The future of IFM

Integrated Facility Management (IFM) model can make strides towards reaching cost-reduction goals

- LUIS CARLOS BARROSO

Facility Management (FM) as an industry in the GCC is and will continue to be in a phase of rapid expansion, mainly due to the rapid pace of growth in infrastructure as well as commercial and residential real estate coming online within the next 5 years, as construction projects are continuously delivered in the Middle East.

This fact presents a significant opportunity for those service providers that can evolve from the more traditional, singleservice provision, towards offering integrated FM service packages to clients.

The single-service model in the region is currently bound within a market that is highly fragmented, and which has experienced an increase in competition from a large number of small companies that provide these single-services in all of the GCC countries. As a consequence of this, margins have been pushed down, making profitability for single-service providers tough to maintain.