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Wolter Smit, TOPdesk CEO

Supply chain
transparency

Theres an old and quite silly joke that goes: How many dumb
people does it take to change a light bulb? The answer is four.
One to hold the lamp and three to turn the table.
But how do you feel about the next question: how many
organizations do you need to fix a clogged toilet?
There are several roles in the world of real estate. An owner
owns the building. A space is rented to one or more tenants or
users. The buildings management, like maintenance and solving
malfunctions, is taken care of by the building management
company. And the work that needs to be done to fix this is carried
out by contractors, installers and building companies.
Of course these roles can be combined. There are organizations
that own the building they work in, and they also take care
of maintenance and repairs. They only hire contractors for
larger jobs.
But there are also situations, for instance at larger compounds,

This can mean that it takes three organizations (internal service

where the roles are split up. And this is when something

desk, property manager, and contractor) to solve a problem. Its no

peculiar happens.

surprise that the service doesnt run as smoothly. The more walls
you need to break down, the more miscommunication, resulting in

A chain appears from the user (tenant) to the property manager, to

the employee not knowing when something is finally happening.

the contractors. But were not done yet. The tenant has employees.
And they can report on anything: from complaints about the

To offer the end user excellent service, you need to connect these

building to calls for the IT department. They often have their own

chains more quickly, more directly, and more transparently. How

service management system (TOPdesk) that helps them get these

can we achieve this? With a new term that Id like to introduce here:

incidents to the right person.

chain transparency.