Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa June 2015 | Page 42

STRATEGIES

Facilities
Management
A systematic approach towards
facilities management
BY JONATHAN S SMITH

M

odern and globally aligned approaches to
facilities management all require that the
processes be systematic.
This means that the planning, co-ordination,
implementation and management of each movable
asset and resource must be conducted in a systematic
and strategic manner with the use of the appropriate
computerized aids.
It is impossible to manage facilities without the use
of computerized systems. This does not mean, however,
that organizations need to expend vast amounts of
money on computerized systems, as there are sufficient
inexpensive products in the market, which, can be
used, together with an understanding of the principles
of facilities management, to manage an organization’s
facilities in an exemplary manner.
What is important, however, is that facility managers
develop and use systems during their function.
Of equal importance is an understanding by facility
managers of their core-business.
By way of example, a facility manager’s core-business
can be summarized as containing the following foci:
• Cost containment and control
• Optimal use of resources
• Enabling the firm to deliver H