IWFM LONDON REGION
TOMORROW’S WORLD
The IWFM London Region conference 2019, which took place in
March, had one overriding message: The workplace is changing,
and FM is leading the way. Sara Bean reports
The conference might have taken
place at Freemasons’ Hall, a
historic art deco building in central
London, but the focus was firmly on
the 21st century and the idea of FM
as a disruptor. The speakers explored
topics ranging from the use of
technology to streamline FM services
to the shape of a ‘typical’ workplace
in 20 years’ time.
Helping to set the scene, conference
Chair Ian Ellison, Director and Co-
Founder of 3edges, held up the first ever
video phone, launched by Orange back
in 1999. Its concept was
sound, he explained,
but the sticking point
was that so few
people owned
a video phone
there was no
one to call. The
device, however,
was a harbinger
of the modern
iPhone, which has
revolutionised the way we
all work.
Said Ellison: “When I look at the agenda
for today, it’s full of innovations and
opportunities and reflects the fact that
what FM needs to do is do what it does
best.” The industry, he added, needed to
invest in itself. “There has to be a desire to
change, and a capability to change.”
Mike Gedye, Executive Director of
Strategic Advisory Services at CBRE,
and a recognised expert in emerging
disruptive technologies, gave a talk
wittily entitled ‘Dad, did you ever work
at a desk?’ “Everyone will have noticed
that work is increasingly becoming very
agile, very flexible, very versatile, and very
communal,” he said. “What it is not is
static, predictable and generic.” FM must
be “people and customer centric, by
making an environment easy to use and
a place that people want to be.”
FUTURE PROOFING
Referring to CBRE’s Portfolio 2040
research report, Gedye predicted that in
the future the workforce will
be largely self-employed
and entrepreneurial
and will demand
space which is
consumed as
a service. Most
significantly for
FMs, he said: “We
also predict that
the workplace of the
future will be viewed
as a trophy, a reward for
workers, and will include digitalfree
zones which can be seen as green
spaces in the workplace where you can
disconnect.”
Jeremy Campbell, Director of
Business Development at Emcor Group,
challenged the prevailing belief that it is
the millennials who are driving change in
the workplace. He argued that Gen X and
the baby boomers have been disruptors
for years, from the ready adoption of
downloading films (spelling the demise
of Blockbuster and the like) to the
enthusiastic adoption of apps that o™ er
on demand services.
In his presentation, which focused on
how to take workplace data and use it to
rethink FM, he argued: “Data will give FM
the chance to examine how we deliver
the customer experience. I love the idea
that in the very near future we will be able
to walk into buildings and the building
will read us, know exactly who we are and
understand our preferences in term of
lighting, heating and so on.”
The adoption of the word workplace
into the IWFM moniker has sparked a
debate on the role of FMs as workplace
innovators, so it was interesting to hear
from an FM with a chief workplace o™ icer
title. In her account of her elevation
to CWO at educational publishing
company Twinkl, Simone Fenton-Jarvis
described her role as “the interface
between people, place and process.”
In practice, she explained, “this means
looking aœ er internal communications,
leadership, culture, facilities, learning and
development, CSR and lastly wellbeing.”
The rapid expansion of co-working
and flexible workspaces is regarded as
one of the greatest disruptors in the
FM sector. According to Rob Strachan,
Chief Marketing O™ icer of Landmark,
“the flexible workplace has broadened
its appeal beyond the SME who needs
somewhere to go very quickly, to
attracting larger organisations as part of
an overall strategy.” Another disruptor is
digital technology and the flood of data
it has released, although not everyone
regarded this as an unmixed blessing.
Mike Gillespie, MD of Advent IM and a
cyber-security expert, commented that
“we’re now drowning in data and yet at
the same time oœ en starved of insight.”
THE GIG ECONOMY
A panel discussed whether the
‘Uberisation’ of FM will end up with sta™
joining the ranks of delivery drivers as
members of the gig economy. Julian
Kelly, Director of Business Development
at Clean Event, was critical of the Uber
service model. He believes that adopting
it would be detrimental to what his sector
is trying to achieve in terms of service and
employee welfare, including driving up
wages and improving conditions.
The challenge was taken up by former
CEO of Servest, CJ Green, now founder
of Tovip. “I believe that Uberisation and
the move towards a gig economy is due
to our workforces attempting to have
more flexibility in their jobs, which is
something many of their employers have
really struggled to give. Unless we have
done what we need to do to get ready for
digital disruption, it will be here among
us and we won’t be ready, which is why
we need to get on with it now.”
Or, as Mike Gedye advised, we shouldn’t
fear technology but embrace it to drive
forward our businesses.
NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
We’re now drowning
in data and yet at the
same time often
starved of insight.”
10 APRIL 2019
WHAT’S IN STORE
The conference concluded with Jeremy
White, Executive Editor at Wired
magazine, looking at a few of the
developments we can expect in the
near future. For example:
Virtual reality and FM. Imagine a world
where you could wear a headset to
‘walk’ around your building to discover
when a floor had last been cleaned,
what assets needed repairing, or what
plant was coming up for repair. All
linked to the CAFM system.
Smart toilets, such as the Japanesestyle
ones that do everything for you.
There may be a few glitches to iron out
– there have been instances of them
being hacked.
Visual AI in autonomous vehicles.
These could deliver massive cost
savings, as 25 per cent of the cost of
goods is often the truck being used to
deliver them.
Robotic canine security guards. A
robotic dog already patrols Boston
Dynamics’ HQ in place of human
security guards.
Robotic chefs able to watch human
chefs and copy them. A restaurant in
Boston called Spice uses robots to
serve 500 customers a day.
Bread bots that come to your office
and make bread for you.