A Conversation with Ketan Patel, CIO at OCS

During our World Tour London event at the ExCeL, I took the opportunity to talk to Ketan Patel, who is Group CIO with OCS Facilities Management, a global company that’s renowned for its ability to deliver quality facilities across multiple sectors, from workplaces to living spaces, educational facilities to transport and logistics hubs to hospitals and retail spaces.

“It’s a very data-rich business,” Ketan told me, “And even though we’re operating in a very established industry, it’s one that’s always evolving – and rapidly.” He stressed that technology is transforming OCS’s business models at a rapid pace.

“Because we have so much data flowing through the business all the time, we need to make sure we can leverage its power and use the insights it can give us to make the facilities and buildings we operate much more efficient, not just to benefit our business and our clients, but also achieve ESG goals that are so important right now.”

The data helps you see so much more

During the World Tour event, we heard a lot about AI and its potential for leveraging value and insights from massive amounts of data, I asked Ketan whether he and his teams were excited about the potential of the technology.

“Definitely! It’s already yielding benefits. We’re able to get data, really granular, specific, real-time data from our buildings and facilities so that we can see when and how buildings are occupied, how people (and things) move around those spaces, and what each space is being used for at particular times of the day and night,” he said.

“For instance, take retail spaces like shopping centres; we can drill down to see who is going where, when, and what their dwell times are. We can calculate when more women than men are in the centre, and where they’re going and what they’re doing. And, of course, the other way around. That demographic data is vital not just to us, but to our tenants.”

Ketan stressed that tenants must be seen as clients – as customers. “That’s what the data helps us do. And that’s why working with CRM technology from Salesforce is so important. We know that the tool provides the power, especially with its inbuilt AI, to help us gain valuable insights, but we have to use those insights to benefit our clients.”

OCS is a global group and Ketan agreed that the large volumes of data it generates was a challenge. “I like a challenge,” he said. “I see data as disruptive – in a good way. It’s tough overcoming the silos which naturally occur in such a big organisation, but getting the data together is a challenge that’s worth confronting. We’ve been acquiring different businesses recently and they all come with their own datasets, but we’ve been working hard to align them.”

Is it working? “Yes, and that’s because we’re defining the KPIs we want to achieve. The kinds of things that are fundamental to us, such as who exactly are our customers, how are we engaging with them, and NPS scores we are achieving?”

Capture the data and USE it!

Salesforce’s message that CRM+AI+Data+Trust is the key to achieving those actionable insights is something that Ketan agrees with; “So, it’s not just capturing that data; it’s USING it. Using it to transform how we nurture our sales pipeline, make and win bids, and then apply good practice to all our customers.”

Ketan mentioned a statistic from a session at World Tour London; the fact that only 4% of organisations are ready to make the most of AI in leveraging value from their data. “That’s amazingly low, but it’s actually not that surprising,” he said, “Like I said, getting the data into the right shape is the key.”

Create a culture of working the data to see tenants as customers

Ketan believes that an all-or-nothing / big-bang approach isn’t right. “Start small. Focus on quick wins. There’s no need to create the perfect architecture from the start, instead do something that boosts margins, creates value, adds to service excellence. Then move on.”

“Leverage AI so you can ensure the data adds value to your people. Proven tangible benefits around safety, better services, sustainability and so on, will get buy-in. You need a good technology roadmap that clearly shows how benefits can be unlocked going forward.”

Is Ketan excited or nervous about the coming of AI? “Both. AI has re-defined the traditional barriers we work within. In fact, it feels like there aren’t any barriers at all! That can be disconcerting. But it’s a journey. As I said, start small and build on success.”

Ketan ended by stressing the importance of working with a partner that can offer both support and the right technologies. “That’s why we work with Salesforce, of course. It’s how, step by step, we’ll master data and AI in our own way.”

Salesforce is OCS’s partner on their CRM+AI+Data+Trust journey, we can be yours too.

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