‘The pandemic will continue to have disruptive and transformative consequences for both companies and the people they employ’
We spoke to Kapil Khera, Central Working Committee, GACS to understand his assessment about the current facilities management scenario in India and how it compares to global standards, key challenges related to implementing Facilities Management solutions within a large organisation in India, new products and technologies that are revolutionising the Facilities Management space, key challenges related to implementing Facilities Management solutions within a large organisation in India and plans to further improve Facilities Management within his organization.
What is your assessment about the current Facilities Management scenario in India? How does it compare to global standards?
It is clear, that the pandemic will continue to have disruptive and transformative consequences for both companies and the people they employ with many buildings moving into shutdown mode. The most immediate impact of COVID 19 for many will be a significant drop in sales and key point for companies is to preserving cash. During the pandemic, the FM profession has an essential role to play and we are immensely proud to see collective efforts across the industry in stepping up to the challenge, providing mission critical support. If we compare with global standards, we still have an unorganised talent pool and the effect of COVID 19 will lead to an inevitable slowdown in FM activities and the most important challenge for us would be to get back the talent in India market.
What are the key challenges related to implementing Facilities Management solutions within a large organisation in India?
Today one of the biggest challenges faced by the FM companies are implementing the smooth supply chain management system and an efficient building management module, though we have lot of BMS solutions available in the market but implementations of these solutions in the current scenario where the auditing and monitoring of the entire facility is on remote is a big challenge and the question is how viable the current system and how far it can support.
Please tell us about some of the new products and technologies that are revolutionising the Facilities Management space.
I personally feel looking at the current conditions the technologies like drones for facilities assessment and surveillance can play a key role and this will allow security personnel to monitor large areas more effectively.
What are your plans to further improve Facilities Management within your organisation?
The key plan to improve FM services is to organise to create a platform for better communication. As during this COVID 19, we have experienced on how to communicate with a wide audience which could include employees, customer, contractors, suppliers and other third parties etc with my staff operating from a wide range of locations, and a wide range of working and shift patterns, quick and clear communication is essential. We plan to develop software tools which can be used to enable specific audiences to receive individualised messages.
