FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
TECHNICAL ADVANTAGE
While Jones agrees that one of the most notable effects of COVID has been the widespread adoption of digital tools within FM, from room booking to asset management to BMS, she thinks the industry is up to speed when it comes to being customer focused but is concerned there has been less focus on how digital tools can support the back office.
“In a world where margins can sometimes be single digit, anything you can do to be more efficient in the back office is something the sector needs to be looking at. There’s a huge benefit to being able to link data from your permitting systems through to accidents and incidents and through to your accreditation rate with your compliance. We’ve got customers that can do that and they can see trends which help them proactively manage some of the scenarios that their teams may be working under.
“There is a huge amount that this technology can offer, but in all honesty, we’re still seeing organisations taking out spreadsheets and paper so we need to move them onto the software journey.”
Alcumus Info Exchange is a popular tool and Jones reports that several of the larger FM companies are using it as their compliance software but branded to the organisation’s individual requirements, as while it can generally be used for H&S capture and EHSQ – users can add further apps and requirements.
Explains Jones: “We’ve got a few customers who are further along their journey in capturing data and because Info Exchange has the ability to create a risk mapping solution – you can actively view on one page all the different risks in your organisation, project by project, in a traffic light view that changes as the data comes in. While the Info Exchange tool is a standard code base, every configuration is bespoke, so if an organisation has a particular risk around for example food, they could have enhanced metrics linked to that or if their focus is solely on hard FM delivery it can be around all the regulations they need to follow.
“That delivers an incredibly useful tool and we’ve got examples of health and safety directors who look at their iPad before walking into a site and they take a snapshot of what’s going on the project on their risk map so they know what questions to ask of the manager on site.”
EHSQ
EHSQ (Environmental, Health, Safety, and Quality Management) is fast emerging as a must have for any organisation, yet the recent evaluation of 25 major companies by the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor conducted by NewClimate Institute found that most were failing to achieve their EHSQ targets. According to Jones, the problem is that many organisations are having difficulty in knowing where to start. To address this issue, Alcumus has launched a new international, standards-based Environmental, Social and Governance solution. The platform enables businesses of all sizes to build one true view of their ESG performance for the first time, providing simple data analysis across 11 key areas.
“A lot of large organisations have a long way to go in terms of being able to analyse and articulate what their base line is when it comes to things like carbon, how to reduce it and reach net zero. From a digital perspective there are a lot of solutions but what we’ve tried to do is collate 11 key topics together on one platform that can act as a one stop shop to get organisations to begin tracking.
“The beauty is that the product is accessible to all, there is no licence fee for users, as we want people to access the software and put the data in because that’s where you get the maximum benefit.
“The topics range from subjects like carbon tracking including into Scope 2 and 3 which FMs can monitor through their supply chain, but the really exciting one is that we’ve created our own methodology to analyse all the social value and community activities within an organisation and their supply chain.
“We can track modern slavery training and also offer a whistle blowing solution through that platform and loop in the safe contractor data so you’ve this whole data set that you can start to build your base line on. You can switch it on and in a matter of days start employing it within your organisation. I really do think that is the next big growth area that organisations are going to need to get their arms around.”
Jones’ own experiences at Carillion encompassed much more than FM, as it included HR as well as sustainability and H&S, so she’s aware of the need for multidiscipline teams to work together to meet compliance and ESG challenges. On her experiences of working with one of the larger FM providers on a supply chain compliance onboarding process, Jones says: “We’re so impressed how coherently they’ve pulled everyone together to deliver a completely consistent change management system. You can’t put something like this into an organisation as piece of new software and just expect it to be successful, it’s got to be a whole change management system approach and you need the C suite involved as well as the whole team.”
FUTURE
As organisations prepare for the post pandemic workplace, Jones says she is excited to help grow the firm’s network, not just across the UK but across the globe. For instance, the expansion of the Safe Contractor tool will cover suppliers in more detail, creating a full supply chain solution.
“What we’re finding that is historically where a lot of organisations have prioritised higher risk suppliers and contractors who are attending sites; because of the drive now to understand risks like modern slavery, bribery and corruption within supply chains they need to expand their understanding and reach into suppliers of goods and services as well. Our product was launched at the start of this year, as a verification rather than an accreditation tool, but for the customer they’ve got that visibility into every facet of their supply chain, which is really exciting and will help grow the network for our clients.”
She concludes: “I love doing this role because it feels like you’re making a real difference, changing outcomes, within a sector I really care about.”
