With an industry experience ranging over two decades, Vijayshankar Kavasseri is unquestionably a well known face in the regional FM industry.

Currently the operations director for Musanadah in Saudi Arabia, Vijayshankar has worked for a number of renowned FM companies in the past, including EMCOR Facilities Services, Farnek, and Emrill.

The FM industry in Saudi Arabia is witnessing a huge number of transformations driven by its Vision 2030, and companies are restructuring their organizations to comply with the new standards for sustainability and digitization. 

Musanadah, one of the leading FM companies in Saudi, which provides services to numerous key projects across the kingdom, is on a journey to revamp its FM operations by streamlining operations, becoming more customer-centric and winning accreditations.

In an exclusive interview with CM today, Vijayshankar goes over the current trends in the Saudi FM market and the challenges companies face, and how Musanadah maintains a customer-centric approach.

1. How is the FM market in Saudi Arabia?

The FM industry in Saudi Arabia was estimated to be valued at $32.4bn for the financial year ending 2021, and its value is predicted to cross US$71nn by 2030. The industry’s contribution to the country’s nominal GDP during the financial year ending 2021 was 4%. Also, the Saudi FM sector’s share of the GCC FM market, which is valued at US$57.3bn, accounts to 55%, making it one of the largest in the GCC. Besides this, while there are a good number of international FM companies in the kingdom, 31.8% of Saudi FM Market share is held by domestic players.

2. What are the current trends in FM in KSA?

In Saudi Arabia, we see that there is a tendency to carry out FM activities inhouse. In fact, the in-house FM services hold a market share of 67%. However, we are seeing a shift. More property managers are expected to outsource FM services to specialised companies in the upcoming years to suit the numerous high-end projects in the kingdom. When it comes to services, due to increased investments from MNCs, hard services remain the most popular, while cleaning is the fastest growing.

We are also seeing a shift towards bundled and integrated services. There is a significant rise in the number of market players due to the increase in demand for services, which is driven by rapid industrialisation and new industrial zones established near the eastern coast of the country. Furthermore, the good number of giga projects planned across the city is leading to robust FM growth and the increasing number of mergers and acquisitions that are leading to market consolidations. We are also seeing a greater demand for technological advancements in the FM sector due to the ongoing smart city initiatives

3. What are the current challenges? 

One of the key issues Saudi Arabia faces is the challenge of logistics. Due to the vast size of the country, work sites are located far across and mobilising workforce and equipment sometimes raises challenges. Also during Covid, FM companies faced the challenge of maintaining the right number of people at worksites who were properly qualified, trained and motivated to achieve high customer service levels. This was due to labour feeder markets being closed or not fully operational.

4. How is Musanadah using technology to improve services for end-customers?

We have a customer-centric approach in everything we do.We are using technology to maintain our high level of compliance with new health and safety regulations. Whenever there is a new safety regulation it is communicated to all staff through our WhatsApp groups. Also since the start of the pandemic, there is a focus on remote working spaces and we are using technology to help our clients with office support and providing flexible working areas.

5. What is a customer centric approach and how do you pull it off?

A customer centric approach in FM is only possible with a strongly staff centric approach. We place staff at the center of the service delivery. This is what sets Musanadah apart from others in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East. Musanadah’s mission is to provide the highest quality, value-added service to customers to ensure their satisfaction. To this end, Musanadah is committed to speaking directly to customer-side key decision makers on a weekly basis to review progress and to customise any unique solutions that may be necessary. Communication is always key to ensure win-win FM outcomes and optimal service delivery.

6. What changes have the Saudi Green Initiative and Vision 2030 brought to Musanadah's operations/aims/mission?

We have created a formal in-house process for developing employee skills and focusing on the 2030 vision which is apparent from the new vision statement that is now introduced by MFM in the 1st week of January 2022. We are also training staff on the recycling and reuse of materials and other best practices in sustainability. Having sustainable waste management as a part of your integrated offer drives healthy relations with both clients and stakeholders.