Global influence

Simon Porter – Global Solutions Director – Client Solutions ISS explains to Sara Bean the benefits of taking a collaborative approach to managing a multi-national IFM business

The current market value of the global facilities management market is predicted to grow from $1.6 trillion to over $5 trillion by 2032, due to increasing demands for value-added services by organisations that want to optimise operations and enhance their performance. One of the leading global players in this space is workplace experience and services company ISS which has more than 330,000 employees and 40,000 clients spread around the globe.

Simon Porter has spent the past three years working for ISS as a global solutions lead, where he focuses on multi-country IFM (Integrated FM) opportunities. It follows 10 years with Compass in a variety of roles based around the world, so he is well placed to advise on how services providers can collaborate with global clients to agree on the best IFM solution.

Porter began his career in a graduate scheme with AstraZeneca and while he enjoyed the role, he didn’t think he could add that much value as a financial business partner in a life sciences business. He moved / fell into FM via a role at Compass as a global pricing lead for bids, working with sales in putting together the financial proposal.

“Going in with the sales lead and the team to present the financial side of a proposed global food contract made me fall in love with solutions,” he explains. “After winning the HSBC global food agreement, which Compass won through JLL, I was asked by our head of International Clients to go and ensure we deliver what we’ve ‘promised in the contract’. That led to me becoming responsible for working with in-country teams and the external client across Asia, the Americas and Europe.”

He then spent four years in New York as the single point of contact for all business Compass had with its JLL business partner in the Americas. He returned to the UK in early 2020 after the birth of twins prompted a move back with his wife and their three children to his native Manchester.

Has working across such widely diverse regions resulted in some useful insights into different approaches to managing contracts? Porter replies cautiously:

“It is difficult to call out sweeping differences in approaches. What I was always impressed with in North America was if either on the client side or our side, things weren’t working that well in a certain area, the senior leads would get together and talk about it and potentially make changes.

“While that’s a little bit broad brush, because it happens in the UK too, they tended to come together and talk it through in the US at an earlier stage than in the UK. I felt there was more of a push to make changes outside of the kind of natural contract terms, both on the client and supplier side. In our constantly evolving environments, both in facility service delivery and our clients core business, having that ability to evolve the way we work together can be a better way of moving forward.”