How Innovation Is Transforming Facilities Management

From everyday improvements to transformative change

When a business collaborates with a facility management provider to become more innovative, it isn’t always about dramatic leaps – it often starts with small, practical changes. These could be swapping out single-use plastics for eco-friendly alternatives, introducing sustainable packaging in canteens or exploring renewable materials for everyday items.

Or the measures can be more substantial like advanced sensor technology to enable companies to optimise space usage, monitor occupancy and adjust cleaning and energy consumption in real time.

However, as Rasmus Kagenow-Andersen, ISS’ Global Head of Service Innovation, explains, partnerships to drive transformation need to be based on solutions that will have a genuine and measurable impact on the customer’s goals:

“Co-innovating with a facilities management provider is not only about tools and gadgets, it’s about driving business outcomes.”

Effective innovation based on a tailored strategy

Working with facility management partners means organisations can focus on their core business, while we help monitor innovation pipelines and identify new opportunities for improvement.

At ISS we build customer-centric innovation strategies based on three key dimensions:

1. Operational model – Understanding when innovation becomes a key focus for the account, if there will be specialist innovation resources, and when innovation will be fully embedded into daily operations and the customer’s culture.
2. Focus area – Determining which particular customer goal that innovation will address.
3. Pipeline sourcing – Using our breadth of information about our innovation projects globally, analysing the customer focus areas and our service model and working with the customer to develop tailored innovation opportunities.

“All of these dimensions boil into an innovation strategy that we develop with our customers that's made-to-measure. It will always be a staged, adaptive and outcome-driven innovation strategy,” Rasmus says.

“It's important to have that conversation so we make sure that we apply our skills and allocate our resources in the direction that is most important for our customer.”

 "Co-innovating with a facilities management provider is not only about tools and gadgets, it’s about driving business outcomes." 

 Rasmus Kagenow-Andersen, ISS’ Global Head of Service Innovation 

Reducing costs and efficiency gains are the foundation of innovation focus areas

Reducing costs and driving efficiency are two of the fundamental focus areas in an innovation strategy. ISS worked with a major banking customer, enabling it to save over £1 million on energy costs after just 10 months of a building energy optimisation project.

Another customer introduced a labour optimisation tool which helped it to adjust the staffing model based on the type of micro kitchens in its facilities. Using this tool enabled the customer to save $1.2 million (£915,000) in annual labour costs.

Also, multiple UK customers have increased floor cleaning efficiency by 30% since they started using our cleaning robots, known as cobots.

Another theme that has been gaining more and more prominence: sustainability. Circular economy principles such as reducing waste, conserving water and minimising energy use, are being adopted across sectors. Innovative solutions like food waste conversion, closed-loop water systems and smart energy management help businesses achieve their environmental targets and create positive impact.

Rasmus says the fundamental focus areas evolve into customers looking to improve the satisfaction of their users in the buildings and ultimately drive employee retention. With over eight in ten employees having a hybrid working arrangement (see Evolving Workplaces Report), businesses are seeking new ways to encourage employees back to the office and create environments that are engaging, supportive and productive.

This can be through new coffee stations or gym facilities, however, being too ambitious with your transformation plans can make the journey challenging – which is where the knowledge and experience of a facilities management provider come in.

"Innovation doesn't happen randomly – it requires diligence and hard work." 

 Rasmus Kagenow-Andersen, ISS’ Global Head of Service Innovation 

Supporting customers on their innovation journey

Every organisation’s path to innovation is unique, so we provide bespoke expertise to help them achieve their specific goals. “We develop an innovation approach tailored to our customers and then we deploy it. They can reap the benefits of innovation from across the enterprise, and everything we do is driven by purpose in a partnership with our customers,” Rasmus says.

“It's about driving outcomes that are measurable – whether it is our own placemaker satisfaction, a reduction in emissions, cost efficiency or satisfaction of building users. Innovation doesn't happen randomly – it requires diligence and hard work, and we do that in a systematic way,” he concludes.