#CREate FM 25 Talks is an interview series with CRE change-makers and Doers. With this, we intend to bring out first-hand experiences and best practices on digital transformation, energy management, and sustainability initiatives from industry leaders.

In conversation with Zohaib Azhar,

Q.1 Can give us a brief about your background and the kind of projects you are currently undertaking?

I am an electrical engineer and I started my career in the facility management industry in 2014 with Khidmah, Abu Dhabi. I was a team leader there for more than 3 years. During my tenure there I learned many things as at that time FM was just started and getting a lot of tractions. If you look at the CRE landscape in UAE, the Infrastructure development started around 2003 and In the year 2008-09, there comes the facility management as the buildings like Burj Khalifa, city walk, downtown Emaar & DEFC were there and they needed professionals to manage those buildings.

Then for a brief time, I joined DEFC and after one year I joined Farnek as an assistant facility manager, there withing 3 years I moved to the Head of operations manager, and last year I won a highly commended young facility manager of the year award. Another moment of pride for me at Farnek is that we are still managing Burj khalifa since 2010.

Q.2 What is turning out as a differentiator in most of the contracts? Is it still a cost or solution exclusivity?  

Technology is playing a key role in getting new business and adding value to contracts. Farnek is investing heavily in digital technologies and innovative solutions. In the year 2019-18 Farnek won the Sustainability Initiative of the Year at Middle East industry awards.

We totally believe the technology and our approach a differentiator for us. For example, we came up with the smart washroom concept where we Installed IoT sensors and Communication devices to check whether the cleaning is required or not or how frequent it is required. With the smart washroom implementation, we are now receiving huge data on various parameters and we have built our own data connectors and created cloud applications to monitor and analyze the data. 

Every leading FM firm in UAE is investing in IoT but the differentiation comes when you know how to use that data or how to extract inferences and reduce your operational cost.

In one of the contracts, we proposed to the client an IoT solution that can give them insights on the average footfall of the customers, operating temperature, and energy consumption of all the distributed facilities. Now, this wasn’t part of the initial agreement but we wanted to create an extra edge in our service hence we gave them this solution.

Interestingly with that solution, we also saved on extra work hours required for regular inspection as well as delivered energy saving to the client with no additional cost.   

We are also revamping technology for operations and maintenance processes. We are providing services to closely monitor critical assets such as vibration analysis for motors and baseline calculations where we can manage those assets remotely.

Farnek has developed its own command and control center (CC) where it collects data from all of its sites and the dedicated engineering team at CC analyzes the data and provides centralized insights on maintenance & energy efficiency to those sites. The team at the CC also communicates with the individual sites for any proactive suggestions based on real-time asset data.

FM in UAE is matured now, both the service provider and the clients know what to expect from the contract, Initially, the people were good at negotiation, client handling, etc but now with the advancement of technology, most of them are exploring best practices in O&M too. With that, competition is also on the rise, companies like Imdaad, Emrill & Cofely are competing with each other, it is imperative that during the tendering period you would need to give an added value to the client otherwise it becomes difficult to win that projects. 

Q.3 Does Farnek develops its own application stack or work with partners to create a customized solution?

We are mostly working on a partnership basis because it is very challenging for an FM to develop their own technology, as there is a lot of work required to manage and maintain it post the development and unless you have that scale and appetite to invest in the capital you would not want to go that way. 

We have our own dedicated IT team at Farnek where we have our CAFM managers, BMS engineers, and a team of technicians to install any hardware at the facilities. So we get them trained by the project partners and implement our projects. In case if want to add a new feature or make any changes to the applications, our IT team co-develop it with the tech partner. Any inputs on the new applications from our operations team go to our IT team and then they verify the same and then forward it to the tech partner for the changes.  

We always follow cost-effective and feasible principles when we deal with the partners or come up with new applications. 

Q.4 What do you think about performance-based contracts?

Performance-based contracts can be helpful to FM service providers if you structure them properly.

In one of the cases, we had cleaning contracts of the common area, initially, we predicted that X number of work hours would be required to get the job done but later we realized that with the help of smart technology we can eliminate extra work hours and still get the expected results that mean we are saving on work hours and the investment we have made on the technology can also be recovered during the tenure and it can be delivered to the client once the project is over.

This way the client was happy as he was getting the expected results and the piece of technology at no additional cost. With this achieved high productivity while saving on work hours. 

We are not just following the digital technology for O&M but we have also introduced many touchless experience based applications on every part of the business. Starting from using smart applications on tablets to conduct regular monitoring work for cleaning services. We have installed checkpoints for our smart security guard touring systems, so now every security guard has a magnetic key which he needs to check in with during his round. With that installed we can ensure transparency in work.

Installed Smart data capturing devices on HVAC units where we are monitoring weather parameters such as temp, humidity, electrical inputs on meter reading, and other physical parameters such as vibrations and noise to asset the health of the system. 

There are other sustainability initiatives Farnek has taken in the last couple of years such as verticle gardening, solar energy plants (PV rooftop plants) these have to help us to try new technology and suggest scalable solutions to the client when needed.   

Q.5 Can you point out Top trends that you are seeing which will shape the FM in UAE?   

1. Client engagement: Your client will is very much engaged with you now. Unlike earlier days he can track the workplace or asset performance from his home now. Digital reporting reaches him the moment they are generated so there is no need to email or set up a monthly meeting with him to update him on the progress. Your client knows how much you care for his facility and your team’s performance reflects that in the KPI reports.

2. Access to information: Information is transparent now. It is far above the opinion and guesses work your team has to depend on earlier. Sensors can provide you clear data upon which your team can make informed decisions. From data measurement to storage analysis to implementation everything can be directed by the data. 

3. Sustainability: with all the climate change-related initiatives your clients would always want to cut down on emission and improve the indoor environment. With that target in mind, FM would need to make sure how best they can help their clients to reach their targets on time in a cost-efficient way.

Q.6 What is the bright side of being a facility manager? what Inspire you to go back to work every day?

I personally love to connect with people, understand their problems and provide them with a solution. Coming from the background of an electrical engineer I like to examine assets like pumps, compressors, Chillers, and AHUs and understand how well I can take care of them. Every facility has its own set of issues and identifying those issues and optimizing them for greater performance is the challenge that I would like to take every day.

I also get intrigued by the evolving business models we are witnessing day in day out. Each person, each site, and each project has its own requirements, and meeting those requirements keeps me on the edge. 

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