Platform economy, a term that has gained ground in recent years. Not bad with companies like Amazon, Airbnb and Uber. But what does it mean? And why is it important to you as a facility manager? Time to dive a little deeper into platforming.
What is the platform economy?
Platformization means that technology is playing an increasingly important role as a link between user and provider. Think of it as a kind of intermediary between supply and demand. For example, Uber does not own taxis, just like Airbnb does not own holiday homes. And think about the apps and sites you use every day: which one really makes its own product? Do you like to use YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Ebay, Marktplaats, Etsy, Alibaba, Thuisbezorgd, Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, Tumblr? The list is long. The platform economy is booming!
The impact of the platform economy is growing and this affects the way labor supply and demand are regulated. But this is not without a struggle. The FNB recently took Deliveroo to court because delivery drivers would be forced to accept a self-employed construction. The judge ruled in favor of the union and ordered the meal delivery platform to work with employment contracts from now on.
Read also: 3 advantages of smart data collection for quality measurements
Organize your company according to the platform economy
The position of workers in the platform economy is therefore clearly a difficult subject that would continue to be wrestled with in the coming years. The fact that platformization has advantages for consumers is evident from how successful the aforementioned companies are. It seems that these developments cannot be stopped. But it is important to underline that we must strive for a situation in which customers, companies and the people who have to run it are satisfied.
How do you approach this as a company, and how do you become successful within the platform economy?
Make sure that the users of your platform have confidence in your company. The keywords for this are honesty and transparency.
Go for cooperation, instead of competition. Important as a platform economy company is to help each other move forward. This is only possible through good cooperation.
Take the wishes of partners and users into account. You want to do it together with suppliers, clients and intermediaries. Only then can you make it a success. The GRIP Facility platform takes care of this collaboration, in order to offer extra transparency to advisers and suppliers.
Be open to connecting different systems. You can’t be the best at everything. Connect the best systems for ease of use.
The better you look for cooperation, the easier it becomes as a company within the platform economy. If you can draw from different sources, you don’t have to offer it from a single supplier. Try to keep it flexible and open, and avoid having to do everything yourself. The better you work together, the easier you can make the connections and use each other’s solutions. If you work that way, you reinforce each other.
Read also: Does KPI management in the facilities industry cause problems?
Platformization of the facility management company
Just as the platform economy has helped modernize the aforementioned industries, it can also work for the facilities chain. Efficiency is the name of the game. What does that look like in practice?
Transparency is, as said, most important. Ensure good cooperation between all parties involved and clear expectations. After all, nobody wants to be faced with surprises. GRIP Facility’s contract management tool optimizes the regular administrative cleaning process. With this handy tool you can easily mutate and settle calculations at day level. In addition, the KPI Dashboard makes it possible to import all KPIs and view them in one clear overview. It indicates in real time where action is needed. This makes contract management and KPI management even easier for clients, intermediaries and suppliers.
Whether you are a facility service provider or client, the data you collect can easily be shared. In this way, we at GRIP Facility realize better cooperation between client, supplier and intermediary. Optimal transparency. Because that is one of the most important characteristics of a successful platform.
Everyone should be better off
At GRIP Facility we have learned from successful platforms that all partners in the ecosystem should benefit from it: a win-win situation for everyone. The client can focus on quality, the contractor knows where he stands and the intermediary can always assume that the status of the contracts is up-to-date.
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