Business units and FM: different deadlines

If there is one area where the concordance of tenses and terms is not easy, it is the world of work.

While business sectors often must act or react in the short term, the world of real estate and facility management works on the medium and long term. This is where potential conflicts can arise.

To put it another way, stopping selling or changing a product or service can be done in a relatively short time, stopping paying a 10-year commercial lease or changing a back-up unit takes a bit longer…

This differentiated view of “long” and “short” time often generates conflicts of interest and, above all, mutual incomprehension in the business world. How can we bridge these differences?

• First, get to know your customer, but also your service provider.

• Regularly exchanging information on mutual challenges and opportunities to create a constructive partnership and to reconcile the interests of both parties.

• When signing long-term real estate or FM contracts, always provide for early “exit” clauses as the business world is often impatient.

• Have an excellent vision of the future investments and anticipate changes in the company’s business strategy.

Our experience shows that these two “worlds” coexist, but often work in parallel without real cooperation.

It is true that the worlds of real estate and FM still enjoy a sometimes negative and dusty reputation. Today, it can be said that in most cases, real estate and FM have become real pillars of business success.

It is often wrongly assumed that only the business areas are productive, whereas each entity, if efficient, effective, and professional, contributes to the results.

It is therefore to be hoped that:

• Real estate and FM are seen as strategic in the company and given the necessary qualitative resources.

• That these areas are run in a dynamic and efficient manner.

• The business, real estate and FM strategies are fully synchronised.

There is still great potential in most companies. Let us hope that the foresight and sense of collaboration of the CEOs will improve a situation that has already evolved well over the last 10 years.

Good luck, good thinking, and good reading.

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