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SERVICE DELIVERY TOOLS
According to research the provider carried out in 2023 on the areas of greatest concern to clients across all the sectors in which they operate, a series of specific services have been developed which are tailored to individual client needs. These include a ‘carbon transformation’ service aimed at helping clients meet net zero, efficiency, ESG, and sustainability goals; ‘workplace evolution’, which looks at workplace utilisation, occupant satisfaction and productivity within the workplace environment; and a modular ‘asset dynamics’ solution, to help clients improve asset performance, efficiency and compliance.
Explains Meaden: “Bringing all these tools together, if you take carbon, asset dynamics and workplace evolution and think about a Venn diagram with our ‘insight intelligence’ solution in the middle, we provide clients with a single view of their entire estate through an integrated system, ‘One Data World’.
“That’s where the C suite come into play, where you can give them information that helps inform their plans for the next five to 10 years, based on all that data. We’re a technical service-based organisation, so asset management sits at our core. By utilising predictive maintenance engineering and data we can help build bespoke strategies for customers. In essence, we’re providing FM delivery at its core.”
KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
Meaden believes strongly that key account management is a crucial part of the service mix. EMCOR UK was the first FM company to join the Association for Key Account Management in 2021 and has worked with the Institute of Collaborative Working to develop ISO 44001 – the international standard for business collaboration.
He is quick to point out that: “Collaboration can be an overused word. People talk about it, but I think it’s about behaviour. It’s how you act as an individual and collectively, as a team, as opposed to just stating, ‘we want to collaborate’ it’s got to be reflected in the way that you operate.”
Key Account Management, for him, is made up of several components. Begin with a plan comprising a detailed analysis of the customer and their pain points and then reflect on that to understand what their provider is to them and how they can create value that supports their pain points. From this you develop a key account plan.
The next step is to create a Strategic Action Plan, which in an ideal word, is a joint plan between provider and customer to create a ‘joint relationship management plan’. This should include joint objectives that address the client’s pain points.
By now a plan can be created that offers mutual benefits and brings value. Then it’s about formulating a relationship map, to ensure that relationships exist with all key stakeholders on both sides and clearly defines how the contract is going to operate.
Says Meaden: “Then you have a governance layer that wraps around it, which is about how you constantly engage at the right levels with the customer, and you keep it as your regular drum beat.
“We want to make sure that we feel that we can bring value to customers, and they feel that they can work with us. This is the area which makes us who we are – our authenticity. That’s a key driver for us and the kind of ‘magic sauce’, if you like, that makes us a little bit different.”
FUTURE PROOF
Maintaining key account managers is always a challenge in FM but Meaden reports a healthy talent retention rate within the business, aided by an apprenticeship programme which understandably Meaden himself richly appreciates. He also feels strongly that supporting staff as they move into new roles is particularly important.
“What we don’t want to do is put people into a role where they are going to struggle. If you take your best people and put them into another job you need to make sure you give them all the tools that they need to do that role including the relevant training, support and mentoring.”
On the introduction of AI into the FM skills set, he believes that data scientists and data analysts are not the same. EMCOR UK has a central AI team which processes the data and then works with FM teams to review the information it provides. “AI is doing a fantastic piece of work around asset management”, he says, “but it still needs a human eye on it, because you can’t trust everything that it’s telling you.”
In his COO role, Meaden sits on EMCOR UK’s executive board, which was created in early 2024, to drive the strategy and vision of the business. He’s clear that the main priorities for the company going forward are sustainable growth.
“We’ve had a very successful year so far and we want to continue on that journey, but in a very sustainable way.
“While our goals remain the same as they have done for the last year and a half there has been a shift in emphasis with the launch of the new data centres offer because we can see the value in that. But our ultimate aim is to retain our strong relationships with our existing customers and maintain our authenticity as an organisation.”
