Industrial Services

Certain segments provide more strategic or revenue-generating services for their customers (e.g. engineering, logistics) whereas other segments are generally perceived as cost-centres or overheads (e.g. facilities management). This distinction, along with the degree of skilled labour activity, significantly determines how companies go to market, emphasising service quality in differentiated markets vs. competing on price in commoditised markets. Companies across all segments of Industrial Services are grappling with automation (of both physical and nonphysical processes) in an attempt to build long-term competitive advantage.

The construction sector is relatively digitally mature, with applications ranging from on-site activities (e.g. intelligent access control and security solutions, drone and lidar surveying, robotics and 3D printing) to design and the back-office (BIM, design simulation, projects and materials management). Facilities management, meanwhile, lags construction in its digital capability, especially among SMEs, although significant opportunity exists through the deployment of IoT equipment. This includes smart thermostats and boilers, leak and humidity detection, lighting,  fire detection and security devices and other smart appliances. Together this equipment is capable also of generating a huge amount of data that can be analysed in tandem to optimise repair and maintenance cycles, reduce the labour requirement, drive down costs and create a safer working (or living) environment.