Integrated facility management software for multi-site contracts

The verdict in three sentences

An integrated facility management provider running 85 sites and 14,000 services a year cannot steer its contractual KPIs with spreadsheets and paper job sheets: every unproven service is a potential service credit. Custom operations software linking the contract, the schedule, field proof and a client portal usually pays for itself within 18 months through avoided penalties and recovered admin hours. The right scope typically sits in the medium application tier (4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA, i.e. 6,100 to 10,670 EUR), delivered in 4 to 6 months.

What running without dedicated software really costs

Take an FM provider in London or Amsterdam delivering front of house, hard services and grounds maintenance for 85 client sites: offices in the City or Zuidas, logistics parks, healthcare buildings. Contracts carry 6 to 12 KPIs on average (response time, planned preventive maintenance completion, occupant satisfaction) and a service credit regime capped at 3 % to 10 % of the monthly invoice.

The issue is rarely the quality of the work. It is the evidence. When a client disputes a cleaning round or a reactive call-out, the provider has to dig out a signed sheet, a photo, a text message. Without traceability, it accepts the credit.

These 2026 orders of magnitude come from regional providers of comparable size: 10 to 18 million GBP turnover, 150 to 300 staff and around twenty specialist subcontractors (lifts, HVAC, fire safety, arboriculture).

Essential modules and their share of the budget

Custom FM software does not need to replicate a full off-the-shelf CAFM. It must match your contracts. Here is the split we recommend.

The most strategic module is the KPI engine. Each contract defines response time differently (business or calendar hours, from the call or from logging) with its own thresholds. The software must compute each KPI continuously under that contract's rule and alert the site manager before the threshold is breached, not after.

The field app must work offline: basement plant rooms and industrial sites often have poor coverage. Data syncs as soon as the network is back.

Budget, timeline and choosing the tier

Kolonell's 2026 grid for custom applications has three tiers: simple at 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA (3,810 to 6,100 EUR), medium at 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA (6,100 to 10,670 EUR) and complex at 7,000,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (10,670 to 22,870+ EUR). A first release limited to the contracts register and the field app fits the simple tier. The full scope above, with the penalty engine and client portal, is medium. Integration with an existing finance ERP and several subcontractor tools moves it to complex.

A typical schedule runs 4 to 6 months: 3 weeks of discovery on 5 or 6 representative contracts, 10 to 14 weeks of iterative build, then a 4-week pilot on 10 sites before full rollout. Ongoing maintenance follows the 35,000, 75,000 or 120,000 FCFA per month grid (53, 114 or 183 EUR). For comparison, an off-the-shelf CAFM licence costs, as a 2026 order of magnitude, 20 to 50 GBP per user per month, with no fine-grained fit to your service credit schedules.

Mini case study

Sarah, operations director of an FM provider in London, absorbs 72,000 GBP of service credits a year and keeps 2 coordinators full time on reporting. After rollout, credits fall to 17,000 GBP, so 55,000 GBP avoided. Automated reporting frees 1.5 FTE, around 50,000 GBP fully loaded. Annual gain: roughly 105,000 GBP. With a medium-tier project at most 10,670 EUR and premium maintenance at 183 EUR a month (2,196 EUR a year), the investment is covered in under two months of savings. Even halving the gains, payback stays under a quarter.

FAQ

Do we need to replace our current CAFM?

Not necessarily. If your CAFM handles hard services well, the custom software can focus on contracts, KPIs and the client portal, syncing job data. That cuts the budget by roughly 20 to 30 %.

Will subcontractors actually use the app?

A simplified access without complex accounts is typically adopted by 80 to 90 % of subcontractors within 2 months. The lever is making invoice payment conditional on proof uploaded in the tool.

How does the software handle contracts that are all different?

Each contract is configured in a register: KPIs, thresholds, credit schedules, business hours. Discovery covers 5 or 6 template contracts, which usually represent more than 85 % of the portfolio.

Is our clients' data secure?

Hosting is in Europe or the UK, with per-site and per-client permissions, access logging and daily backups. Each client sees only its own sites in the portal.

How soon will we see results?

The 10-site pilot usually starts in month 4. The first avoided credits show up at the first monthly review with the client.

Let's scope your project. We define with you the contracts, KPIs and sites to bring on first, with a working pilot in 4 to 6 months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.