3 Facility Management Services to Keep Your Brand Healthy
The Importance of Maintenance on Your Brand Assets
As a facility or brand leader, you know that appearances matter when it comes to your facilities and the countless brand assets that customers and patrons interact with on a daily basis. To keep them in good working condition, you likely utilize a variety of facility management services ranging from sign and lighting maintenance to interior repair work. These services may be handled internally through your own self-performing team — or you might outsource them.
If you’re in the outsourcing camp, you’re most certainly not alone. More and more, facility management leaders are seeing the value of outsourcing. According to industry research, 2023 saw higher levels of outsourcing in multiple asset maintenance categories:
- Damage restoration
- Painting and beautification
- Flooring repair, care, and enhancement
- Building exterior maintenance
Coupled with the fact that most brand assets aren’t produced and installed in-house (but instead by third parties), the need to rely on professionals outside of the organization is only going to continue increasing — and because more people are retiring than are entering the industry. With you and your team likely already at capacity dealing with daily issues, now is the ideal time to outsource key facility management services to ensure your brand assets are performing as they should be. But what services are most critical?
Let’s explore three categories of facility management services that should be high on your list for potential outsourcing to a qualified third party.
1. Preventive Maintenance: The Foundation of Beautifully Branded Facilities
Right off the bat, understand that a preventive maintenance program for brand assets is essential because it ensures proactive upkeep, repair, and upgrades when they’re needed — and before any issues become larger, more costly problems. Preventive maintenance should be running year-round at a cadence that is best for you, the asset type, how it’s used, and the conditions surrounding it (e.g. storms, excessive temperatures, and other natural elements). Think of it as an ongoing investment — one that should be part of your facility management services budget at all times. By doing so, you’ll avoid unexpected repairs or replacements that far outweigh the cost of the maintenance program — and ensure that every asset at every location is looking its best.
- Outsourcing advantages: Proactively maintaining assets across your footprint will require extensive coordination and resources that you may not have in-house. Give this work to a trusted partner to manage on your behalf so you and your team can continue focusing on other strategic priorities while this essential function is handled 24/7/365.
2. On-Call Maintenance: For When the Urgent or Unexpected Occurs
Preventive maintenance serves as the foundation of a strong facility management strategy, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll be completely free from the unexpected. Whether it’s a quick fix, a new asset installation, a larger repair, or any other related need, on-call maintenance will at some point be necessary. A few things are critical here: coverage (to ensure that when a situation arises, you’ll be able to have it addressed), responsiveness (so that when the need arises, someone is ready to take action), communication (so that you and your team — as well as local facility leaders and employees — are informed at all times), and follow-through (to ensure the job gets done properly and on time).
- Outsourcing advantages: Urgency matters when it comes to on-call maintenance. Whether it’s a street sign that’s experiencing an outage or an interior space that needs an urgent refresh, leaning on a trusted partner to execute on-call facility management services will help you get the restoration you need while minimizing the effect on sales, customers, and employees.
3. Disaster Recovery
Everything discussed up to this point reflects daily, routine-based maintenance work for all of your brand assets. You protect them with preventive maintenance, and you address immediate needs with on-call maintenance. But what happens when the unexpected is so severe that it necessitates an even faster and more methodical solution? This is where national disaster and recovery services come in. Events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, riots, and other related incidents can lead to significant damage beyond what a local service provider can fix. And, more than one location may be affected.
- Outsourcing advantages: Addressing national disasters and recovery needs — especially on a multisite basis — is likely not in your team’s wheelhouse, nor is it likely something your team could handle on short notice. Working with a partner for this facility management service ensures that when the worst happens, you’ll be covered.
Maximize These Facility Management Services and Others with Stratus
For decades, Stratus has been supporting organizations in numerous markets nationwide with all manner of facility management services and support. These include signage solutions, energy management, refresh & remodel capabilities, facilities maintenance, and branded environments. Each is backed by complete maintenance capabilities to ensure your assets — whether it’s interior signage or an energy control system — is performing reliably and consistently.
We back it up with expert program management, a national network of field partners, in-house sign manufacturing services, advanced technology solutions, and more. Entrust your most critical brand assets to Stratus — we’ll help you identify the most ideal solutions from the unlimited possibilities available to you.