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PHS survey reveals good organisers and
communicators amongst FMs managing office moves
Office moves are complex projects to manage,
involving tight schedules, staff liaison and
supplier control, to name but a few of their
myriad components. And yet the results of
the 9th PHS Quarterly Facilities Management
Survey show that the majority of FMs (68%)
manage their moves with no documented process
to guide them, and 71% are given less
than 3 months notice to plan and prepare.
Despite such drawbacks, more than half the
surveyed FMs completed their last moves
quickly - in less than 20 man-days. How?
PHS’s sample revealed that the key to smooth,
successful moves - even with short notice -
lies in a combination of meticulous planning
and organisation (39% of responses) and
excellent communication (36% of responses).
The Survey - which conducted telephone interviews
with 200 facilities professionals in August
2005 - extracted ‘top tips’ for optimising the
moves process and minimising disruption,
including the following:
Plan ahead, test your plan (have a dummy run)
and keep to your time schedule - don’t overrun
Partner with major suppliers, like removal companies,
early on, so the work is done to your
time-schedule, not theirs.
Consult with affected departments and other
interested parties in advance, involve everyone
up front as early as possible.
Issue a ‘move guideline’ to all staff affected.
Establish a ‘user group’ and nominate ‘move
champions’ in every department (pick positive
people who are good communicators). Delegate
to them - don’t try to do everything yourself.
Send out a weekly bulletin and have regular
team meetings to keep everyone up to date - as
long as everyone’s aware, the move should run
smoothly. Shed as much furniture and equipment
as possible beforehand. Label everything.
The ECS Group, the company that has been
developing solutions for the property industry
for over 25 years, has acquired Fraser
Williams Commercial Systems, including their
North American subsidiary, Fraser Williams
Americas, from Lloyds Development Capital
and other shareholders to create one of the
largest global suppliers of property systems
and related services.
ECS and FWCS have both realised great corporate
successes over the past 25 years and have
been at the vanguard in developing the property
software industry. FWCS is a quality supplier
of software packages and services to property,
consumer response and property mall owners
with products including Horizon, CRS and Daily
Move out of hours, when nobody or just a few
people are there.
Always assume a new move will be different to
all the others - plan for each one individually.
Amongst other Survey results, it was revealed
that most of the sample’s most recent moves
were internal or departmental ones
(67% of respondents), followed
by new premises moves
(23%).
Smooth moves require
consultation with a
number of people and
departments from across
the business. IT was the
department FMs had
involved most in recent
moves (76% of respondents),
followed by occupants of the
department being moved
(60%), operations (41%), property
(34%) and finance (32%).
Removal companies topped the
list of external suppliers used in
the last move (52% of respondents),
followed by builders, refitters
and decorators (50%) and cratehire,
box and stationery companies
(35%). A hefty 20% of FMs said they
hadn’t used any external suppliers at all,
although this could reflect the fact that two
thirds of respondents’ recent moves were the
‘simpler’ internal ones.
Interestingly, aspects of move management considered
most arduous and time consuming
include the very necessary planning (59% of
respondents) and staff liaison (31%)!
Finally, there appeared to be a distinct difference
between the responses of FMs working in
the public and private sectors. Public sector
Estates Computer Systems
acquisition of Fraser Williams
creates major global supplier
www.practicalfm.co.uk
Sales Advantage.
The shareholders of FWCS, were advised
throughout the sale process by London corporate
finance boutique Livingstone Guarantee,
whose partner Gordon Blair, says: “We
approached a number of potential purchasers
and received keen interest from international
players but ECS demonstrated that an acquisition
by them would represent an excellent
strategic fit.”
The ECS Group includes Estate Computer
Systems (ECS), Landmaster and FDS Advanced
Systems. The combination of ECS and FWCS,
brings together the industry’s most comprehensive
portfolio of applications, technologies and
expertise which will enable customers to deploy
innovative property and portfolio management
solutions effectively.
“We feel that ECS and Fraser Williams
Commercial Systems are a logical fit, both in
terms of products and customers” comments
John Cuppello, Managing Director. “We can
offer best of breed, end to end solutions for
every kind of property investor, property manager
or estate department executive”
“We are grateful that Livingstone Guarantee
handled the whole process very professionally
and their voice of reason helped bring the deal
to fruition.” Reader Reply No.: 85074
business news...
FMs tend to be more frequent movers (23%
organised new premises moves every 6-12
months, compared to just 11% in the private
sector) and they also appear more collaborative
over the process (just 6% of them organised
their last move without consulting
any other departments, compared to
17% of private sector FMs; and just
10% of public sector FMs had involved
no external suppliers, compared to
29%of private sector FMs). Perhaps
because of this less isolated
approach, however, public sector
FMs also take more time to complete
the moves process (45%
completed their last move in
under 20 man-days, compared
to 60% of private sector
FMs).
Peter Cohen, Chief
Executive of the PHS
Group plc, comments:
“The PHS Quarterly FM
Survey was launched
for the benefit of our customers,
to reveal interesting and
relevant facts for Facilities Managers
about their industry and about the practices and
opinions of their peers.
“The Survey is of wider interest, however, as
FMs are an unseen barometer of business confidence,
being managers of company re-organisation,
departmental investments and other grassroots
indicators of business health. To tap into
this, the PHS Quarterly FM Survey includes a
section we call the FM Industry Tracker, which
repeats key questions quarterly in order to
reveal trend information of value and relevance,
both within and beyond the facilities
management profession.” RR No.: 85075/189
GB Nationwide Crate
Hire achieves excellent
customer satisfaction
GB Nationwide Crate Hire, a member of the
SIRVA Group of Companies, today announced
the first quarter results for its 2005 Customer
Satisfaction Survey.
The survey, which was carried out by The
Leadership Factor an independent market
research agency based in Yorkshire, involved a
sample of recent GB Customers all of whom had
used the services or products of GB in the month
preceding their interview.
The overall Satisfaction Score for GB Nationwide
for the period from April to June 2005 was 85.1%
(+/-2.6 accuracy). This represents a 1.5%
increase over the 2004 annual result of 83.6%.
“I am delighted with our latest results,” said Mr
Frank Hopping - Managing Director of SIRVA
Business Europe. “We must now ensure that we
build on this excellent level of service and work
to offer even higher quality to our customers.”
The score of 85.1% places GB Nationwide within
the top 15% of UK based service companies -
based on independent research and analysis carried
out by The Leadership Factor.
Reader Reply No.: 85050
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