As the global market continues to evolve with technological advancements, more and more businesses are realizing how crucial the built environment is to their core operations to innovate and maximize value. Facilities Management helps optimize the built environment through multiple aspects of structure, security, sustainability and technical services.
To compete in this dynamic and ever-changing business environment, clients demand integrated facility management companies to lead efficiency through innovation. BGIS is one such company, empowered to drive business forward with tailored solutions for clients, ensuring that their real estate assets are operating optimally. Globally, BGIS serves several markets including financial services, oil and gas, healthcare, government, higher education, utilities, telecommunications, and cloud enterprise. In addition to managing a diverse portfolio of corporate offices, retail, colleges, hospitals and industrial assets, BGIS is a world leader in the management of data centers and other critical environments. Gord Hicks, CEO of BGIS met with the CEOViews team to share his insights.
CEOViews: BGIS is a global leader in the provision of Facility Management, Project Delivery, Energy and Sustainability, Asset Management, Workplace Advisory, Critical Environments and Real Estate Services. How did it all begin? What was your mission at the outset?
Gord Hicks: We have always focused on delivering disruptive business solutions for our clients through a culture of caring, innovation, and high-performance. BGIS functions with a rich engineering background and a commitment to sustainability and service excellence. Established in 1992, we have office locations in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. BGIS hails from an industry that has evolved significantly over the past 35 years, primarily driven by technology.
CEOViews: BGIS has been recognized as one of the “Most Innovative companies to watch.” How was your journey so far?
Gord Hicks: To thrive in this competitive market domain, a company must incorporate various strategies and measures. It must teach high-performance culture, especially at the executive level. It should also maintain pace with frequent touchpoints aligned with agile work principles. In addition, companies must manage the outcomes, set action plans, measure and adjust accordingly, while inspecting expectations. Having strategized and implemented similar measures to scale success, we believe success is founded on a diverse workplace with different strengths, skills, cultural backgrounds, and ideas. Our team brings a wide range of perspectives that enable innovation and change, leading the company to excel in the industry.
CEOViews: What type of innovative service solutions does your firm offer?
Gord Hicks: BGIS offers an array of disruptive services to our clients. We manage the most sophisticated types of real estate assets, specializing in data centers and buildings with complex building systems, air conditioning, and maintenance needs. We manage a broad spectrum of real estate assets including retail, office, industrial, and critical environments such as data centers. Moreover, the company is one of North America’s largest technical and building services employers.
BGIS excels in Facilities Management, Project Delivery, Critical Environments, Sustainability Services, Cleaning Solutions and Workplace solutions. Technically led, the company provides a wide spectrum of services, including interior design, to allow our clients to create an optimally efficient ecosystem of workplace services. By approaching facilities management from an integrated perspective, BGIS strives to maximize cost savings, as well as the quality and safety of building operations.
CEOViews: How do you foster creative and innovative thinking? Can you disclose to us some basic things that help create an innovative company culture?
Gord Hicks: At BGIS, we’re strategic thinkers that help our clients see change as an opportunity. We stop at nothing less than producing real results for our clients because we only succeed when they succeed. We think differently, we act differently, and we’re prepared to tackle any challenge clients can throw at us. We’re changing the way clients look at their real-estate management partner.
Our Innovation Program Office follows a ‘Practical Innovation’ philosophy, which means we help identify a longer-term roadmap, with realistic and practical steps towards progress. We focus on short-term wins that add up to a bigger picture.
We challenge the status quo in our industry and partner with our clients with an approach that is fresh and unexpected in the real estate management space: agile and responsive, an entrepreneurial attitude, informed risk-taking. Our clients benefit from custom solutions, tailored not only to their individual needs, but also to the needs of their customers.
CEOViews: What type of working culture do you maintain at BGIS? What does it take to build a great team?
Gord Hicks: BGIS prides itself on having a culture focused on teamwork, high performance, and caring for its team members, customers, and the environment. These elements are embedded in our corporate DNA and differentiate us from our competitors whose organizations are typically built around transactional cultures. BGIS is home to diverse individuals from different cultural backgrounds, professions and perspectives. BGIS spans over 15 countries to bring innovation, expertise and cost-effective solutions to people and places worldwide. We are committed to fostering an all-inclusive workplace because embracing and empowering people allows us to deliver more meaningful, impactful and rewarding results. BGIS’s Future Leaders program is designed for high potential team members who have a passion for BGIS’s mission and the drive to develop their skills and competencies further. We’re also proud of an initiative called Women of BGIS that encourages the growth, support and advancement of our female workforce. We strive to ensure that all People and Culture practices are unbiased and in sync with the employment policies and values. We continue building a diverse workforce as we recognize that each employee’s unique experiences, perspectives and viewpoints add value to our ability to deliver the best service for our clients.
CEOViews: How did BGIS support and assist clients through the Coronavirus crisis?
Gord Hicks: The COVID-19 pandemic caused disturbances across various sectors. It posed a great challenge for companies to maintain pace with emerging trends and scale their businesses. BGIS employees were instrumental during the pandemic in supporting not only the health and safety of our clients’ buildings, but also in creating processes, procedures and governance to mitigate risk. The company quickly developed and implemented new service offerings to help our clients. Our speed and adaptability, including a flat, entrepreneurial culture, greatly helped us respond to and support our clients.
BGIS excels in Facilities Management, Project Delivery, Critical Environments, Sustainability Services, Cleaning Solutions and Workplace solutions.
CEOViews: What type of plans do you have for expanding your firm’s growth more efficiently? What type of future vision do you have for your firm?
Gord Hicks: We plan to continue focusing on our passion for innovation. We strive to work hard, to stay aware of innovation and disruptive solutions while continuing to find ways to implement progressive solutions that make a difference. BGIS continues to grow and evolve our technical services—including diversification of services and driving consistency by geography. We are a boutique of disruptive offerings in the industry built to deliver value to clients looking for innovative services and creative solutions.
