Many large and geographically disperse organizations run an extensive Facilities Management operation. In addition to FM-services such as such as office support, reception, conference, mailroom, internal services, the FM organization is responsible for real estate services, space management, supplier management etc.
In the public sector there are hospitals, local authorities, universities, defense facilities, and correctional facilities, all with extensive FM-activities and often in different locations. Increased demand for cost efficiency brings new challenges. With an integrated approach to FM, the organization can achieve important values such as cost reduction and improved quality.
The trend is to concentrate the FM-activities to one FM-organization. Sometimes. For increased transparency, the FM-organization is incorporated in its own unit. Some organizations prefer to improve FM keeping the operation in-house while others prefer to outsource. Multi-sourcing means that a mix of internal and external suppliers is used while management is kept in-house, keeping important knowledge and control in the organization.