Tariq Chauhan on succeeding in a global market | EFS Facilities Services | Video
European CEO interviews EFS Facilities Services Chief Executive Tariq Chauhan about what it is like to be at the helm of a company operating in more than 20 countries
Transcript
The difference between a great idea and a solid business plan is execution. Tariq Chauhan, CEO of EFS Facilities Services, is an expert in getting things done, heading up one of the world’s leading integrated facility management firms. He shares some of his secrets for business success with European CEO.
European CEO: Well Tariq, maybe you could start by telling me a little bit about EFS.
Tariq Chauhan: EFS was established as a facility management services arm of a large MAP company. In 2006, it was hived off into a standalone, integrated facility management services company. Between then and now, EFS operates in about 20 countries. We have business of facility management, what we call as integrated facility management, across these 20 countries. We work for some of the largest global majors, and are headquartered out of Dubai.
European CEO: Since 2009 what would you say have been the company’s key achievements?
60-80 percent of our growth has come from the multinational sector, whilst we continue to grow in the local sector as well
Tariq Chauhan: We’ve been able to expand from five countries to 20 countries. We’ve been able to diversify our entire client base from a regional and local to largely multinational, so today in context to diversity, EFS is possibly one of the most enviable models for someone to adapt when it comes to facility management services. There was a puzzle which was missing, and the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia was looking for a credible service provider, and there was a serious challenge to supply a chain within this particular domain, and EFS was one such company that came with a solution. 60-80 percent of our growth has come from the multinational sector, whilst we continue to grow in the local sector as well.
European CEO: Well now let’s move on to your mantra: people, system and structure. Tell me more about this.
Tariq Chauhan: In the service industry, you need to right systems, because any great operator would need the right standard operating procedures, the right technology, you need the innovation around it, which is of course driven by people. And eventually, coming to structure, is: do you have the right inner structure to cater to the requirements of the contract. Often we build the wrong structures, sometimes you put top-heavy management structures without realising that operations need to be supported with the relevant staff strength.
European CEO: Well what would you say your key focus and drive has been moving forward?
Tariq Chauhan: When the recession was looming large, everybody was looking to find ways to bring operating efficiencies, cut costs, and build innovative solutions, and my focus when I took over in 2009 was first to bring some semblance ,in terms of operating costs, to be aligned with the sourcing, goals and objectives. Because most of the sourcing agents across the global major were looking to reduce operating costs, so we came with an integrated facility management service strategy, which we called 360 degree vision, and that was implemented in 2010/11.
Of course, it took me almost 18 months to implement it, and what we were able to accomplish was, while the gross margins were down by almost 25 percent, we were able to still maintain the net operating margins at the same level, and this was accomplished due to our role in service integration, bringing commercial prudence into the overall contract, and thirdly on the life-cycle planning.
European CEO: So what are your thoughts on the facilities management industry going forward?
Tariq Chauhan: The end users’ expectations, the client, which is a business, and the sourcing often are disconnected between their expecting lower cost, while the operations are expecting higher standards. To maintain this is becoming a challenge, there is a need for definitive deep-dive for the leaders.
The second is the property, which is become more of a trading commodity than earlier. People would own buildings for years and years, and they would manage it as a long term asset. So they were investing, aptly, into life-cycle management, they were also spending a lot in the building itself to increase the overall efficiency of the building. Whereas the investors coming into the property domain, who are looking for short term turnaround, they often cut on cost. The third element of the challenge is we don’t yet have a great technology coming into facilities management. Somehow there are various softwares, but they’re still driven around the traditional FM, which is preventable on maintenance. It has to move to integrated facility management.
European CEO: Finally, what’s the way forward for EFS under your leadership?
Tariq Chauhan: Global knowledge, regional presence, and local experience. If we are able to integrate these three, we will eventually be a successful model. By bringing professionals from around the world with relevant knowledge and experience, to be incorporated into our regional presence, because we have moved the concept of fixed-cost to variable. We offer a lot more horizontal services than just vertical services alone. So this combination of vertical-horizontal, through a regional model, is able to help clients. One is to accomplish consolidation. The second is also to reduce operating costs. Thirdly, a better contract management.
European CEO: Tariq, thank you.
Tariq Chauhan: You’re welcome.