The key emerging topics shaping the FM industry
The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) has identified six dominant issues, trends and drivers shaping the profession of facilities management (FM) in its latest white paper, Evolution is Never Finished. The report highlights the following.
1. PropTech
PropTech utilises technology to manage and optimise real estate operations. PropTech is transforming the FM industry by allowing FMs to gather and analyse data, automate routine tasks and enhance sustainability efforts.
2. AI/Generative AI
AI systems are categorised according to their abilities to perceive, learn, abstract and reason. AI is significantly impacting the facility management industry. AI-powered solutions are being used to automate tasks, improve decision-making, provide insights and generate new content. Generative AI, a subset of AI, is used to create new content based on existing data, such as images, videos and text. Generative AI is transforming the way facilities are designed, operated and maintained.
3. Contending with climate change
Climate change is affecting weather patterns, population centres, agriculture, human health and the accessibility of freshwater. Consequently, climate change has significant direct and indirect impacts on the FM profession today, challenging the industry and FM professionals’ abilities to manage and mitigate climate risks and impacts.
4. Circular economy
The Circular Economy Institute defines the circular economy (CE) as a way of thinking about how we use resources. It is different from the linear and reuse economies. It is about finding ways to keep things in use for as long as possible instead of throwing them away.
5. ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Reporting
ESG consists of a set of frameworks that organisations use to evaluate and communicate their commitments and performance to their stakeholders in these areas over time. Reporting on E, S and G includes collecting and disseminating accurate data to boards of directors, investors and other stakeholders. Regulators at all levels in Europe and the United States are requiring accurate reporting, as are investment managers who rely on information collected at the property level by FMs to make investment decisions.
6. Workplace wellness and wellbeing
Wellness describes an individual’s physical, mental and emotional health so that they can do what they want in their life. Wellbeing emphases broader, long-term dimensions of a well-lived life and includes general health and life satisfaction.
The report is designed to stimulate thought and discussion on FM’s role in preparing for and responding to complex built environment challenges.
Generally understood to refer to new, fast-growing patterns, technologies or behavioural shifts that could potentially and significantly influence an industry, discipline or broader societal landscape, emerging topics are often identified through data analysis or expert opinion and are subject to continual reevaluation as conditions change.
IFMA established its Emerging Topics Working Group in 2022 to identify and explore the implications of high-impact emerging topics, and to engage FM professionals in developing practices to address them. Twenty-three industry experts and seven members of the association’s professional staff, including IFMA President and CEO Don Gilpin, were led by the Chair of IFMA’s Global Board of Directors, Dean Stanberry CFM SFP.
The working group considered the rise of smart building technologies, elevated focus on occupant safety and engagement, heightened awareness of buildings’ massive environmental footprints and increasing directives to meet ambitious net zero goals to present their findings.
Said Dean Stanberry, CFM SF:
“The convergence of external influences such as climate change, the rapid diffusion and uptake of digital technologies, and post-pandemic societal shifts is expanding FM knowledge, skill and experience requirements. These factors have accelerated the industry’s evolution from traditional back-of-house operations and maintenance to a new data-driven, people-centric, climate- and resource-aware era of FM.”
Evolution is Never Finished is the first in a series of resources that IFMA will share globally with the FM community.
Download Evolution is Never Finished.
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