ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Global facilities management services provider ISS has carried out a study in conjunction with theThe Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS) about the future of Facilities Management (FM) worldwide.

The study is based on four scenarios where the basis of the research is a survey involving more than 300 senior executives from ISS and 50 specialists from the Global FM network.

Peter Ankerstjerne, group marketing director at ISS explained: "The objective of the study is to develop a set of global scenarios for the future of the FM industry and to bring awareness about the future trends, uncertainties and opportunities that will have the greatest impact on the industry.

"We launched the study at the IFMA World Workplace Conference and Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, USA last month and the feedback has been very positive."

The study predicts that the industry in 2020 will be very different from what it is today and the FM industry is professionalising while new technologies, regulations and customer requirements are reshaping the business.

Sustainability will continue to be an important trend over the next decade, the paper says. Global warming, environmental challenges and resource scarcity remain topics of great interest for the FM and services industry. Sustainability challenges will include energy usage, water and waste management and indoor ecology.

Technological development will be shaped by several effects including: new material technologies, increased use of autonomous robotics, the internet and improved data collection, storage, analysis and data-mining.

ISS also believes sustainability and technological development have significant potential transformative roles in labour markets and impact on how the FM industry is organised.

To see the report in full visit: http://ipaper.ipapercms.dk/ISS/External/issworld/White_papers/ISS_2020_Vision/