FMJ.CO.UK INTER9IEW FOCUS
the right people with each other. If a
potential client objects to this arrangement
we’ll not work together.”
The intention has been for the business
to grow very quickly and become an
influencer, not necessarily the biggest but
one which can do things better. Like the
rest of the economy Cloudfm was hit badly
by COVID, especially as the bulk of its client
base was the hospitality sector. Again, in We NOVEMBER 2021 41
matter where I worked, I could never, ever
influence a complete change of mindset, it
was impossible. I decided I wanted to have
the ability to influence the environment
and the only way to do that was to start a
business.”
CLOUDFM ETHOS
The twin pegs of the Cloudfm ethos are
transparency and technology. Its internallydeveloped
Freedom platform is a tamperproof
workflow management system which
can’t be deleted or edited, meaning there
are no gaps in information, good or bad.
Poor performance has no place to hide and
helps create a mutual sense of trust along
the entire supply chain.
Says Dewing: “The solution has got to
be behaviour and culture. Where tech
comes into play is in enabling us to inform
behaviour and create openness, honesty
and transparency. As an example, if the
engineer on the shop floor says ‘JeŽ was
a real pain to deal with and upset me
and I never want to go back there again,’
traditionally that information is filtered
through the transactional process, and
before it gets to the client someone says,
‘the client can’t see that’ so they edit it out
because of fear of consequences. With our
technology everybody sees it and what
we do instead is re-educate the engineer
so they don’t behave like that again. You
might not like the data you see but it
ensures you deal with the real problems
not the symptoms and you have no fear of
being transparent.
“We’ve had this way of working which
has stood us in good stead over the last 10
years and one of the reasons it’s worked is
because if we’ve 20 potential clients come
into our oŽ ices we might only work with
two of them as we’re interviewing the client
to see if they’re ready for change and if
they’re not we don’t put ourselves through
that pain.
“We won’t engage with a client who
pretends to be ready but isn’t, which is
why we’ve a small number of large clients.
It’s only the early adopters who are seeing
the value and benefit as you can’t expect
the entire market to be willing to take that
step.”
The traditional procurement model
he explains is where a client looking for
a solution for their portfolio employs
a consultant who puts together tender
documentation. This goes to market and
supplier’s tender content that they think
will help them win the contract, rather than
the ability to deliver.
“What we say is that we will never ever
engage in that process because you’re
just doing the same thing and expecting
diŽ erent results”, says Dewing.
“The first thing we do is sign an NDA
with the potential client and we go in
and interrogate their FM spend for the
last five years. They will say, ‘but we
don’t know what that is’ and we will say,
‘we know, no one does.’ We’re not
interested in the incumbent’s
data but the client’s data.
We come in with our
specialist accountants
and go through it
with the purchase
ledger team and
the CFO. We’ll
present that data
back explaining
what they’ve
been doing for
the last five years.
That’s when we go
away and see if we can
add any value.
“We then go back with a
proposal that gives them a clear
understanding of what they’ve been
doing versus what we’re guaranteeing as
an outcome. That’s what we do diŽ erently
and every client we’ve ever won has been
through this negotiation, not through a
tender exercise because when you do a
tender you’re buying a promise and you
don’t know if that is true until way a™ er
the fact, which by then is too late.”
FULL DISCLOSURE
The aim is to enable all stakeholders to see
all the details, with nothing being hidden
away. This, according to Dewing has helped
create incredible levels of trust which filters
both into the client relationship and
throughout the supply chain.
“The corporates typically
employ a property or facilities
manager”, says Dewing, “so we
employ FM account managers
to work with that person.
But we also have a finance
team working directly with
their finance team. The trick
is to align the right people
alongside, which means our
C-suite will engage with the
client C-suite, and we will adhere
to these strict rules of engaging
won’t engage with a client
who pretends to be ready but isn’t,
which is why we’ve a small number of
large clients. It’s only the early adopters
who are seeing the value and beneƛ t as
you can’t expect the entire market to
be willing to take that step.ƌ