World FM Day | Resilience in Action: Thriving in a World of Change

Published by    Dr Daniele Gambero on   June 11, 2025

A Call for Resilience in Property and Facilities Management (PFM)

The world is changing, faster and more unpredictably than ever before.

From global pandemics and economic volatility to climate challenges and technological disruptions, every industry has faced the test of resilience. Facilities management has been one of the unsung heroes of this transformation, it has quietly but consistently ensured continuity, adaptability, and innovation from behind the scenes even during the most trying times of recent human history, the global Covid pandemic.

In celebrating World FM Day, we have acknowledged the professionals who, daily, power our built environment, ensuring that businesses, institutions, and public spaces remain functional, safe, and forward-thinking in times of uncertainty.

Resilience in Action: Beyond Survival With Transformation

Resilience in facilities management is not about surviving while avoiding challenges; it’s ability to adapt and cope with continuous changes that has safely sailed the world through the pandemic and keeps bouncing forward!

The concept of resilience has evolved from merely recovering from crises, to actively embracing disruptions as opportunities, and leveraging the un-expected as a learning tool.

PFM leaders no longer react to change; they lead through it!

The Ever-Changing Landscape of FM

PFM professionals have been and are evolving from mere building managers into multiskilled professionals able to adapt to changes with the wellbeing of buildings, asset owners, and their occupiers in mind!

Main challenges, looking at the digital future of Property and Facility Management, are:

• Technological disruptions: smart buildings, IoT, AI, and automation have been and are revolutionizing operations.

• Sustainability imperatives: buildings and facilities now play a central role in decarbonization, ESG goals, and green innovation with property and facility managers leading the way in responsible and accountable manner!

• Workplace transformations: hybrid work models, the biggest “left-over” from the pandemic, demand adaptable, people-centric spaces with all the challenges that this trend carries.

• Cybersecurity & data protection: the cyber threat has built the need, in the digital transformation process of PFM, to integrating physical and virtual security strategies.

• Supply chain challenges & cost pressures: the global disruption of supply chain has changed the strategic approach to being resilient; property and facility managers have moved it from reactive to proactive raising the bar of smart procurement and risk management.

These disruptive challenges have evolved the property management profession towards a stronger, smarter, and more agile leadership style!

Resilience Through Innovation: PFM Professionals Are Leading Change

PFM is no longer just a professional function within the built environment but a strategic force shaping the future of workspaces, infrastructure, and urban living.

The forum discussion, during the FM World Day Celebration Webinar, featured compelling insights on how resilience is being driven through technology, sustainability, human-centric approaches, and data intelligence.

Technology as the Backbone of PFM Resilience

Facilities management is undergoing a digital revolution, where data and AI-driven solutions, IoT integration, and predictive maintenance tools redefine efficiency and excellence in buildings’ management.

Suhendra Arianto, CEO & co-founder of ServeDeck Innovation Sdn Bhd and panelist in the webinar forum, emphasized that fully integrated FM solutions like ServeDeck streamline operations, reduce downtime, and improve long-term asset management. A well-planned digitalisation of the PFM ecosystem will allow FM teams to shift from reactive maintenance to proactive optimization, using real-time analytics to anticipate disruptions before they occur.

Sustainability in PFM Goes Beyond Green Buildings

Resilient PFM is sustainable PFM. The discussion between panelists highlighted how PFM professionals are no longer just managing infrastructure, they are managing environmental impact.

Retrofitting older spaces with eco-friendly solutions, optimizing energy consumption through smart building technology, and creating circular economies in waste management are just few of the many PFM contribution to a more sustainable built environment.

Sustainability is no longer an optional feature, has evolved to become a necessity. PFM leaders must align with net-zero mandates and corporate ESG targets, ensuring that every facility contributes to climate resilience.

The Human-Centric Evolution of PFM

Resilience is not just about assets; it is about the people using them! The built environment must support the well-being of all users and be highly inclusive to result in above average productivity.

Work-practices have shifted towards a home/office hybrid mode and workplaces need more adaptive designs. This has created the need for a close collaboration between PFM teams & HR leaders to shaping modern workplaces that foster engagement.

PFM professionals are not only managing buildings but have transformed into work-culture influencers.

Policy, Research & the Role of Academia

Resilient PFM needs strong policies and continuous learning; Dr. Maimunah Sapri, a distinguished academic and researcher at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), elaborated on how academic research can equips PFM professionals with digitalized knowledge to navigate disruption.

Regulatory leaders like Sr Low Han Hoe, an expert valuer, estate agent, and PFM professional who has driven continuous progress in the industry, emphasized the need for PFM practitioners to actively adapt to new laws & industry frameworks as digitalization accelerates.

PFM must bridge policy with practice through digital transformation, ensuring that standards evolve alongside technology.

Data Intelligence, The Future of Resilient FM

PFM resilience is increasingly data-driven and predictive analytics have and will help preventing crises before they unfold.

Data-driven insights optimize fast decision-making processes allowing a timely risk management and ensuring long-term operational continuity.

Dr. Matteo Borghi, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Henley Business School, University of Reading (UK), and Research Division Lead for Digitalisation, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship focused on Industry 4.0 technologies such as AI and robotics and their transformative impact on business models and customer experiences in service industries, in his remarks, explored the revolutionary role of AI in PFM, not just for efficiency but also for monetization of new business models.

PFM Must Lead the Future of Change

The future of PFM is not about maintaining buildings but shaping business and people ecosystems. As urbanization accelerates and digital transformation continues, PFM must embrace agility, innovation, and strategic leadership.

The celebration of the World FM Day, this year, has gone beyond a recognition of resilience becoming a strong call to action.

The PFM industry must:

• Champion sustainability as a core PFM mission.

• Integrate digital solutions into every aspect of facilities management.

• Foster deeper collaboration between public, private, and academic sectors.

• Evolve its professionals into strategic leaders and not only operational experts.

Resilience must be an active discipline with PFM professionals leading the transformation to ensure that tomorrow’s buildings, workplaces, and communities will be adaptive, sustainable, and future proof.

The PropTech Game-changer: Resilience Begins with Digital Transformation

The future of PFM is about leading innovation. Facilities management professionals must evolve from reactive problem-solvers to proactive digital strategists, ensuring resilience is not just a concept, but a daily practice.

ServeDeck stands at the forefront of this transformation by enabling PFM teams to seamlessly integrate real-time tracking, predictive maintenance, workflow automation, and smart data insights into everyday operations.

Resilience in Action demands digitalization, and PFM professionals who have leveraged the all-in-one ServeDeck solutions have not only thrived but evolved to become industry leaders!

Let World FM Day be a turning point and not just a mere celebration, let’s build smarter, manage better, and embrace technology as the backbone of a resilient future.

If you are you ready to transform your PFM strategy with digital solutions, let’s discuss how innovation can drive lasting resilience in your PFM business, drop us an email to: info@servedeck.com and we will organize a free demo sessions to show you the future!

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The opinions expressed in this article are solely of the author, Dr Daniele Gambero.

Dr Gambero has been an expatriate to Malaysia from Italy, since 1998 and has more than 35 years of real estate experience. He is the co-founder and group CEO of REI Group of Companies, the Co-founder of Propenomy.com and the president of the Malaysia Proptech Association.

In the past 10 years Daniele, as international and TEDX speaker, has engaged several hundreds thousand people talking about Property, Economy, Propenomy, Digital Marketing and Motivation. He is also a bestselling author and columnist on several magazines and main stream media. You can reach him directly through his LinkedIn page here.

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