Viva Italia! ServiceChannel Talks Retail Facilities Management in Milan

The need for retail (and retail-like) companies to compete in today’s increasingly competitive global marketplace by ensuring appealing onsite environments has driven interest in retail facilities management technologies, particularly across Europe.

As part of our efforts to share best practices and the benefits available from relying on new and innovative solutions, ServiceChannel participated in two events this month in Milan, Italy – the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Italia 18th Annual Facility Management Day and the Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM) European Retail Exchange.

As more companies seek ways to deliver superior customer experiences, we saw a great deal of opportunity to help multi-location brands across Europe benefit from service automation technology. The common theme across both events was the need for data-driven decision making, now powered by machine learning, along with integration of various best-of-breed software in adjacent categories (e.g., energy management).

IFMA Italia 18th Annual Facility Management Day

The IFMA Italia Facility Management Day event’s overarching theme was how retail facilities management continues to evolve to better serve customers and the important role this increasingly strategic function takes in the success of companies. The event’s various panel discussions and workshops focused on how the digital arena impacts the facilities environment and the importance of software in the facilities space.

“In the last eighteen years, the Facility Management Day has become a key moment in the Italian facility management industry. More than any other event, it reflects the core spirit at the heart of IFMA Italia, which is the will to create a constructive dialogue among supply and demand services as the only way to let the market grow in an appropriate way.

– Mariantonietta Lisena, IFMA Italia

Our sponsorship of this event was another example of our significant investment and growing presence in Italy given the growing demand for our solutions from both regional and global brands over the past two years.

Lisa Del Percio and Emma Becucci, ServiceChannel	Lisa Del Percio on the Digital Space Panel

Lisa Del Percio, ServiceChannel Global Sales Manager, participated on the Digital Space Panel discussion focusing on digital growth. One of the topics discussed during the panel addressed some of the new technologies that will be impacting facilities management over the next several years:

“Lots of equipment is being built with sensors that will enable them to self-monitor and even integrate with systems like ServiceChannel’s that enable them to immediately flag when there are issues and create work orders on the fly.”

– Lisa Del Percio, ServiceChannel

Featured speakers at the IFMA Italia event included the Head of Facilities for Commune di Milano, Head of Facilities Juventus Football Club, Head of Facilities Gardaland, and a Facilities Director from Engie. There were over 565 attendees, included renowned European brands such as Geox, Benetton, and Max Mara among a host of others.

The facility management market has steadily grown in Italy in the last ten years, for sure. There is more. The facility management culture has finally spread among private companies, after being lacking for many years in our country. The same cannot be said for the public sector, but even on this side many encouraging signs can be traced. One of the main factors that will lead the next level in the Italian market will be undoubtedly the service digitization, in which companies are hugely interested.” 

– Mariantonietta Lisena, IFMA Italia

European Retail Exchange in Milan

We closed out the ‘FM week’ in Milan with the PRSM European Retail Exchange event at the Hilton Hotel Milano. The event focused on how facility managers can guarantee contractor and service provider compliance across all countries they oversee, even with different health and safety rules in each country.

Italian luxury fashion brand and ServiceChannel customer, Fendi, shared its thoughts on how it is currently using a health and safety supplier to do audits of its stores using the ServiceChannel Site Planning Manager mobile app to guarantee compliance for its corporate health and safety standards.

PRSM’s event was a small and intimate meeting with a mix of ServiceChannel customers and service provider partners. Numerous brands and service providers including Percassi, Fendi, Bose, Rituals, Dainese, Tod’s and Interface met to discuss luxury retail facilities management, network and learn from each other.