Over the last few years Facilities Management and Utilities sector companies have been expressing deeper interest in Energy Services.
Whats the motivation to do so?
- Customer Engagement/Retention Strategy
- Increased Revenue /Customer (Known avenues)
- Reduced Operational Costs/ Better Margins (Largely for Facilities Management companies)
There is one major motivation most people are missing out on, because it's largely unknown, and that is to get a share of the “new business” opportunity that the intersection of Energy, Data and Customers (Commercial Buildings) bring.
#EnergyTransition, #SmartCities and some of the other recent advancements are quite funny in a lot of ways. There is a thin line of differentiation (fast being erased) in who is competition and who is not? Addressing grid flexibility issues, alternate #DER markets would become a lucrative market. And thats where things start to get funny.
Are #Utilities a threat of #FacilitiesManagement companies, certainly yes in my opinion, they both are eyeing the same sweet spot, well let that be a surprise that we will unravel during our conversation.
Conventionally #FM companies have tried two ways to get to Energy Service markets:
- Organically, building own energy services team
- Inorganically, acquiring other energy services company
I think there is a third one that’s going to be the real game changer, allowing #FM companies to participate in the larger scheme of things and also get rid of all the conventional work, thats where they would be able to increase margins by 2X-3X!
#FacilitiesManagement companies have to become a digital service provider in the entire energy services game, may be “Digital ESCO”.
We have seen things being turned upside down in Insurance, Finance and trust me i see no reason why this would not happen in the energy service and #FM space.
Bold prediction?