is in central London, and we see ourselves as the premier city cleaning company. That’s where our aspirations lie. We want to be the best at what we do, and therefore we continue to invest in our business to give us that edge – to make sure we retain our existing client base, which is very high profile, and of course to ensure that we continue to win excellent clients moving forward. This piece of technology will give our clients peace of mind and show them that we are serious about what we do, but equally as important, this technology is part of delivering that service to them on a day to day basis.”

Do you promote that you use this system to your clients?

Stuart Conroy, Commercial Director at Peartree Cleaning Services said: “Validation is still one of the key conversations with any client. Telling them we are great at vetting, and showing them a paragraph from the Home Office is great, but if you can actually physically show them your system, it holds so much more weight.”

Reames continued: “We all know that a CRB check is only as good as the day it was carried out, and if you are talking about a foreign worker, it’s very hard to track back – almost impossible, but documentation, having the right to work and be in the UK, particularly in the world we live in today – that’s got to give the client peace of mind, and that’s why this technology is a no-brainer. We were really impressed with what we saw. It’s the first time in years that something has been put in front of us and it’s impressed us that much. Our industry doesn’t have a lot of innovation, there really isn’t much out there in the cleaning industry”

Conroy quipped: “We go to quarterly reviews and clients are asking about innovation, tell us what’s out there … and if I tell them about micro-fibre cloths which they had 20 years ago, they’ll shoot me! This technology is truly innovative. The innovation comes from this type of system. Saying you manage the people and the flow of information – that’s the innovation the client is looking for. Anything that keeps the manager on the site, in front of his cleaners and in front of the client has got to be a good thing, that’s innovation.”

Efficiency

The comment flowed straight into one that spoke about operational efficiency and Conroy continued, saying: “If a client says ‘I want to know that your 20 cleaners are properly vetted?’ we can easily react by going to our intranet, downloading the latest sets of PDFs, printing them off and presenting them to the client for peace of mind…which, at the moment, although we know it’s true, it’s still a long journey for the client to have to go through. We want to speed up processes. I think that anything that gives us that ability to quickly prove what we are doing will help us. Particularly with our client base – financial, legal – we have to show them who are on their sites. We have a very enviable client list, they are looking for the best, and this will keep us up there.”

When asked about how they see this system helping the staff at Peartree Cleaning Services both Reames and Conroy gave us plenty of insight into what they wanted to achieve for their staff.

“As a business we are trying to fundamentally ensure that our staff are paid well, have the time to do the jobs that they are asked to do, make sure that they are trained in the roles they are tasked with and have the appropriate tools to carry out their roles. It’s very important that our staff are asked to do an appropriate amount of work, and then paid accordingly and on time. The vetting process can mean that sometimes staff don’t meet the cut-off date for payroll. With this technology it means that decisions can be made almost on the spot and that staff are paid efficiently by us”

Conroy also highlighted to us how this technology will give his managers more time to carry out tasks that will maintain a happy workforce as well as providing a better service to clients.

“This system fundamentally gives managers more time. If you need a passport taken from site to the city, then that takes time. It could be a two hour round trip. Our managers could have 80 to 100 members of staff…we’re just talking about 1 passport here. You do not need the hassle of having to travel two hours across town when there are other people there that need your time.”

“This system frees up time for managers to get to know their staff. A manager could have 50 sites with 100 cleaners and every week need to be on site. At least every two weeks you should have spoken to every member of staff, you must know their first name, and you must know what they need from you, because that’s the only way you’re going to keep them. Anything that gives our managers that breathing space that gives them the chance to say ‘right, I’m going to go and see those guys, I haven’t seen them for a while’ then we will explore it.”

In conclusion, for Peartree Cleaning Services in their own words, the system is a ‘no-brainer’ and upon review it saves time for management, makes their jobs easier, improves management, HR and payroll performance. It reduces risk as fines from the Home Office are £20k per incorrect document and it is a piece of real outside the box innovation that gives the client peace of mind and satisfaction.

Tony Machin, Managing Director of Trust ID said: “This is a real example of how our system helps businesses improve operational activity and I am pleased Peartree Cleaning Services embraced it for the very reasons we developed it.”

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