Last week, Datore launched FM Data Maturity Assessment – a free, self-service tool built for FM service providers. In under 10 minutes, it takes you through 24 questions across six key dimensions of data capability and gives you a detailed score, peer benchmarking and a personalised improvement roadmap. Here’s their story of how it came about.
Why We Built the FM Data Maturity Assessment
(And What 100+ Sales Calls Taught Us)
Pretty much every new biz call starts the same way.
We’re ten minutes in, talking to an Ops Director, CFO or an MD at a mid-market FM provider, and I’m trying to work out where they actually are with their data. Not where they think they are or have presumed they might be btw – where they actually are.
And honestly? They’re trying to work that out too 9.5 times out of 10
The same conversation, over and over
After a hundred-odd of these calls, patterns start to emerge. You hear the same frustrations wrapped up in slightly different language. “We’ve got data everywhere, but we can barely see anything.” “Our T&A says one thing, payroll says another.” “We spend the last week of every month pulling numbers into a spreadsheet that nobody really trusts apart from the people that built it.”
The problem isn’t that these companies don’t have data. They’re drowning the stuff. The problem is they’ve got no way of knowing whether they’re in good shape, bad shape, or somewhere in between when it comes to harnessing its power – because there’s nothing to compare against. It’s a classic case of “you don’t know what you don’t know”.
So, every call, I’d find myself running through a hastily assembled mental checklist. How are they tracking contracts? Where is their SLA data? What does their workforce data look like? Are any their systems talking to each other? How do they handle client reporting? Realistically, how much of their “analysis” is being done on spreadsheets. And based on the answers, I’d be building a picture in my head of where they sit on the maturity spectrum.
I started thinking – if I’m doing this in my head on every single call, maybe there’s something useful in trying formalising it.
From mental checklist to actual tool
That’s essentially how the Data Maturity Assessment was born. We took the questions we were already asking – the ones that actually reveal where an FM provider sits with their data capability – and turned them first into a formal list, and then, eventually, into a structured self-service assessment.
Six dimensions (sections). Twenty-four questions. Each one written in the language FM people actually use, not generic data & governance jargon that means nothing to someone running 150 cleaning contracts (hopefully anyway 🫣)
The dimensions cover the areas where we consistently see the biggest gaps: contract and operational data, workforce and resource data, energy and sustainability, service delivery and SLAs, systems integration, and data culture. Between them, they paint a pretty honest picture of where you are – and more importantly, where the quick wins sit. [Take the FM Data Maturity Assessment →]
Built on real benchmarks, not guesswork
Here’s the bit we’re most proud of. The benchmarks aren’t based on our own assumptions.
We pulled together as much publicly available data as we could find – industry reports, regulatory frameworks, published case studies, sector surveys – to establish what “good” actually looks like at each maturity level. The scoring isn’t arbitrary. It’s grounded in what’s realistic for a mid-market FM provider managing 30 to 200-plus sites.
Are the benchmarks perfect? No. They’re a great, data-backed starting point though.
It’s going to get better
Here’s the exciting part. Right now, the benchmarks are built on publicly available data and our own experience from working with FM providers across the sector. But as people take the assessment, we’ll start building a genuinely unique (always anon obvs) dataset.
Think about what that means. Over time, we’ll be able to tell you not just where you score, but how you compare to other FM providers of a similar size, in similar service lines, managing a similar number of sites. That kind of peer benchmarking doesn’t exist in FM data right now. Nobody’s collecting it.
Every assessment taken makes the tool more valuable for the next person who takes it. The benchmarks get sharper. The recommendations get more specific. The picture of data maturity across the UK FM mid-market gets clearer and clearer.
Why it matters
Most FM providers we speak to know they need to do something with their data. The problem is they don’t know where to start, why? … *drum roll please* because they don’t know where they are – simple.
That’s what this tool solves. Ten minutes, twenty-four honest answers, and you’ve got a clear picture of your data maturity across the six areas that matter most. No sales pitch required. Just a mirror held up to your current capability, with some practical pointers on what to tackle first.
And if the results make you want to have a conversation about what “better” looks like? Well, we can start that conversation from a much clearer starting position. [Take the FM Data Maturity Assessment →] Datore offers an award-winning solution – Your Data Department – the UK’s only subscription-based data department, helping SMBs harness their data like an enterprise. With 30+ years of experience in the built environment, they democratise data capabilities across the sector.
