When Adam Klotch talks about what it takes to run a world-class cleaning operation, he doesn’t start with equipment or schedules. He starts with the whole organization.

“To meet that standard really did take a concerted effort,” said Klotch, vice president of operations support at ABM Industries. “It encompasses the entire organization.”

That standard is the ISSA Cleaning Industry Management Standard (better known as CIMS), the global benchmark for operational excellence in building service. And for ABM, one of the world’s largest facility solutions providers, earning that certification wasn’t simply a matter of submitting paperwork. It was a full-scale organizational undertaking that touched everything from frontline procedures and safety training to legal compliance and more.

Klotch and Suzanne Klatt, ABM’s director of sustainability and government affairs, recently joined ISSA Today to discuss what the CIMS certification process looked like at ABM’s scale, why sustainability is now woven directly into the company’s service delivery model, and how Earth Month has become a rallying point for client engagement and employee education.

More than a plaque on the wall

As a global facilities solutions leader, ABM was no small operation to certify. The company employs more than 100,000 people across 19 industries, from healthcare and aviation to commercial real estate and K-12 schools. Applying a consistent, operational framework across that kind of geography and diversity is no small task—and that, Klotch said, is precisely why CIMS matters.

“ABM has a huge library of SOPs written around all the different ways we operate,” he said. “CIMS served as a catalyst for our efforts, offering an industry-recognized framework that helped us organize our sustainability practices while challenging us to revisit and elevate them across the enterprise.”

The result was something Klotch described as a unified cleaning manual for the organization as a whole—one that provides a common operational language across ABM’s expansive footprint. More importantly, it sets expectations that can be verified in the field.

“The biggest impact for us is the ability to deliver consistent, high-quality service across our entire global footprint,” he said.

That consistency, Klotch emphasized, runs deeper than process documentation. The CIMS framework encompasses safety, training, legal compliance, and the full spectrum of operational procedures that frontline teams encounter every day. Getting certified required alignment from every corner of the business.

“This was truly a whole‑organization effort, not just a frontline operational initiative,” Klotch said. “The CIMS framework enabled us to step back and evaluate how the organization functions as a whole, from safety and training to compliance and daily execution.”

Sustainability is the added value

If CIMS gave ABM a structural framework for operational excellence, the CIMS Green Building certification with honors gave that framework an environmental dimension that aligns directly with what clients are asking for.

Klatt, who joined ABM about a year ago after executive sustainability leadership roles at American Express, IBM, and Nasdaq, said the certification reflects something ABM considers core to its identity—not an add-on.

“At ABM, sustainability is not just a concept,” Klatt said. “It’s embedded in how we operate, how we serve our clients, and how we deliver value every day.”

That mission is spelled out explicitly in the company’s stated purpose: to transform spaces, champion people, and advance sustainability. The CIMS GB with honors designation, Klatt said, is a natural expression of that purpose in certified, verifiable form.

“The CIMS GB certification with honors really captures our mission and purpose,” she said. “There’s a really strong alignment between this program and what ABM does every day.”

Part of that alignment involves meeting clients where they are on their own sustainability journeys. ABM’s corporate responsibility platform reflects a broad environmental commitment—including science-based emissions reduction targets, fleet electrification, and renewable energy procurement—and the CIMS GB certification helps operationalize those commitments at the account level. The company has also earned an MSCI ‘A’ rating and an ISS ESG Prime Designation for its overall sustainability efforts.

Klotch added that the evolution of LEED standards has raised the stakes for cleaning providers, making the CIMS GB alignment more strategically significant than it once was.

“Sustainability in cleaning has evolved well beyond isolated decisions around products or processes,” he said. “What matters now is enterprise‑wide alignment, and that’s where this certification is especially impactful for us.”

Client demand is driving the agenda

One of the more telling details to emerge from ABM’s CIMS journey is that the push for certification didn’t come solely from within. Clients asked for it.

“Client demand was a major driver behind our decision to pursue CIMS certification,” Klatt said. “It reflects our commitment to partnering with them to meet their sustainability expectations.”

That demand reflects a broader shift in what facility management clients expect from their service partners. Sustainability has moved from a nice-to-have to, as Klatt put it, “essentially table stakes” across every industry. Clients increasingly want documented evidence that their cleaning provider is operating to a recognized standard—and that the work being done inside their buildings reflects a commitment to environmental stewardship.

From an operational standpoint, Klotch said the CIMS framework helps ABM deliver on that expectation by connecting daily service delivery to the larger organizational mission.

“Our mission at ABM is to make a difference, every person every day,” he said. “As part of that, we’re taking care of the people, spaces, and places that are most important to our clients. That’s really what service delivery is and means to us.”

Earth Month as a platform for education

April’s Earth Month observance has given ABM a timely platform to bring both the certification and the sustainability conversation to life for clients and employees alike.

Klatt described a growing desire — from clients, employees, and stakeholders- — for tangible information about what ABM is doing environmentally. To meet that demand, the company has developed an Earth Day toolkit for clients and is working with ISSA on internal educational sessions designed to help ABM team members understand what CIMS GB certification means and how to communicate it effectively.

“The certification is a really great way to educate our colleagues about what it means to be CIMS GB certified,” Klatt said. “We often see every April that there’s a real appetite from our clients, as well as from our employees, about ways in which we are supporting Earth Day.”

The momentum behind Earth Month, she said, signals something larger than a calendar event.

“The fact that Earth Day has evolved into Earth Month speaks to how sustainability has become a year‑round priority,” Klatt said.

What it took, and what others can do

For cleaning organizations considering CIMS certification, Klotch offered a practical piece of advice: involve a CIMS Certification Expert (CCE) early in the process.

“CIMS CCEs are an important part of the process,” he said. “They help teams better understand what the certification means for the organization and how to navigate both the requirements and the on‑site assessment.”

For those not yet ready to pursue full certification, Klotch suggested starting with honest self-assessment: What has your organization committed to? And are you verifying in the field that you’re actually doing it?

“It’s really about taking stock and making sure you’re verifying out in the field that you’re doing the things that you’ve outlined as the program that differentiates you from the competition,” he said, “and provides good quality service to the client.”

At ABM, the certification is the culmination of that kind of organizational commitment—not the beginning of it. The company entered the process with a large library of documented procedures and exited with something more valuable: a unified, externally validated framework that signals to clients, employees, and stakeholders that excellence isn’t just an aspiration.

It’s a standard. And ABM has earned it.

Learn more about what ISSA CIMS certification can do for you.