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From paper-based to digital processes, the facilities management industry has continued to evolve over the last decade as technological advancements emerge.
The UK facilities management market flourished in 2024, cementing itself as a key player in the European FM market. As it stands, the UK market is projected to reach a value of $52.50 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 1.85% from 2024 to 2027. An array of trends has contributed to this growth, with a strong focus on the adoption of new technology, sustainability and enhancement of workplace productivity.
Phil Meyers, CEO of mpro5, said, “The facilities management industry has continued to make great strides in the UK, and this will continue leading into 2025. The issue of following compliance continues to plague the facilities management space, and businesses that are failing to digitise will struggle to track their compliance, sustainability and food safety efficiency.”
There are a variety of trends that will continue to impact the facilities management industry in 2025:
A shift to tender models
“Throughout 2024, we’ve seen businesses drift towards a tender model, putting out more requests for information (RFIs) and requests for quotes (RFQs) to gain a better understanding of the market. This could be seen as bad for business as it slows down business operations, delaying closing sales,” says Meyers. “However, this does provide organisations with the specific pain points that their customers are trying to solve, enabling one to see more clearly what businesses are trying to solve across facilities management.
“This is going hand in hand with businesses that host Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM) and Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) software, with those systems not necessarily interacting. Many businesses are looking for platforms which mediate multiple systems and pull feeds in through application programming interfaces (APIs) by being the one voice truth replacing systems with multiple tenants.”
FM managers, streamlining checks, compliance and enhancing maintenance processing
Meyers continued, “Facilities Managers are looking to get a handle on compliance and maintenance checks, ensuring tasks are completed in real-time. Managers are introducing process management platforms on digital devices to complete vital checks. This comes with provenance as the checks are being completed with location and signature tracking and RFIDs to confirm that checks have been completed in real-time.
“This comes with added automation, with managers able to log tasks such as equipment failure instantly sending tasks to maintenance teams for the issue to be sorted efficiently. This will reduce the time it takes to resolve issues and improve operational efficiency.
“In line with this, reports are generated for large-scale businesses to show all the non-compliance in specific areas, allowing these to be resolved and monitored.”
Environmental and sustainability measurements by digitising processes
“Businesses are looking to reduce their paper usage in 2025 at store and audit level by digitising all processes to become more carbon neutral,” added Meyers. “Building on this to improve sustainability, businesses are using process management apps to generate jobs for cleaning crews as and when necessary, rather than being scheduled. This reduces clean supply usage for unnecessary actions by deploying teams when the need has arisen, minimising the amount of cleaning chemicals bought upfront.
“Other environmental trends that will be of focus will be the ability to measure the carbon footprint of waste with process management platforms identifying the Co2 output of the food that has been cooked and thrown away. This will aid food businesses in their bid to become more carbon-neutral in 2025.”
Predictive, preventative maintenance and the integration of IoT sensors/ cameras
“Businesses are looking to achieve predictive, preventative maintenance,” Meyers continued. “As it stands, businesses using paper-based processes cannot look at mass-scale trends in comparison to digital applications. In 2025, managers will look to identify these trends with digital platforms to identify issues such as faulty equipment and prepare for potential replacement in a more efficient period.
“Businesses are also integrating ancillary technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and cameras to prevent theft, crime and damage by initiating manned guards to go to areas where alerts have been raised. Cameras and sensors share alerts, which generate a job to a business’s process management platform for a security guard to attend a site to prevent further damage.
“As we enter 2025, technological enhancement will continue to have an enhanced effect on facilities management operations. Businesses can no longer afford to continue with a paper-based approach when recording compliance and maintenance. 2025 will be the year of predictive and preventative solutions for facilities managers to automate processes and enhance customer experience”, concluded Meyers.
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