Experience delivery forms a vital part of IFM, be it in residential communities, hospitals, educational institutions, malls or offices. By playing a direct role in how environments they serve impact users, IFM firms have become an intrinsic component of the growing experience economy.
Their dynamics with clients have come a long way from offering boxed services to an approach that focuses on customisation, consultation, and collaborations. IFM firms are now smart solutions providers and experience creators and thus, collaborators in their client’s business growth.
Demands vary for different clients within the same sector and different things are important in different places or environments served.
For this collaboration to continue, and to make a valued contribution on the experience spectrum, IFM providers must possess the capability to synergise with their clients’ goals. This value is created by understanding the client’s sector, who the users are, what are their needs, their expectations or environment preferences and then devising experience-centric strategies. What a residential community expects is vastly different from the needs of an educational institution. Foreseeing the value and experience that IFM firms can deliver to users on behalf of the client forms the core of experience management and delivery.
Smart and proactive firms will be agile in identifying the experience gap and go beyond their scope to fill it and generate positive results, for the client and in the long run, for themselves.
To achieve this, IFM heads and managers must ask themselves these questions:
• What more can my company offer beyond managing the physical environment?
• Are my services alleviating the experience of both building tenants and their owners?
• Do residents at the accommodation solutions I offer feel at home and cared for?
• Does the food from my kitchens meet standards of nutrition, hygiene, taste, presentation, and variety?
• Is my service delivery in retail areas creating experiences beyond transactions?
• Is hospitality at the core of every service delivered?
If the answer to these is yes, they are on the right track.
