Data Driven Company – a reality check

A facility management company in Central Europe. You might think that facility management requires tons of data. So did I. What is the reality?

Imagine a four storey building in a big city that offers office rental space. I visited the facility management company in charge a couple of months ago and tried to find out to what extent they rely on data in their management practices.

I was especially interested  in energy related issues. What kind of data they collect from what sources with what frequency through what channels?

I had a pleasant, informal talk with the CEO and because I’ve known him for ages he was quite open with me.

“Look,” he said, “I keep the management simple. This is not rocket science, we keep the office space rent as high as we can and keep the cost of operation and maintenance by means of outsource contracts as low as we can.”

“I see but there should be a well-designed energy measurement and management system in use for the company to support the operation, shouldn’t there? I mean it is essential to have detailed, possibly real-time data sets about the energy consumption of each and every significant entity of the building. Not to mention early warning detection functions and drill-down analysis capabilities,” I threw back at him.

“Hey,” winked the manager, ”you are almost talking like a data scientist. Don’t overcomplicate it – that’s my advice. You may think I am sarcastic but believe me, too much data can be an excessive burden on the shoulders. I am saying a surefire operation & maintenance contract is more important than a wide ocean of data sets that are not dealt with. Let’s take for example the early warning functions. Frankly saying this is not my concern. I am not interested. This may be important for the O&M outsource partner but not for me. He runs all the risks and that’s enough for me.”

“Uh-huh, I understand, you play hardball with outsource partners, you have good contracts and good lawyers. Don’t take offence but this is not “data driven management” this is “management by pressurising,” I shot back.

“You hit the nail on the head. That’s how it goes, just keep it simple,” ended he our conversation with a hearty laugh.

What’s the point here?

Well, you should be careful with your assumptions about the business model and management philosophy of your business partner. You may think that what is obvious to you, like managing a company by data / information is also the centerpiece of their management practices. However, if you are not on the same page, you won’t do business together, so you have to get to know how your business partner really works.