by Brianna Crandall — February 20, 2017 — Global facilities services provider ISS has agreed to buy Nordic strategic space management and workplace design consultancy SIGNAL. SIGNAL advises on how to use strategic space management and workplace design to improve performance-based on extensive engagement with customers, managers and employees, and a unique database of user experience
ISS is strengthening its focus on strategic space management and workplace design through the acquisition of Nordic consulting firm SIGNAL.
Martin Gaarn Thomsen, ISS Group chief operating officer, stated:
Our customers are increasingly seeing their workplace as an experience. We have worked with SIGNAL for a number of years. Through this partnership we have seen the power of facilities that deliver on space, function, and creativity, whilst supporting high-quality services for the users. The acquisition of SIGNAL is a natural next step for us and will significantly strengthen our global capabilities in this area. By combining strategic space management and workplace design with integrated facility services, we will enable our customers to leverage the workplace as a strategic tool and to improve business performance. SIGNAL will serve as our global excellence center in this field.”
Andrew Price, ISS Group chief commercial officer, added:
More customers view outsourcing from an outcome perspective. Today’s focus is on how the workplace can help them achieve their purpose. As such, we need greater insight on how workplace design and service design can come together to drive engagement. The acquisition of SIGNAL will expedite our progress in this area and provide new, value-enhancing opportunities for our customers.
Gitte Andersen, managing partner, SIGNAL, said:
This opportunity to advise globally on strategic space management and design is a dream come true for both my business partner, Per Felthaus, and myself. The integration of our company with ISS will enable us to establish the right strategic links between people performance and design of workplaces and spaces in general. We are looking forward to getting started with the development of a global excellence center built on our concepts, evidence, and the significant amount of the data we have gathered in recent years, documenting the close relationship between the design of workplaces and employee behavior, engagement and performance.
Founded in 2000, SIGNAL currently has about 30 employees based at offices in Copenhagen and Oslo. Customers of the consultancy firm include Carlsberg, Nordea, Siemens Windpower, Shell, AstraZeneca, Novozymes, Lego, Deloitte, and Maersk.
SIGNAL will remain a separate business unit within the ISS Group. It will serve as an excellence center for ISS, strengthening the focus on advising customers on how strategic space management and workplace design, in connection with other services, can help increase employee engagement and user experience. The current leadership of SIGNAL will remain in charge of growing the business as an integral part of ISS Group.
