European Integrated Facility Management Markets

IFM offers Promise of Cost Savings and Meets Demand for Single-contact Solutions

The European market for integrated facility management (IFM) is in its growth phase. Driven by the proposition of cost savings, the demand for single-contact solutions for outsourced services has been constantly increasing across all regions and strong growth will continue over the coming years. "Companies with different offices in different countries, as well as companies with several sites in the same country such as banks, insurance, petrol stations and post offices have been the first to appoint a single IFM provider, which is able to supply all services required on their behalf quickly and with verified skills," states the analyst of this research. "This helps to reduce administration and supervising work, saves time in client organisations and creates economies of scale."

The market is characterised by a high degree of fragmentation with the top three participants accounting for less than 30 per cent of the total market. However, despite its low maturity stage, merger and acquisition (M&A) activities are in full swing, reflecting the strategy of leading providers to increase their international footprint and become providers of truly integrated facility management services.

Although definitions of what IFM is vary among end users and providers alike, IFM is much more than a marketing concept. The IFM market is increasing at a much faster rate than for single and bundled service offerings as the advantages of integrated service offerings are increasingly understood by developers, property owners and end users. "Through a revised and comprehensive facility management programme, companies can save significant amounts of money, specifically through improved productivity from human assets," remarks the analyst of this research. "Companies across all countries and verticals, including the public sector, have realised this and, with the proposition of maximising cost savings, the acceptance of integrated solutions has been increasing fast."

As a consequence, companies are moving from single and bundled service offerings to integrated offerings. All the main companies are trying to offer complete IFM packages, covering all sectors if needed. Moreover, FM providers have realised that to concentrate only within a couple of sectors could eventually affect the growth of the business.

Although the market is impacted by the major construction crisis that hit most European countries, growth will continue. This is due to continued investment from the public sector and the sustained need of end users to save costs through the outsourcing of secondary processes.

"Technological innovation is listed among the top factors to tackle the tough competition and most IFM companies are eager to invest a significant part of their revenue in R&D to enhance their performance and optimise their processes," concludes the analyst of this research. "In the long term, this helps to increase their customer's portfolio and loyalty." In addition, standards and certification have been introduced to the market aiming to separate the leaders from the followers.

Market Sectors

Expert Frost & Sullivan analysts thoroughly examine the following end user sectors in this research:

• Public sector
• Private sector

By Geographic Region:

• The United Kingdom
• Germany
• France
• Italy
• Spain
• Benelux
• Scandinavia
• Alpine region
• Central Europe
• Turkey
• Russia