FEATURE
LEARNING FROM THE PAST, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Stephen Roberts, Head of Sales at CMD Ltd, discusses the challenges and opportunities of 2021 and what lies ahead in 2022.
We’ve learned a lot since the start of the pandemic, and surprisingly this actually includes some real positives: one key example is that the commercial fit-out market has been performing much better than expected in recent months. At CMD, we’ve seen demand for our Betatrak powertrack and Power Hub power distribution systems and accessories recover to pre-pandemic levels and our workstation power modules are also performing well, as people return to their office environments and make more permanent arrangements for working from home.
However, along with both our customers and our supply chain partners, we’ve obviously also faced an array of challenges that have required adaptations to the way we operate and what our customers need from us.
Staffing challenges include the competitive recruitment market and keeping everyone safe from the virus through social distancing and self-isolation. At CMD, this involved operational changes in our Rotherham head office, enabling us to respond to demand in real time and communicate lead times with transparency. It’s also involved people working from home and delivering much of our sales and technical support remotely.
Technology has helped and will be part of our toolkit for managing relationships longer term, but the experience has highlighted just how integral to customer relationships face-to-face contact is. We know that our customers have been facing similar challenges, and we’ve been looking at ways to support them as they catch up on disrupted schedules and deal with disruption to their teams.
Heading in to 2022, we are urging customers to work with us as early as possible to ensure disruptions and delays from supply chain challenges and price volatility are mitigated. It’s an approach that we have always advocated because it brings additional benefits in terms of value engineering and overcoming potential buildability or compliance issues, so development of this as a culture is another positive outcome of this turbulent period for both CMD and our customers.
Embracing opportunities In 2020, CMD launched a range of homeworking products and product bundles to enable people to work productively and safely from home and whilst employers and employees have learned the benefits of enabling working from home, they have also realised the value of social interaction and collaboration in the office. Avoiding the daily commute and focusing on work with no distractions
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are clear advantages to working from home, but we’ve realised that formal and informal interactions are an essential part of the way teams and companies operate.
Employers, FMs and building owners are now looking for ways to bring colleagues together again as a community. Few believe we will ever go back to 9-5 day, five days a week, so new layouts are focusing on future flexibility. Modular power distribution systems, which allow layouts to be scaled up or revised easily with new or repositioned tap-offs, are ideal for this trend.
Meanwhile, the end to the silos previously created by seating plans, is now being nurtured by technology and furniture design. Workstation power modules that can be integrated into communal tables or meeting booths with power, rapid USB fast charging and wireless charging capabilities for individual or collaborative use will become the norm. CMD already has a wide portfolio of modules that answer this trend, along with two exciting product launches coming up in 2022.
Valuable learning It seems likely that uncertainty will continue into 2022, with the virus and commercial factors maintaining a challenging environment across the building services delivery chain. However, the industry is now much better placed to roll with the punches and it will be the companies that have learned as changes have unfolded, who are best placed to capitalise on the opportunities to come.
www.cmd-ltd.com
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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