Expansion into India
We are very pleased to launch Total Facility Management along with our partners Cannon Hygiene, Radiant Hospitality Services, CISS, Absotherm. India with its diverse culture and food habits makes it a very vibrant and exciting place to work in. OCS India has got a very decent start with 22,000 workers and we are looking forward to watch it grow and become the most significant part of the OCS Group in the near future.
If we look at the market place, India is really on the move forward on the world stage. While people raise concerns about Indian GDP rate having come down; when you look around I would love to have 5% of GDP growth in the UK or Europe. I think I remain very positive in that respect.
The companies that we have invested in are good building blocks for a number of reasons. One, their quality of service, their approach to business and their long term vision; Second, the people that we have invested in those companies and the people who have realigned to our way of thinking are in tune with the longer term vision. By bringing together our best of international delivery capabilities, we can actually take the best of both worlds and bring it into a somewhat unique offering here in India. If we look at the period of growth in the past five years, a number of sectors in India have particularly done well, whether it is the hotel sector or the retail market. If we look at long term micro-economics, it’s a pretty safe bet, but I think India will continue on its upward growth and development into the future. Therefore, other sectors will come along with it.
The historic general approach view of labour sourcing or labour supply is now being replaced by alternative solutions. Clients are looking at solutions of focussing on their core activities and to get someone to help them in their non-core activities. This is how the market is changing. TFM is opening up here in India and that is why contractors can come in and offer solutions that help clients to achieve their strategies.
IT enabled TFM
We brought together four businesses and it is important that we operate them with low overhead model. Bringing together the back-of-house using better IT and commonality of system will help to achieve the goal. When we look at the TFM solution, it’s not about four separate contractors going through to deal with the client; it is about going with one organisation with a single point of contact. To facilitate a single point of contact approach effectively, there is a need to equip back of house with IT systems and human resources. If we want to grow and reach the target set we need to do that with firm plan in the form of IT and other solutions. At the same time, we need a solid platform and thus our investment in those first before coming into the market place.
Security services…
Security itself is manpower but if you look at the security industry in the future, it is a combination of electronic security and visible man guarding in two version – with a strict uniform or soft security in shopping centres with a blazer and a shirt and a light touch receptionist duties. These are all related in a TFM offering and security forms a part of how we operate. One can’t leave security to one side as the security also able to do more duties on behalf of the client. It makes their job more interesting and we are able to upscale them and also able to control the cost of operating with that client. So they are all interrelated. When we are looking at TFM solution, we do not break it down to individual models but think about how to help the client achieve their strategy and to grow their business, what do we take responsibility for and how to use our staff and systems to assist them. We don’t do just services.
Training
Training has to go further than onsite training if we have to meet our objective. Under the TFM model, we have to train staff to enable them to do the required task. Traditionally, on job training will still play an important part. We need our staff to understand that they are related to the client’s building, their safety requirements, the fire exits, methods of working that are peculiar to that client necessary to do their duties. We have well developed training programs already running in south East Asia and Europe. We are giving our colleagues the opportunity to access that. This is very much about our best practice groups – sharing at top level what we can do globally around the world and working with our partners to convert it into local delivery. Training is very much a part of that.
