"We're bringing betterness to people's premises," is Iris' slogan and our main driver for both facility management and our industrial solutions. But what exactly does betterness mean and how can we as a company respond to important trends in customer experience? We would like to explain it to you in this blog.
What is betterness?
The concept of betterness is nothing new; it was first described in "Betterness: Economics for Humans, a reference work by Umair Haque. It is based on the idea that people are the linchpins in a prosperous economy and always revolves around providing the best possible customer experience.
But what exactly does betterness mean in facility and industrial services? Well, betterness includes building strong relationships between employees and the company and improving employee happiness and health, but also, for example, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Trends in customer experience
Now, customer experience, an important aspect within the concept of betterness, revolves around meeting certain customer expectations. As our society, world and technology evolve, these expectations change. Notwithstanding, we can identify three main trends in customer experience, namely:
- Time
In an age where everything must be faster and more efficient, time is a luxury we often cannot afford. More and more is expected of employees, so companies are constantly looking for ways to better manage and distribute precious time. It is also essential for employees to maintain a good balance between work time and personal life. To achieve such goals, companies are increasingly looking toward the facilities management provider.
- Perspectives
Every employee has both professional and personal goals and ambitions. Pursuing and fulfilling these dreams can sometimes be a real challenge. A good customer experience in facility services can help them achieve these goals.
- Concern
These same workers are also concerned about the world and society they live in and would like to see things change. Consider, for example, social problems such as climate change and the need for a better environment, gender equality, and so on. The desire for less worry and a better living environment, makes this the third major trend in customer experience.
How betterness can capitalize on these trends
Fortunately, there are several ways betterness can impact these current expectations. We like to list some effective strategies for you.
Automation and outsourcing
To meet the scarcity of precious time, many companies are opting to automate certain repetitive business processes. For example, consider technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. While this can already save a lot of time and give employees room to develop, it is not the most efficient solution.
A better strategy for betterness is to outsource certain time-consuming tasks within your company. These can include facility services such as reception or security, but cleaning services, handymen, etc. are also often called upon.
Outsourcing such business processes not only allows employees to focus more on the core tasks of your company, but can also enjoy a more balanced private life. The latter is the result of both a reduced workload and efficient outsourcing in which employees and customers always take center stage. They are, as it were, completely unburdened by experienced facility management.
Facilitating clients and their employees
We already touched on it briefly in the definition of the concept of "betterness": people are always at the center of a successful economy. We can therefore further deduce from this that a happy employee, is a productive and motivated employee and will always be committed to achieving the various business objectives.
Now, employee happiness has a lot of aspects including the well-being of employees and their vision of the company operation, but also their dreams and ambitions contribute to it. It is therefore essential as a facilities company to respond to this and support them where necessary. A good example of this is the evolution of teleworking or working on location or encouraging social interaction and collaboration between colleagues. More and more companies are therefore investing in the necessary IT solutions, cozy coffee corners and meeting rooms to give employees the opportunity to work in a pleasant and comfortable way.
There is also an increasing focus on well-being at work. Companies like to call on professional facility management service providers for this. After all, well-being has various aspects that lie within the expertise of facility management companies. For example, there is cleaning and hygiene, catering, building management and maintenance, security and hospitality.
Working together for a better environment
Our society today is pulled by climate change, CSR, sustainability and equality, among other things. So it is only natural that these ideas are finding their way into the business world as well. Organizations around the world are constantly looking for ways to contribute to a better environment. Consider, for example, an electrically rechargeable vehicle fleet or solar panels as a source of energy.
In addition, outsourcing facility assignments and certain industrial tasks, such as removing industrial coatings, to an expert are a good investment. For example, a facility management partner can help recycle paper and waste and use environmentally friendly products for cleaning and green maintenance. Moreover, a professional facility management company always responds to the other CSR objectives and thus also contributes to the best customer experience and betterness at work.
Would you like to know more about how Iris can offer you the best customer experience and contribute to betterness within your company? Then contact us soon! We are happy to advise you on the various possibilities.