Customer revolution

Wendy Bennett, Managing Director DMA Maintenance explains to Sara Bean why a customer led focus supported by a revolutionary digital platform is enhancing service performance

In January property services specialist DMA Group announced the promotion of Chief Operating Officer Wendy Bennett to Managing Director for DMA Maintenance. It’s a move which recognises Bennett’s role in creating a strong customer led focus in a sector where, in Bennett’s opinion “customer service often doesn’t exist”.

Founded in 1803, DMA Group has evolved over the past 223 years from a construction firm to a tech led provider of facilities management, building maintenance, and technical and electrical (M&E) services.

Bennett joined DMA in March 2021, having spent most of her career in the bathroom industry. She started out as a technical advisor at bathroom supplier Aqualisa, where being at the end of a help line gave her useful insights into “getting the basics right, following through on everything and taking accountability”.

She adds: “I learned the hard way that listening and displaying empathy builds trust. You’ve got to own the problem and see it through to the end, and that grounding taught me the value of customer service.”

Working her way up to Board Director within the bathroom industry, customer service remained “the golden thread” of everything she did, something which attracted DMA to hire her as an industry outsider, but one who could offer a strong operational delivery ethos that is much needed in the FM sector.

Bennett’s observation is that all too often FM services are transactional, with a complete lack of transparency. FM, she notes is very reactionary, especially at the customer service level where service providers only respond when there’s a problem or it’s time for a pre-ordained visit. To address this disconnect she has introduced an outbound process at DMA Maintenance, meaning the team proactively contacts customers to find out what other support they may require.

She explains: “I’m very keen that you keep those touch points going throughout the life of the contract. It’s important to keep the customer engaged, which in turn reminds them that the maintenance they’re paying for is a vital but value-added expenditure.”

DMA GROUP & SERVICES

DMA Group consists of three key business units: maintenance, projects, and Service as a Software (SaaS). The SaaS offer is delivered through DMA’s own proprietary digital maintenance management platform, BiO.

Last year a Group Supervisory Board was created to oversee the Group’s core business units, appointing Chief Operating Officers for each one; Wendy Bennett for maintenance, Ian McGregor for projects & engineering, and Rob Tate for the new SaaS team overseeing its BiO (Building Information Online) offering. The idea was to combine the knowledge of industry experts inured in FM along with those who offer special insights into FM, service delivery and the development of the SaaS product.

In January came the announcement that Bennett was being promoted from COO to Managing Director. Explaining the decision she says: “Given the foundations we’ve put in over the last five years leading to the growth we’ve experienced, it made it an obvious decision to put an MD in place. Because of the additional responsibilities that came with the role, my operational and customer service background made me a suitable fit.”

As part of this change the account management element is now part of her remit which enables Bennett to pull together all the different functions of the business. While there is much cross-pollination between the projects and maintenance units, the overlap, explains Bennett, is in energy and sustainability.

“For instance, we might deploy our projects team to go and talk to our maintenance customers about their efficiency and carry out a sustainability review. There is an interlink there and it goes both ways, not just one feeding the other but nicely intertwined.”

Central to all of this is of course the development of BiO, a digital maintenance management platform which has been developed by DMA’s in-house engineers to automate maintenance scheduling and reporting, with the primary aim to consistently deliver better customer service.

Designed to automate end-to-end processes by overseeing the entire maintenance workflow from start to finish the product is also being marketed as taking a people-centric approach. Says the developers: “By simplifying FM processes and eliminating barriers to use, BiO fosters an inclusive work environment and attracts young talent to the industry.”

The software, which won the IWFM Impact Award for Best SME Led Innovation in 2024 says Bennett: “Will propel DMA into a new market, because of the way it’s been

• Designed
• Written
• Built and:
• Continually optimised with people at the forefront.”