Fine Tune

Balancing the interests of maintaining smooth day-to-day facility operations with keeping costs in line is a tall order in any environment. But in recent years, myriad factors have made this an increasingly difficult needle to thread. Multiple years of inflation have stressed the P&L and now, global environmental challenges with corporate sustainability mandates are adding new layers of complexity to the facilities management function. In addition, the range of sub-categories that makes up the broad facilities management category includes many of the indirect world’s most demanding and complex expenses.

The Fine Tune solution is precisely what is needed to optimize facilities management programs and costs. Our combination of world-class experts armed with auditing and expense management technology—deployed under a model of continuous, vigilant management—is essential to defending the bottom line against rising facilities costs.

Leaned-out organizations have increasingly opted for convenience-based solutions, and this has understandably led to a sharp increase in the use of integrated facilities management (IFM) services. IFMs provide managed services, management technology, and consolidated invoicing and reporting. But don’t confuse managed services with managed costs. Most IFMs operate under some form of a “cost-plus” model, meaning that they make more money when their customers spend more money. IFMs also have financial relationships with many of their subcontractors and suppliers which adds an additional complicating layer to these relationships.

Emerging from the chaos of the pandemic and an acute inflationary cycle, many companies are dealing with the harsh reality that their IFM-“managed” costs have skyrocketed in recent years. This is especially true in the most complex indirect service categories, which tend to be most prone to supplier margin-growing strategies. Having specialized in just these sorts of expenses for more than two decades, Fine Tune helps clients install much-needed category-specific strategies for these expenses as part of a broader strategy to control IFM costs, ensure compliance, and deliver optimal stakeholder experiences.