PRSM Conference: Facility Managment and Retail Store Surveys

I spent the earlier part of last week attending the PRSM Conference in Orlando. PRSM is an association for facility managers of retail stores, typically large portfolios. Like RFMA (Restaurant Facility Management Association) a couple of months ago, this was a great conference. PRSM is one of those associations that make the vendors feel welcome. Not only the association, but the retailers in attendance took the time to chat with the vendors and to see if there might be a chance to work together.
 
One topic that came up several times is a dynamic that retailers are facing right now. Retail facility managers have always recognized the value in doing regular surveys of their stores (to help with maintenance budgeting, etc.). What they are realizing now is having that data on a piece of paper has limited value. What they really need is a centralized repository for the information, where they can do some analysis and longer-term forecasting. They also recognize the need for consistent reporting across the portfolio. In many cases, to save money, the main office used to ask the local store manager to do the site inspections/surveys. But in most cases that manager was hired because of their expertise in another field (auto parts, pet care, video games, whatever). So often they do not have the proper expertise to determine the condition of the various assets (roof, HVAC, flooring, for example) and those managers have no idea how their property compares to others. There are also conflicting motivations in how a local store manager wants his store to be perceived (what manager is going to give himself a bad grade on maintenance?). That issue is being addressed by hiring third parties to have experienced personnel collect the data in a consistent and unbiased manner. We had a great roundtable discussion on the issue and I expect it to be a regular topic of discussion at future conferences. It seemed like every retailer is dealing with that right now.
 
What will also be interesting to watch is what they do with the information. It is of immediate value to the Facility Department, but it can be even more helpful if it gets integrated with other systems in the company:  Accounting, Vendor Management, Asset Tracking, or even HR (for tracking store manager performance). There are several companies with potential solutions for that, but it is so early in the evolution of this need that there are no proven providers yet. It'll be interesting to watch.