Repeat any word over and over again, and it begins to distort and turn to nonsense. 

Arguably, this is what’s happened to the word “agility” in the business world. 

Although it captures everything that’s pressing right now – speed, responsiveness, adaptability, change – it has become almost meaningless from overuse. 

As facilities managers, we can’t let it. 

Call it what you want, but “agility” remains the most important capability we can offer our clients. Not only that, but its power and importance only grows stronger every day. 

Agile for clients 

Even as the pace of change has increased worldwide, real estate has lagged behind. 

Facilities management can provide the critical lever between workplace experience and efficiency. It can meet the pace of changing technology and balance it with the ever-evolving picture of facilities compliance. 

At Macro, we see ourselves as the conduit between a changing world and relatively static facilities, ensuring the latter can keep pace with the former.

Essential to this equation, of course, is our deep understanding of the client and their needs. It’s no good assuming that all businesses, markets, facilities or workforces work the same. As businesses adapt to their own customers’ needs, we adapt alongside, staying completely on our clients’ wavelengths. 

One example occurred with our global technology client post-Covid. Faced with a new reality, where a significant portion of their facilities were no longer needed by their workforce, we leveraged our data capture process to help them rapidly save 70% in space savings and up to £10m in costs across their portfolio – a perfect example of the role FM providers can play in making facilities more responsive and agile in the face of changing markets.  

Agile in operations 

Being truly agile for clients starts by building agility into FM operating models. At Macro, agility has long been a part of how we operate, through our managing agent business model – a model we’ve stuck to even as our competitors have turned to self-delivery.

The reason for our commitment is simple: Our model makes us more agile. It enables us to mobilise quickly across borders – including recently with a global manufacturer and retailer, when a rapid mobilisation of 52 stores in under 30 days increased to 59 before go-live. 

It gives us access to niche and specialist expertise across a wide network, specifically for clients in fields like pharmaceutical, manufacturing, data centres, and other highly technical environments, ensuring they are equipped to respond to growing demands on their services. 

It enables us to maintain standards and create clear accountability across a portfolio, even as the business changes. We can also support our clients' ever-expanding social value and sustainability initiatives, including 70% local supply chain for one of our local government clients.  

Our model also empowers us to continuously improve, driving ever-greater efficiency and value from the service provision, as we have with one long-standing financial services client. Ten years after our partnership began, we continue to drive savings year-on-year through smart technology integration.

Agile in mindset 

Being built for agility is one thing, but if the people on the ground aren’t up for the challenge, then the models won’t work. Fortunately, facilities managers tend to be adaptable by nature. 

At Macro, we strive to take this mindset to the next level, by creating a culture that recognises and rewards people for being proactive problem-solvers. Our core values – drive for better, delight clients, develop people, and do what’s right – are energetic and action-oriented, and deeply embedded into our ways of working. 

The agility imperative

Agility is no longer a nice buzzword for FM providers. Nor is it simply a ”nice-to-have.” Today’s best facilities managers must be built for it, fuelled by it, and ready to deploy its superpower whenever necessary.