Weighing the benefits of bundling your services.

According to a recent study by Ernst & Young Real Estate Advisory Services, corporate space users, building owners and facility managers continue to reduce the number of outsourcing firms they contract, and bundling building services through a single provider is becoming a huge trend.

According to the report, single source providers of diverse building services offer a tremendous amount of extra value to clients based on the concept of bundling services.

Any company with a single large facility, portfolio of properties or individual buildings located throughout the country is a prime candidate for bundling of building services for a variety of reasons.

Cost reduction is often a major driving factor, as bundling services promotes quantity discount pricing through increased productivity, cross utilization of personnel and economies of scale and scope.

In other cases, corporate downsizing has made national bundling of services a necessity. As facility departments' in-house resources diminish, it becomes more difficult to select and supervise multiple building contracts for individual services.

Organizations, like ABM Industries, Inc. that self perform a variety of building services, offer the ultimate value added platform in terms of contract options and in-house expertise.

Purchasing professionals know that they can both save money and improve operations by selecting a few strategic partners for all their building maintenance needs. Customers benefit from having single or preferred partners to help develop and implement their long-term cost and quality initiatives.

In addition to cost savings and more efficient use of personnel, the benefits of bundling services also includes providing a single source of accountability, uniform training programs, standardization of service quality and a simplified insurance process. Bundling services through a single provider offers the option of streamlining billing in a single invoice, and simplifying contract negotiations by consolidating multiple agreements under one master contract. Instead of processing hundreds of invoices each year from various janitorial, security, engineering, lighting, heating and airconditioning and other service providers, clients can pay one consolidated invoice from a prime contractor.

In addition to convenience, this can save thousands of dollars a year on invoice processing alone.

By selecting a single quality provider, corporate users are free to dedicate their efforts to their core businesses, and building owners are assured smoother operations and a better bottom line on their real estate investments.

Property managers also benefit from bundling services, which can offer complete facility maintenance through a single point of contact. Property managers are expected to do a lot more today then they were just 10 years ago, and bundling services allows them to be able to tap one source for all their maintenance needs.

In addition, working with a single source provider of multiple building services can improve both tenant satisfaction and building performance through continuous evaluation of call center data and ongoing customer satisfaction surveys.

ABM Industries Incorporated, one of the largest facility services contractors listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with annual revenues in excess of $2.4 billion and approximately 74,000 employees, provides janitorial, parking, engineering, security and lighting services for thousands of commercial, industrial, institutional, and retail facilities in hundreds of cities across the United States and British Columbia, Canada.

The ABM Family of Services includes ABM Janitorial, Ampco System Parking, ABM Engineering, American Commercial Security (ACSS), Security Services of America (SSA), Amtech Lighting and ABM Facility Services, covering almost all your building needs.

DAVID J. GUHANICK

VICE PRESIDENT

ABM FAMILY OF SERVICES