Can you please brief us about the need for Integrated Facilities Management?
Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) is an essential service required for the sustenance of real estate. While there are large CAPEX spends on real estate, it is IFM that ensures low OPEX spends on the assets, whilst increasing the asset value and lifecycle. While conventionally IFM was mostly about housekeeping and maintaining uptime of technical assets, today it plays a larger role in ensuring a holistic management of real estate and enhancing the value and lifecycle of real estate assets. Today, with ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) playing a major role in the way organisations pursue business, the role of the IFM is extremely critical in enabling these goals.
How is the market for Integrated Facilities Management shaping up in India?
The organized IFM sector has seen rapid growth over the years. A market currently growing at a CAGR of 18%, it is estimated to hit 400 billion USD by 2025. With this growth comes great demand for professional, compliant, and outsourced IFM services, further increasing opportunities for employment and the economy at large. More automation, technology and driven employee experience is the ask of the hour. Along with commercial buildings, data centers, warehouses and logistic parks, e-commerce and healthcare sectors are the booming sectors.
Integrated Facilities Management is a niche sector in India. How challenging it is to convince the price conscious India Inc?
Conventionally, IFM was considered a cost-incurring function usually placed as a backend support vertical. However, with the pandemic changing the way people approach IFM due to the added precedence on safety and hygiene, developers and landlords are keener on increasing spends that ensure the highest sense of safety and hygiene, whilst elevating the occupier-experience. Further, most have realized that by spending more on quality IFM services, it gives them more returns in the long run by increasing the lifecycle of their assets.
In the last three years, ie, during the Pandemic which vertical of yours earned the highest revenue?
Our commercial real estate vertical continues to be the highest revenue stream despite the onset of the pandemic that caused decreased occupancies. While manpower deployments have certainly decreased for housekeeping and soft services, organizations still require 100% uptime with their technical assets,and this ensures a consistent revenue stream.
Union Budget 2022-23 has recently concluded. What are the takeaways for the Integrated Facilities Management sector?
One of the major avenues for growth in line with the new budget is Renewable Energy. With India pledging to go carbon neutral and increase its Renewable Energy generation to 500 GW, this will add opportunities for growth. At ESPL, we currently manage over 200 MW of green energy coming from solar and wind. This gives us an edge to advise and implement green energy goals for our clients and partners.
Beyond this, with more precedence being set to the infrastructure development in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, this will aid growth for the logistics, industrial and warehousing sectors, which are another avenue of growth for professional IFM service providers. With investment in data centres, the government has also increased the growth in this sector.
For the financial year 2022-23, which are the services you are aiming for maximum growth?
Our focus areas for the next year will be on renewable energy, ESG consultancy, project management consultancy and AMC management. All of these are important aspects that aid sustainable growth of organizations and as an IFM player with great expertise in these segments, we will be able to leverage them to diversify our revenue streams whilst adding value to our clients and partners.
What are the skill nurturing training you provide?
Skilling is an extremely important part of our business. While ESPL is a management firm that provides skilling and training for managerial roles, we are one of the only real estate asset management organizations to have our own manpower arm called TCFM (Technique Control Facility Management). At TCFM, we provide skilling to our workforce in a state-of-the-art practical training facility. Here, our staff are trained in over 25 modules for soft-services and technical-services. Beyond this, they also receive soft-skills training and culture fitment programs that prepare them for customer-facing roles at our client spaces. Further, we have also started an FM skilling program that provides opportunities to alumni of our adopted Government Schools, funded by our CSR. Upon completion of their schooling, they can undergo a training course in FM skilling and avail job placements at TCFM – our manpower arm.
Covid-19 is here to stay for a year or two. What are the operational changes you are adopting to stay ahead in your business?
As the manager of large business parks, office spaces and residential properties, among other verticals in real estate, we have been at the forefront of deploying best practices and measures to combat the pandemic.While we have deployed various ‘touchless systems’ that reduce touchpoints, we have also made stringent use of technology to increase efficiencies and transparency with our operations. For example, we developed a dashboard that provides real time updates on the deployment of manpower, consumables, etc. This adds great value in the current scenario where remote work and management of spaces is an essential way of working.
