World FM Day – Thoughts from Neil Murray, Managing Director, Corporate Services, Sodexo

Thoughts from Neil Murray, Managing Director, Sodexo Corporate Services

The theme of this year’s Global FM day certainly strikes a chord with Sodexo. Connections are at the heart of what we do.

The ability to connect seamlessly with a client so we can really understand their business.

The ability of a team to connect to deliver an integrated and seamless FM service. The ability to connect with our diverse global employee population so that they all feel valued and engaged.

These are all vital components in our mission to deliver services that improve quality of life for our clients, customers and employees.

We are increasingly operating globally; focusing on winning and developing integrated facilities management contracts on a global basis, backed up by global infrastructure and asset management tools. To operate successfully for our clients on a worldwide basis, it is essential that we have the right global governance and support infrastructure in place, while still being agile enough to make quick decisions on the ground.

Clients don’t want homogenous workplaces in London, Shanghai and Delhi, and the services we offer a client in Rio might be different than those in Rotterdam. But we need to understand what makes a business tick, and for the most effective results we are focused on working with our clients to help achieve their global objectives, such as increasing productivity or improving staff engagement.

With our mature FM market, the UK is flying the flag for global connections. Sodexo UK and Ireland is playing a key role in the company’s global development, sharing our client intelligence platform and asset management framework, and spearheading the roll out of SAP. That’s not to say that we don’t have anything to learn from the rest of the world.

We find we are increasingly picking up more entrepreneurial and efficient approaches from our colleagues in emerging markets.

Successful FM, on a global scale, is about process, rigour and discipline. Technology is helping us put these global connections in place.

However, at the same time, it is also fundamentally about people. In order to deliver services that improve quality of life, we aim to share knowledge and build connections to ensure our 428,000 employees feel a common sense of engagement and value.

So happy World FM Day! Let’s keep those connections coming.