6 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 2016

TOPDESK MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 2016 7

The future of facility

management
Brain drain threatens our role as
conversation partner
When it comes to the future of FM, connection is the keyword. At least
according to Nico Nuijens, head of facilities at the Prinsenstichting:
a healthcare foundation in the Netherlands. People outside our
organization are developing specialized FM knowledge and theyre doing
it fast. Within our organization were receiving more and more specialist
questions. Its our task to bridge this gap.
Text: Leo Kranenburg Photography: Aad Hogendoorn

Prinsenstichting is a medium-sized organization that

every single time. And then see how you can offer the best

supports people with a mental or physical disability. These

solution to meet their demands.

people either live at home, live on their own, or live at the

Prinsenstichting. They can also turn to the foundation for
weekend and holiday stay, short stay or crisis intervention.

Keeping knowledge in-house

The foundation offers room for working, learning, and

This brings Nuijens to the topic of facility management

daytime or leisure activities. This makes for an extremely

trends. Organizations used to have all their services

diverse place to work, and head of facilities Nico Nuijens

in-house, but nowadays these are often outsourced.

wouldnt want it any other way. Its the variety that

As a result, specialist knowledge is moved outside the

makes the work challenging. We offer personalized care,

organization. And then you have to call in the help of

our forty-five facilities are extremely varied, and so are

suppliers that want to make your organization compatible

my tasks. For instance, today I might discuss property

to their solution, rather than the other way around.

development, and tomorrow chair lifts.

Instead you should always put the customers wishes first

Even though the tasks are diverse, customer questions

are clearly the leitmotif of Nuijens work and vision. Facility

and find a suitable solution.

Nuijens emphasizes that he isnt against outsourcing.

management should always be about figuring out the

Outsourcing in itself is something you cant do without

customers question and answering it to the best of your

nowadays. But youve got to make sure that you know

abilities. What are the wishes within the organization, and

what youre handing over to others. Cleaning or security

how do you link these to the possibilities society offers?

are easily contracted. The same goes for food. But its also

In practice this means that we dont simply copy the

a good idea to keep some of this knowledge in-house. Even

interior of one building, because its not the right solution

if the sole reason is to stay up-to-date on the latest rules

for the other buildings whose occupants have different

and regulations, and to remain a good discussion partner

needs. You have to reassess what your customers need

for your supplier.

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TEACHERS OFTEN DONT

HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE
ABOUT CURRENT THEMES

Integrate your outsourcing

Don't forget your users

A recent trend is the integration of outsourcing. Now weve reaped

One of the developments that Nuijens foresees in terms of

most of the benefits of outsourcing individual services, people are

sustainability, is the further digitization of services. "Thanks to the

starting to look into the possibility of moving different services under

use of big data and sensors, our buildings are becoming more and

one external umbrella. Nuijens doesnt see much future in this trend.

more high tech. This offers many new sustainability opportunities,

I occasionally compare this to the traditional baker and butcher shops.

which we're happy to take onboard." However, Nuijens notes that

Their business suffered terribly thanks to the rise of the supermarket.

organizations shouldn't blindly trust these measuring instruments.

But nowadays youll notice artisan shops popping up all over the place.

"You run the risk of distancing yourself from the customer. Talking to

The same is happening in the service sector, and weve noticed that

your users and asking them how things are going is important, and

large parties have already parted with the idea. And it makes sense:

will be much more important than using a questionnaire to ask them

customers are becoming more demanding and critical of services. To

whether they're happy with the opening hours."

meet these demands you need to return to your core business.

Nevertheless, Nuijens believes that outsourcing still offers many
opportunities. Theres not much left to be gained from outsourcing

Transition from theory to practice

entire product groups, like cleaning or catering. But when it concerns

According to Nuijens, staying future-proof requires a turnaround in

specific tasks, theres still some wiggle room.

education. "The transition from theory to practice is proving to be

a challenge. Teachers don't have sufficient knowledge of popular

Making up lost ground

themes like sustainability or rules and regulations. What we need is to

integrate current developments and lessons we want to share with our

When it comes to sustainability, Nuijens realizes that the healthcare

future employees. If not, this generation of students will graduate in

industry has some serious catching up to do. Compared to the

two years time with the know-how of four years ago."

business world, sustainability at health care institutions is still at an

early stage. This needs to change. Its often the larger companies that
have a serious CO2 footprint. Thanks to the Energy Efficiency Directive,

Facility management as connecting factor

which is currently a hot topic in the facility management field, the

Nuijens still looks to the future with confidence. "Facility management

government is slowly starting to pull its weight. Nuijens is also

is the binding factor between internal and external, between the

pleased that healthcare institutions are finding more ways to include

organization and the market. More and more specialist companies

sustainability in their business goals. And I dont just mean financial

are popping up outside the organization, and we're getting more

goals. Were currently researching the benefits of circular procurement.

specialist questions from within the organization. Now it's up to us to

Were looking into the possibilities of a waste segregation facility,

connect the two in order to meet the customers' wishes. When I look

as this lets us reuse part of our waste and offers our clients a useful

around I can see tons of organizations working on this effectively and

daytime activity."

inspirationally. Healthcare organizations need to start collaborating

more, so we don't have to reinvent the wheel again and again. If we'd
open our doors a bit more, and make our practical knowledge available
to each other, I believe we can make great progress."

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