In our “Thought Leader Interviews” series iwmsnews.com interviews all important Thought Leaders from the IWMS industry. In our sixth interview we have interviewed Michael T. Swanstrom, President & CEO of the Business Integration Group, Inc.
1. Please introduce yourself to our readers
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Hello, my name is Michael T Swanstrom and I oversee our resources, operations and formulate the client centric strategic vision for Business Integration Group, Inc., as President & CEO. |
2. Can you explain a bit about your background and your career?
I’ve spent 30 years in various aspects of the commercial real estate profession including asset management, corporate finance and facilities and property management. The last four years I have had the pleasure of supporting a great team of people at Business Integration Group, Inc. in the technology industry developing and enhancing our BigCenter IWMS solution suite. I have lived and worked in various locations throughout the United States and Europe including California, New York, Connecticut, Arizona and London, United Kingdom, where I supported the global expansion of the largest privately held commercial real estate organization’s facilities management platform, throughout 19 European countries.
My education includes an MBA, Finance and I’ve obtained the following industry certifications MCR (Master Corporate Real Estate (CoreNet Global)); CEM (Certified Energy Manager, (Association of Energy Engineers)); RPA, SMA, FMA and SMT (Building Owners and Manager’s Association).
3. Can you elaborate a bit more about your company? What makes your company unique?
Business Integration Group, Inc. was founded in 1998 and pioneered the development of an industry leading web-based Integrated Workplace Management System.
Our solutions have been developed in collaboration with subject matter experts in technology, real estate, business process engineering and architecture. We deliver strategic insight that enables informed real estate decisions for owners, occupiers, and investors.
Our People
Our talented professionals assess each client’s needs and implement solutions that fit the client’s strategic, operational, and financial goals.
Our Services
We provide a scalable and cost effective Integrated Workplace Management Solution (IWMS) that delivers strategic insight for our clients in every stage of the real estate process. We also assist clients with Technology Assessments, Facility Call Center Support, System Integration, Lease Administration and Workforce Scheduling.
Our Results
We enable process consistency, cost optimization, workflow efficiency and informed decision making via our real-time business intelligence tools for clients on a global basis.
Our Values
- Our clients come first
- We will continually innovate, execute and provide exceptional service
- Every employee contributes to our success
- Profitability enables us to invest and succeed
- Integrity is the cornerstone of our prosperity
We service clients in over 100 countries and offer a full suite of professional services including lease administration, 24*7 facility call center, space management, resource scheduling and technology assessments.
4. What motivates you as a person?
Desire to learn, innovate, have fun, be creative with a passion to maximize potential
5. How do you want to be seen by your employees, the competition and independent business analysts?
We are the IWMS firm of choice for global enterprises – a trusted advisor and collaborative partner – the global standard for knowledge, service, and execution – valued for ease of implementation, flexibility of delivery models and real-time business intelligence tools
6. What does the term Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) mean to you?
A solution that provides strategic insight across the real estate lifecycle resulting in informed decisions and the identification of opportunities.
7. What do you think of the Credit Crunch? What impact does it have on FM and RE?
Clearly the current economic turbulence has presented formidable challenges. However, I remain extremely confident that our collective industry will overcome the current conditions and pivot from this downturn, stronger and wiser…well prepared to meet any future headwinds!
8. What is your opinion about Sustainability and IWMS?
We believe insight regarding Sustainability is an integral component of an IWMS offering. We have developed our Energy & Environmental solution that enables clients to measure their current energy usage and carbon footprint and monitor progress toward reductions.
9. How do you see IWMS in the year 2015?
Our solutions will be delivered to and utilized by an ever increasing mobile clientele. IWMS platforms will be an essential solution that leading edge organizations capitalize upon to empower their workplace and keep employees focused on the core mission of the enterprise.
10. What would be your Million Dollar Tip for our readers?
Understand a) where you are; b) where you want to be; c) the gap between these two positions, (if any); and develop a roadmap and means of measuring progress….have fun every step of the way!!!
Next interview
In our “Thought Leader Interviews” Bruce Forbes, CEO and Founder of Archibus, will be interviewed next week.
Michael has done a great job with Bigcenter. The company is shaping an new version of an IWMS solution that will be launched soon.
Dear Dilip,
can you indicate when the launch will take place? So our readers know when?
Thanks in advance,
Steven
Another good interview!
Interesting comments about the substainability features. This sems like a natural extention of IWMS features.