COMMITMENT TO INNOVATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIPS
Alexios Gkegkios, General Manager of Globe Williams Serbia
“At Globe Williams Serbia, we pride ourselves on being a global company with a local touch, combining international expertise with in-depth knowledge of the Serbian market. Our main advantage lies in our commitment to innovation, sustainability, and long-term partnerships. With a 97% client retention rate and a dedicated team of skilled professionals, we ensure transparency, efficiency, and excellence in everything we do. Most importantly, we treat every client as a partner, prioritizing their success as a reflection of our own.”
Globe Williams successfully provides total facilities management solutions (TFM) in Serbia since 2008. What is TFM exactly and what do you consider to be the biggest challenges and successes in your development over the years?
Total Facilities Management (TFM) is a comprehensive approach that integrates all facility management services into a single contract and under a sole supplier. It involves managing maintenance, operation, and repair of facilities, including services such as cleaning, security, landscaping, utilities, and physical asset maintenance. Globe Williams Serbia currently provides top quality services in technical infrastructure maintenance, cleaning and hygiene maintenance, physical security and security systems implementation and maintenance, landscaping and winter services, waste management and recycling, grounds maintenance, HSSE and energy efficiency services, vendor management and aggregated purchasing, and staff outsourcing with licensed HR solutions. There has been many challenges over the years such as misinformation and mistrust about outsourcing these services to an external provider, finding and training loyal professionals to deliver the services consistently, operating with very low margins in order to support the client on these secondary but necessary services for their business (to allow them to focus on their core activities), operate in best practices and with international standards where the local market had no experience in this business model or any infrastructure to support it (TFM not a business classification on the APR). However, educating the clients , training our employees consistently, following the local business laws of engagement and prioritizing the customer first on a 24/7 basis has turned these challenges into a successful competitive advantage for us and in combination with the international companies understanding and appreciating the need for their local counterparts to operate in a central function, we have managed to grow strongly and consistently from an initial operation of 5 people to a rather large outfit of 450 staff of management and service delivery operators, excluding our accredited subcontractors and delivery partners in Serbia.
Apart from Serbia, Globe Williams operates in 34 countries worldwide. Could you tell us more about the company’s international presence?
Having started from a humble central Melbourne neighborhood of Richmond and with the vision of our founder and the very hard work of its 30.000 plus employees, 800 strong management and all Country Managers and Board members, we have emerged after 25 years as one of the biggest and fastest growing IFM organizations in the world. Operating with its own legal entities in 35 countries and delivering services in more than 100 states through one of the most reliable and fully diligenced partner network without a major serious accident and zero fatalities ensuring the highest possible level of service to its 8000+ clients around the globe. We are offering a staggering 350+ different service lines in the IFM Support Industry, continuously investing in new innovative technologies, but most importantly in developing its people: our only real asset!
How do you define an effective approach to clients and what would you highlight as the main advantage of your company compared to other companies in the same industry?
An effective approach to clients, in my view, begins with building strong relationships based on trust, understanding their specific challenges, and delivering tailored solutions that add real value. At Globe Williams Serbia, we pride ourselves on being a global company with a local touch, combining international expertise with in-depth knowledge of the Serbian market. Our main advantage lies in our commitment to innovation, sustainability, and long-term partnerships. With a 97% client retention rate and a dedicated team of skilled professionals, we ensure transparency, efficiency, and excellence in everything we do. Most importantly, we treat every client as a partner, prioritizing their success as a reflection of our own.
A growing emphasis on sustainability, changing occupant expectations, and technology improvements contribute to the transformation of the facilities management landscape. What are the latest trends in this sector and which ones are you implementing in your business?
The facilities management sector is evolving with trends in sustainability, technology-driven efficiency, smart and IOT technologies. At Globe Williams Serbia, we prioritize advanced Health and Safety measures by implementing specialized software tools to monitor and ensure compliance across our clients’ sites. A key innovation we’ve introduced is AthOz, our tailor-made CAFM system, designed to streamline operations, provide real-time data, and support proactive decision-making. However, we believe that people make the real difference, as it is the users of these technologies who deliver the service. This is why we invest heavily in training and equipping our team with the skills and knowledge to provide exceptional results and create meaningful client partnerships.
Recently, Globe Williams has started delivering a new service related to the recruitment of foreign employees in Serbia. What motivated you to incorporate it into your portfolio?
This is indeed a growing trend that has been recognized from the local government also, which has relaxed its laws on foreign workers emigrating to Serbia. We are finding that there is an undeniable gap in the labour market and the currently available blue collar resources. Sponsoring foreign work force gives us the benefit of carefully selecting a trained and experiences professional that legally comes to our company from abroad in order to be productive and loyal while being remunerated consistently on a competitive hourly rate. The employment relationship is such that ties their work and temporary stay visa to the company and therefore pending the right management process, there is a low attrition rate and high productivity, as we provide for every need of these workers while in Serbia. Daily attendance and quality of work are mostly guaranteed as this type of foreign labour force understand, appreciate and usually seize the opportunity of acquiring a long term position with our established company.
You are an active member of the HBA. What does the Hellenic Business Association represent for you and are you satisfied with its work?
HBA represents to me a successful business association but mostly a business family where everyone is supporting each other and shares experiences and opportunities in order to improve, sustain, diversify and grow existing and new business in the local environment. We are happy and look forward to supporting and growing this successful concept through executing services, educating, training, advising and networking via the current and new members and other associations in order to have an even stronger foothold in the future business market and its developments, while safeguarding the existing custom.
