Sunbeam Facilities-Total Support Services

In today’s competitive scenario, organizations are geared to maximize returns while minimizing investments. It is from efficient productivity and the savings thereby accrued that gains are generated. Savings can either be direct or indirect in terms of time and effort spent by corporate team. To channelize all available resources towards the core competency of the business, it is important to have a comprehensive corporate service provider, who renders dependable administrative support and service systems. Young first generation entrepreneur Ajay Deshpande, Managing Director, Sunbeam Facilities, who has redefined his business strategy in tune with the change, explains his success model.

What differentiates Sunbeam as a professional service provider rather than a contractor?

While labour dominates the service business, it is not just limited to housekeeping but also other services requiring skill and quality. The Professional Support Services we offer to clients, enhances their work performance, standards and delivery. All services, including Manpower Outsourcing, Corporate Support Services, Fleet Management, Facilities’ Services, Corporate Guesthouse Management, Surface Transportation, Logistics, Property Management and others, are provided as a comprehensive package enabling clients source multiple services from a single vendor.

Value addition to these services comes in, when the client is able to source all his requirements from a single vendor instead of looking for or dealing with 10 different vendors.

A single vendor supporting the client’s business becomes a support service partner, as he has a better understanding of the culture and needs; hence service delivery is much faster and appropriate, when compared to services from multiple vendors.

Again, for clients in the logistics segment, where manpower is the backbone and timely delivery essential, our skilled manpower ensures value addition by meeting required deadlines.

One of our clients, a major fast food MNC, for whom we provided delivery boys for a football match event, registered a 35% increase in sales. Our skilled and trained staff who had been deployed on the field, ensured timely delivery to consumers, resulting in value addition for our client. We were acclaimed for this contribution made to the company’s sales and took us to a different level of Total Customer Satisfaction (TCS).

Thus, while as a contractor we provide skilled and trained manpower, as a support service partner outsourced by the client, we take on the responsibility of adding value and increasing the profit zone of the client.

Outsourcing of services is an investment made by the client in terms of people and specialized work. We become the source of skilled manpower, generated through constant training that we provide onsite. This also allows the client to absorb some of the bright ones. We ensure that these workers are consistent and continue working for a period of time.

What has been your contribution to your client’s profit zone?

To mark a percentage of contribution to the client’s profits may not be feasible in approximate figures. However, the expenses incurred by the client for the support services, will definitely remain steady during the contract period. If we are taking up a contract for a year or three-year period, the cost of inputs billed by us remain constant despite market fluctuations. Minimum wages is revised every six months, but we work on the same wage structure agreed upon with the client till the end of the year. Hence, the costs are finalized taking fluctuations into consideration and in a way it does away with the need to revise cost, which is an additional burden on the client. Working on these terms in itself is a major contribution to the client’s profit zone.

How has the journey been for Sunbeam?

The service industry in India is unfortunately highly unorganized; hence it has been a roller-coaster ride for us. Service companies have largely been viewed as housekeeping outfits; hence convincing clients about the concept of support services which encompass Facilities Management, Fleet Management, MEP, Guest Houses, Facility Services and others, has been tough.

We provide a bouquet of services, and clients can chose from housekeeping, maintenance, manpower, drivers (in the case of logistics and transport), guest house contract management, driver or office staff, and so on. We started off in 2005 with a gamut of services; but the service segment being unorganized, clients were reluctant to put all their eggs in one basket. We took time to educate client companies, and now are being accepted for the services we provide.

What make Sunbeam successful today is TCS. It is one of the key pillars on which we’re built. In practice, this begins with a thorough understanding of a customer’s business objectives and goals. Once these are defined and communicated to the relevant management teams, a unique strategy is put into place. On this strategy, layers of service are built up and executed 24×7 to ensure that the customer’s objectives are fulfilled. Single point contact, periodic performance reviews, delivery team meetings and constant floor-level communication ensures total customer satisfaction levels are adhered to.

While there is no dearth of manpower supply in India, we do need to shortlist and select manpower with specific skills, for specified jobs. If it is for the airport terminal, we place only skilled workers who are trained to talk, project themselves and deliver. Our back office staff is engaged in hiring manpower precisely for such specific tasks.

In general, we source manpower that is already engaged and experienced in the field. However, for specific client requirements, we provide training at reputed training centers.

In case of specialized jobs, we also recruit candidates through placing advertisements in select media. Where soft services are concerned, our staff trains them on-site.

Training and placing manpower on the job is one aspect, but constant follow up is e
ssential for consistent work performance. TCS training is imparted to every Sunbeam employee on the very day of joining. Standards are documented and constantly reviewed feedback / complaint processes are put into place to ensure service delivery. Our TCS focus has enabled us grow, expand our service suite and acquire some of the biggest names in the country’s manufacturing, business and service segments.

Which are the segments Sunbeam is dealing with? What has been your experience?

While, the scene earlier had more of a hire-and-fire relationship between the service provider and the client, it is now not the case now.

Clients today are looking for a viable and long-standing working partner for value addition. We are working with reputed clients in the private, government and semi- government sectors; across all horizontals and verticals. Some of our relationships are over seven years’ old.

We have clients across segments from airports to seaports; logistics to retail to software; banking to communications and more. In IT, we provide facility as well as soft services. We currently support the Mumbai Airport (MIAL), where we provide a workforce for driver movement and management, golf car drivers, conveyor belt attendants, loading-unloading staff; both at the old and new terminals.

At the seaport, we support five companies in the container freight station around Panvel and JNPT, where we manage the entire container movement.

On the retail front, we are engaged with a number of retail stores, for whom we provide end-to-end facility management services, manpower, front-end sale staff and backend staff as well. Payroll management is another activity being offered to a few of our clients.

In the manufacturing segment, we manage the entire production line in Bhiwandi, Mumbai, right from the raw material, through the finished product, to dispatch. We also take up cleaning of high end guesthouses and bungalows attached to corporates, on a one-time project basis.

In Fleet Management, we have two engagement models. One is drivers that we offer for MIAL vehicles. The second is for logistics companies, where we take on the entire fleet management – right from providing drivers, to staffing and vehicle maintenance.

We currently drive around 300 trucks for logistics company’s and 120 vehicles for the airport. This support service is highly challenging in terms of manpower – engaging drivers, meeting their expectations, ensuring minimal accidents and fatality cases, and above all – retaining them. We have a strong communication system, where supervisors play a vital role in terms of constant follow-ups. Sunbeam today manages close to 100 clients across India.

Services Offered

• Facility Management

• Property Management

• Outsourcing and Manpower Staffing/Payroll

• Housekeeping/Maintainence

• Spring Cleaning Services

• Furniture Rentals

• Expatriate Relocation

• Fleet Management

• Guest House Management

• Services Apartments

What are the minimum margins that you think are ideal?

The mushrooming of small vendors and housekeeping companies has made competitive margins irrelevant. While I am not opposed to increasing start-up companies in this segment, I do worry over the 2% and 3% margins they agree to work on. Even if the bottom line is put to a low of 8%, it would be challenging to deliver fair services.

Today, there are many contracts that could be picked up; like lifting garbage or waste management for corporations, maintaining railway stations, and so on. But when these contracts are awarded on the least-margin basis, it becomes the root cause for malpractices.

For example, where the approximate cost of servicing amounts to about र11,000/- of which the minimum wage is र6000/-, delivery and quality of service suffers and so do the staff. Contractors then resort to unprofessional practices in order to make ends meet.

What are the major challenges you faced in building your business?

As a young company, especially in the cleaning industry, funding is always an issue. Banks being the main source for funds and collaterals being the main eligibility to avail bank loans, many contractors face cash crunches.

Most contracts are finalized on 30-day or maximum 90-day payment terms; but the contractor has to raise funds to pay staff every month. Similarly, taxes have to be paid every month by the contractor, even though they are recovered from the client at the end of the term. Hence, arranging for working capital is a big challenge. In the case of Sunbeam however, we have been able to arrange for funds with collaterals.

Above all, the biggest challenge emanates from the client end, where payments are delayed much beyond the stipulated time. For example, if Sunbeam bills up to र70 lakhs in one project and payments are delayed beyond the term agreed upon, my working capital gets badly hit, especially when one is working on such thin margins.

However at the end of the day, there is satisfaction attached to the delivery, when the clients are happy and acknowledge our efforts after overcoming all these challenges. There are tremendous opportunities for the support services industry in India; across all the sections of growth – Government and semi-Government institutions, the private sector, or even local Municipal Corporations.

What’s your vision for Sunbeam?

Sunbeam Facilities is now poised to take its place amongst the biggest Indian growth stories. In the realm of contract services, we believe our main strength is our long-standing experience. Our vision is to use the invaluable experience and knowledge gained to provide all clients with services that are competitive, of the highest caliber, and above all, reliable.

We endeavour to integrate constant and consistent quality within all areas of support and their associated functions; thereby, providing services tha
t are second to none, and above all, elevating the customer service experience.