Penguin FM

12/06/2026

A brilliant day out with the Penguin FM team this week. 🐧

We kicked things off at Azotea in Leeds before heading over to Boom Battle Bar for what turned out to be a very competitive night.

Moments like this matter. A team that genuinely enjoys spending time together is a team that shows up for each other, and for clients. That's not something you can manufacture.

A big thank you to Dan San Juan and his team at Boom Battle Bar for the hospitality. You made the night.
Here's to more of it.

11/06/2026

"Isn't FM radio???"
That's what happened when one of our team mentioned their job to a 16 year old recently.

And it sums up the problem perfectly.

At the IFM Summit in London, the conversation kept coming back to the same thing: FM is one of the best career paths most young people have never heard of.

No two days the same. Real progression. Senior, well-paid roles. And no, you don't need a degree to get there.

It needs to be in schools. It needs to be talked about more. We're proud to be part of an industry worth shouting about.

The best events are shaped by the people willing to stand up and share. Claudio, Regan and Ros did exactly that. Thank you!

10/06/2026

FM's biggest problem is not budget.
It is not technology.
It is not even headcount.

It is the fact that most facilities managers never get the time to think strategically because they are too busy keeping the lights on.

Rui Santos Couto from Infraspeak put it better than most when he sat down with Mike on The Penguin Podcast. He called it the reactive loop. The cycle of emergencies, quick fixes, and constant firefighting that stops FM professionals from ever stepping back and seeing the bigger picture.

And here is the part that stings: staying stuck in the reactive loop is not just inefficient. It is where you slowly lose everything you have built your career on.

The full conversation is well worth your time.

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/645WO1hMMEmyqKQKvV9DhO?si=iONPVSmlR9SIa9thn0Aa3A
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LXefxb6SS6w

08/06/2026

New episode of The Penguin Podcast is live.

At the IFM Summit in London, Mike sat down with Rui Santos Couto, CMO at Infraspeak and one of the most thoughtful voices in FM right now.

Rui has spent a decade speaking to facilities managers across more than 40 countries. He is also writing the book - quite literally - on strategic FM leadership, out this month!

This conversation covers the reactive loop holding FM back, why 80% of digital transformation projects fail, where AI is genuinely adding value right now, and what the next generation of FM leadership actually looks like.

It is one of the most practical, honest conversations we have had on the podcast.

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/645WO1hMMEmyqKQKvV9DhO?si=iONPVSmlR9SIa9thn0Aa3A
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LXefxb6SS6w

04/06/2026

We set out to build something different🐧

Not the most efficient helpdesk. Not the most automated. Not the one with the most impressive spec sheet.

This:
"We didn't set out to build the most augmented helpdesk. We set out to build one where people could actually think, actually care, actually have the time to pick up the phone instead of chasing a job sheet for the fourth time that week."
Mike Robinson, Director, Penguin FM

That was the brief. Everything else followed from it.

329.6% rise in work order volume. 40% increase in helpdesk capacity. 20x reduction in manual bills processing. All of it happened because we asked the right question first: where is administration taking time away from people, instead of giving it back?

When you start there, the results take care of themselves.

02/06/2026

FM isn't seen as a flashy industry...

We know that. But when we got talking to everyone at the IFM Summit in London, we asked them what the common misconceptions of FM are. 🤔

Behind every building that works properly is a team of professionals making thousands of decisions. Behind every supplier relationship is a sustainability story most people never see.

FM is built by people. It's driven by people. And it offers more freedom, variety and opportunity than most industries ever will.

It's time we start saying that louder!

Thank you to Ros Ewart, Pete Williams, Regan Lowe and Hannah Freeman for featuring in our content.

More to follow...

01/06/2026

Penguin FM are proud to be recognised for 'Most Efficient FM'

Behind that recognition is a team that shows up every day and genuinely cares about the service they deliver. It is also a reflection of the work we have been doing to transform how our helpdesk operates - using AI automation to remove the administrative burden that quietly wears FM teams down, so our people can focus on relationships, delivery, and the work that actually makes a difference.

40% increase in helpdesk capacity. A 329.6% rise in work order volume. The same standard of service. The same people - just freed up to focus on what matters.

This one is for the team. Thank you to everyone at Penguin FM who makes the delivery possible every single day.

22/05/2026

The FM sector in one room.

Yesterday the Penguin FM team were at the IFM Summit London, and the conversations didn't disappoint.

From AI and smart buildings to sustainability, compliance, and the future of the workforce... the themes that matter most to FM right now were all on the table.

It was great to connect with so many faces from across the industry.

19/05/2026

"The goal was never to build the most efficient helpdesk. It was to build one where people have the time and space to be brilliant."
Edward Wick, Managing Director, Penguin FM

That stays with you.

For years, the helpdesk ran on people chasing, manually inputting, logging the same information twice, three times, across systems that didn't talk to each other.

The full back office is now close to running end to end. Not because we wanted slicker processes. Because we wanted our people to stop drowning in admin and start doing the work that actually matters.

The hours returned. The conversations that happened because the chasing stopped. The team members who finish the week feeling like what they did counted.

FM is changing. We intend to keep leading it.

18/05/2026

Another great mention for our Tyten AI story, this time from Network6.

Thank you to the team for featuring it. If you haven't read it yet, it covers how we built the UK's first truly AI-enhanced FM helpdesk and what it meant for our people and our operation.

Full article here: https://network6.org.uk/facilities-management/how-penguin-fm-and-tyten-built-the-uks-first-truly-ai-enhanced-fm-helpdesk/

When Technology Becomes Human:How Penguin FM and TYTEN Built the UK's FirstTruly AI-Enhanced FM HelpdeskAn industry first in facilities management: where automation was designed not toreplace people, but to set them free.When Penguin FM introduced AI-powered automation into its helpdesk, JillNichols...