The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything about the way we live and work – and, in turn, it has radically changed the ways consumers shop, exercise, and dine out. ServiceChannel is committed to helping our customers through this difficult time in any way we can. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns at cv@servicechannel.com.  The very premise that the fast-casual Read More

A grocery store staff member notices the freezer is running warmer than usual and calls an HVAC technician. If they rely on the wrong provider, it could mean waiting up to four times longer than average. What’s more, a top-performing provider would complete work up to five times as quickly. That time could be worth a lot of melted ice cream. To prevent food spoilage and unsatisfied customers, you Read More

Depending on where you live, you may be entering your 7th week under a stay at home order. Your local retailers are closed. Your favorite restaurant is only doing take-out or delivery. Yet, we all know the one industry that has been open through it all -- Grocery. Wow. It is amazing what grocers have learned and shared about their efforts to keep employees safe and consumers -- you and me -- fed. Read More

In part 2 of this series on resilient facility operations, we look at specific steps to take to prepare locations—and the contractors that service those locations—for resilient operations during the pandemic crisis. For steps 1–3, see part 1 here: Resilient Facility Operations Through the Crisis: Part I, The Role of Facilities Management in Business Continuity. 4. Create a Site Audit Checklist Read More

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a warranted sense of anxiety among people and businesses who are facing an unprecedented and challenging situation. Many of the consumer businesses that typically fuel the economy have experienced drastic changes to operations, from closures to limited operations to strain under spikes in customer demand.  The new normal for business operations in Read More

During my previous 28 years leading Facilities Management for CVS Health, I thought I’d seen it all. You probably did too.  After all, you put out fires every day. Then came COVID-19. With the situation changing literally hour-by-hour, uncertainty and disruption are becoming the new normal.  None of us know for sure where this will take our businesses. But we do know that FM teams will play a Read More

In recent years, one of the most significant changes to impact facilities management has been the increasing prevalence of retail healthcare businesses. These businesses include walk-in clinics, urgent care centers, dental offices, vision centers, and even specialty practices – that, in many cases, are introduced into existing retail settings such as malls or shopping centers. Some even mimic Read More

Ben Franklin is attributed with the maxim “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. As also the inventor of the eponymous “Franklin Stove,” Ben would have also known that routine maintenance on a piece of equipment like this would prevent a lot of problems down the line. But this is easier said than done for modern facilities managers and their contractors who are responsible for the Read More

There are 23.5 square feet of retail space for every person in the United States, which is more than any other country in the world. All this retail space is critical to our economy as more than 90 percent of the nearly $6 trillion consumers spend in the US take place inside brick-and-mortar stores – so much for the retail apocalypse. Managing all this square footage well requires strategic Read More

The far-reaching impact of digital transformation is typically associated with the digital-first preferences of millennials (or “Generation Z”). However, we were recently startled to see that Gen X grocery shoppers are now trending toward online services more than ever before. If we see even a modicum of shift among the even larger Baby Boomer generation, this begs the question: Are the days of Read More

When Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes’ to the world in 1891 with A Scandal in Bohemia, he wrote, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.” This holds true for any business that’s built upon processes that require continuous upgrades and analysis. Doyle’s words are arguably even more prevalent today as the use of data has become a foundational piece for Read More