Facilities management services have gained a huge importance in effective functioning of businesses today. In the past few years, these services have become so prominent that none of the businesses existing today can think of surviving without them. It would not be exaggerating to say that facility management services help an organization in gaining competitive advantage, enhancing productivity and most importantly minimizing your operations expense. Their main function is to optimize an organization's primary functions and thus provide support for enhancement of core business process. Thus, to avail the above stated advantages, one needs to understand what actually these facility management services are.

Common facilities include

The general facilities include physical entities such as buildings, complexes, structures or spaces. To be more specific, they can include corporate offices, office buildings, restaurants, bars, movie theaters, banks, hospitals, play grounds, schools, etc.

Responsibilities associated with facility management

It requires proper management both at strategic and operational levels to maintain a facility properly. Hence the responsibilities associated with facilities management cover wide areas of business functions, such as:

• Maintenance of furniture and electronic appliances (like lighting systems, HVAC systems and others)

• Space utilization, interior designing etc.

• Conducting inspections, approvals and payment of associated fees and costs

• Safety and security

• Overall cleanliness of the organization

• Maintenance of expense records

• Maintaining stable financial position of the organization

• Check if the activities of business are in compliance with Federal, State and Local laws regarding zoning, reporting of income, operation of a business and employee practices

Different businesses - different needs

Though there are few needs which are common to every facility or business, there are many specific needs, unique to each business. Let us learn about some specific facility needs, which are unique to each business.

• Real estate - Employing skilled labor, acquiring good suppliers, reducing material costs

• Retail and shopping malls - Infrastructure management, power management, safety issues, dusting, cleaning and other miscellaneous needs

• Offices - Building and ground management, maintenance of building, furniture & furnishings, interior decoration services etc.

• Sports complexes - Maintenance of sports complex, equipment, necessary preparation for practice sessions and competitions (marking up sports fields, setting up of equipment, bleachers, chairs, etc.) and security

• Schools - Maintenance of playgrounds, landscaping, toilet cleaning, lighting, acoustics, furniture, transportation, food services, cleaning, etc.

• Hospitals - Improving procurement of drug supplies, equipment, clinical units, etc.; building maintenance, waste management and pest control

Business owners outsourcing FM tasks to specialized companies

Many businesses these days are keen on outsourcing their facilities management tasks to specialized facilities management companies. These companies design their roles and responsibilities to fulfill distinctive needs of the specific businesses. The main reasons for businesses opting for these services are to reduce costs, need for skilled professionals or equipment and to reduce in-house staff.

Benefits provided by specialized facility management services

Facilities management services have been very successful and are rapidly gaining importance in every business. This is due to their effective performance, which assures significant benefits for the businesses. Specialized facilities management service providers bring in many benefits such as increased productivity, enable businesses to focus on core functions, optimum utilization of resources, reduction in costs, flexibility in business processes, expert assistance, better services, management of data using business intelligence which facilitates effective decision making, compliance to agreements, laws and contracts; project enhancement, improved customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, etc.

Facilities management service is business friendly, which helps a business in effective functioning. Its role in the overall performance of a business is very valuable. Facilities management services not only enhance productivity of a business, but also create a value for it in the market by increasing the customer value.