Tales of the unexpected: Perceptions of excellence in Facilities Services

ISS UK Ltd commissioned the Centre for FM Development [CFMD] at Sheffield Business School to investigate clients' perceptions of service excellence in FM. We could not locate previous studies of service excellence, as opposed to service quality in Business to Business as opposed to Business to Consumer literature. In the latter excellence is variously regarded as synonymous with expense and as being easy to do business with, even in budget environments. Our interviews confirmed those two views. Some clients perceive excellence as too high a standard to aim for - or to be seen by senior management to aim for, - except on particular customer or business critical journeys. Internal users of FM services tended to view excellence as having their problems solved within a known timescale. Other organisations have embraced pursuit of facilities excellence as part of an organisation wide strategy. They describe having been on or being on a journey beyond the limitations of SLA driven contracts. Financial evaluation of the two models was beyond the scope of the project but there is some evidence that the overall excellence model is actually more cost effective.