In the coming few months IWMSnews.com will do it’s own trend analyses. These analyses are based on combined research of http://www.iwmsnews.com and its research partners.
1. CRE has become the most important vertical within the IWMS arena
During the last couple of months Corporate Real Estate has become the most important vertical within the IWMS arena. Both driven by the Credit Crunch and the disproportional real estate prices, organizations started to focus on the corporate real estate domain as the primary cost reduction source.
We have analyzed approximately 100 RFP’s (from customers worldwide) over the last two months and we found a staggering 45% initiating the IWMS investment from CRE. This percentage will increase during 2009 as we can predict it at the moment.
2. IWMS’s are undergoing a transformation from a local to global orientation
Back in the nineties the initial drivers for FM and RE were primarily local oriented. Since then globalization has been affecting the workplace domain.
Triggered by the rapid evolution of the Internet, FM and RE have evolved to become a C-level strategic management domain. Increasing customer demands for global support, operations and functionalities has driven the IWMS’s towards global orientation instead of local orientation.
Based on our analyses we conclude that IWMS vendors are increasingly servicing CRE customers. Since CRE is more globally oriented and FM is more building specific, a shift towards CRE means a shift towards a global orientation.
3. Cost reduction is the key driver for investing in IWMS’s
Fueled by the Credit Crunch organizations are focusing more then ever on cost reductions. This will have its impact on IWMS’s as well. The customer demand for ROI, Metrics, Benchmarks and Management Reports is increasingly having an impact on the IWMS domain.
According to Andy Fuhrman CEO of OSCRE;
As Gartner reports, IT spending hasn’t suffered anywhere as much as other budget areas. In fact, as many organizations trim down their workforce, now is the time they look internally for areas they can improve their business processes, which is an opportunity for the IWMS market as it is for OSCRE and others whose role it is to provide optimization tools, techniques and strategies into the workplace .
For the second half of 2009 we foresee a lot of improvement of business processes aimed at cost reductions.
4. Sustainability is important
When we analyze the IWMS vendors we see a clear distinction between those who have embraced sustainability as an organizational obligation and those who have not. Again, this is also represented in the RFP’s we have evaluated.
According to George Ahn, CEO of Tririga:
Environmental sustainability improvements will derive from three sources of carbon emissions: chemical/manufacturing, transportation and buildings. ERP systems may someday provide the foundation for improving the first; specialized asset management systems may drive improvement in the second; and IWMS clearly drives improvement in the third, particularly in automating how organizations measure, manage and reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.
According to Craig Gillespie, CEO of Manhattan Software Inc.
Today more than ever, an organization’s program for sustainability has to be deeply embedded in the strategy of the business, widely embraced by every employee and reflective of the local conditions within which they operate.
IWMS vendors who haven’t yet created their own marketing perspective on sustainability will do so this year. Planon (Green Workplace Economics) and Tririga (TREES) have already done this, the rest will definitively follow.
5. Decision making support is driving (senior) executives
The world of CRE Managers, Maintenance & Operations Managers, Project Managers and other senior executives has become increasingly complicated over the last couple of years. Back in the days these only were responsible for their project, building, campus or region but globalization has made their management role far more complex. They need to decide on specific investments, disposals, relocations or other programs based on data.
The form of this data can be different but fact is that reports, dashboards and Business Intelligence is driving senior managers. They are responsible for managing a lot of processes which can only be done by providing correct decision support.
In the coming few months standardized reporting on occupancy costs, carbon emissions, TCO, Space vacancy, Cost per sqft, etc. will be the key driver for managers.
Steven,
I agree with the findings of your research.
Today, we see many of our customers and prospects focus their implementation efforts on real estate cost reduction and environmental sustainability goals.
John Clark
http://www.tririga.com
John,
the results of the research were crystal clear. Organizations seem realize that cost reductions and sustainability partner well and deliver true added value to an organization both financially and in sustainable responsibility.
What do you other professionals think of these trends? I’d love to hear this from you.
Steven, you are doing a great job keeping us informed about this unique market space. Thank you for all your hard work.
I believe we will still see more outsourcing to the service provider like JLL, CBRE, C&W etc. Corporations might demand better technology solutions from their service providers. It goes back to a much discussed question: “Should the service provider bring real estate technology or do you keep the real estate technology in house?” This will also drive some new trends in IWMS.
Other trends that I have seen in the past couple of months are:
- Drive towards SAAS and ASP models for real estate technology. Every RE department is being challenged about any capital spend for a technology solution.
- Deeper integration of IWMS into core enterprise solutions.
- Better analytics on the demand side of real estate.
Many companies have made aggressive steps in their portfolios during this crisis by further reducing vacancies. When the economy swings up again, I believe many organizations will think twice before adding real estate and increasing vacancy ratios to the old levels. A clear trend towards alternative workspace strategies will occur to create the “right” amount of vacancy in a portfolio providing IWMS solutions a platform to enhance associated offerings
Steven, your reflections are completly in line with our findings in the US and Europe as well. The IWMS business value is strong related to eliminate hidden waste in CRE and improve workplace occupancy. This directly impacts the sustainable footprint: the greenest energy is the energy you don’t use. By adapting sustainable standards like LEED and BREEAM into the IWMS, companies can achieve better assessment results and cross portfolio analyses.
Bernard’s remark about service providers becomes indeed interesting for companies who choose for Total-FM or Maincontracting. We see a clear trend that these companies want to stay in control and need IWMS fucntionalities to monitor performance and quality.