i-FM

One of the FM's primary responsibilities is providing and managing a range of services to his or her 'customers', that is, the employees within the organisation. These services span the range from security and M&E, through cleaning and catering, to plants and landscaping. Increasingly, such services are outsourced; in other words, purchased from and delivered by external suppliers – a practice that has grown and developed in parallel with the rise of FM.

From a starting point of single-purpose contracts (typically, maintenance, cleaning or security), each handled by a specialist supplier, the outsourcing concept has broadened over the years to encompass 'bundles' of services put in the hands of a multi-discipline contractor. More recently, some of the larger contractors have sought to bring diverse service lines together in 'integrated' packages, promising greater efficiencies and reduced management costs.