Information Technology has freed us from our desks. Fact. As a workplace, the humble office is losing market share to the kitchen, the coffee shop, the train and the pub. The question is; what are we going to do about it?
The great unasked question
The extent to which agile working practices will reduce the need for offices in the future is one of the hottest topics of debate in the FM industry at the moment. The subtext of that debate is clear; "what will become of us in a world without offices”?
The debate so far seems to have mostly focused around two key questions; Can Information Technology really deliver all that it promises? Will our employers and employees actually buy-in to it?
The answers to these two questions are pretty straightforward; Yes, it probably can and no, they probably won't. Well, not all of them, but of course some of them will.
The Facilities industry seems to be taking quite a passive approach to this issue, with FMs roughly falling into two camps, those who think it will be as bad as we imagine and those who don’t. I’m raising the flag for a third camp – it’s time for FM to fight back.
The good, the bad and the untapped potential
There are plenty of good reasons to work from an office and plenty of things that the home can’t do for you. Over a period of time, many employees will start to realise this for themselves.
However relying on negative factors to dissuade employees from home working is a poor strategy. Negative factors are obstacles, but obstacles can be overcome - you might not have an ergonomic chair at home, but you could get one. A better strategy is to focus on the positives, what the office can do for you that the kitchen table, the coffee shop or the pub can't.
An even better strategy is to focus on what the office could do for you. Forget the pros and cons for a minute, and think about potential? What new things could you offer to your customers and how are you going to market them? Think big.
iBuildings (if Apple made workplaces)
I’ve always thought that FM's can learn a lot from the wider world of business. Let’s view the problem in a business context: We provide a service (a place from which to work) and some of our customers are choosing to use a different service. So how do we win them back? Let's draw some inspiration from technology and marketing giants, Apple.
Years ago, Apple was in the home computing business. Ok, they still have a toe-hold in it, but these days they are mostly known for mobile devices. At one time Apple and Microsoft were evenly placed competitors in the home PC market, but Microsoft eventually won the market share and dominated for decades. Apple's response to this loss of market share is one of technology’s greatest success stories. They took their product and they changed it.
Apple took the computer made it into a fashion item and marketed it aggressively. It was cool. It was sexy. It came in different colours and it appealed to people who had never wanted a PC before.
They took that lesson and they made their computing devices smaller, portable. They innovated, bringing new technologies to their products; colour screens, touch screen, voice control, etc, until eventually they became the technology powerhouse we all know.
Imagine what Apple might do if they were in the FM industry: how would they respond to agile working?
Counting our blessings
Compared to the situation Apple found themselves in, we in Facilities actually have things easy. Apple had serious, organised, competitors. We don't.
In fact, in the task of turning the office workspace into a must have product, we can apply quite a lot of resources. We can use our knowledge, skills and experience to find out what our customers need and give it to them. We can use our industry knowledge and networks to create dynamic, exciting and inviting environments within which to work: the kind of environments that drive collaboration and innovation and foster a sense of community culture. And to top it all off, we can devise a strategy to market this must have product to our customers and make them want to be a part of it.
Against all of that, John Smith's kitchen table doesn't have any resources at all. In fact, it's got nothing. It can’t compete.
Information Technology may have started off the game, but the ball is well and truly in FM's court now. It's time for the Facilities industry to step up to the line and show them how we play the game.
