The Leader - September/October 2008 - (Page 60) lea DIN G IN ch a lleN GIN G tIme s : aDDI NG aG I lI tY, BuI lDI NG G lo Bal co mp e tI tI v e Ne s s mark tamBurro mIke zamora rIck BertasI DavID harrIs zamora: I’ve been in Asia for 12 years, and we’ve gone through some ups and downs in an overall economic sense, but having a very shallow labor pool has always been the main issue for us. That’s one thing from a CoreNet Global perspective that’s so important right now – keeping education programs for the industry moving ahead so we can try to get ahead of that labor curve. leaDer/cpN: change from a geographic- to a customercentric organization. But now we’ve got to practice cross-cultural management. We’ve more than doubled our training budget as a result of that. The complexity of global service delivery is significantly greater but it creates far more value to the customer if you get it right. olhasso: What’s the greatest challenge that you see for corporate real estate executives and then how does that translate into challenges on the service provider side of the industry? ellzeY: The core skill sets that we need in this industry are changing. They’re changing because business is moving faster, it’s globalizing. So people in the real estate industry who used to have a certain type of job description are now being asked to provide new and different solutions in an increasingly complex environment that’s all about speed, efficiency and competitive advantage. So our clients’ challenges and problems continually redefine and create new opportunity for us. It’s incumbent on us to anticipate these evolving needs and respond with globally integrated solutions. We’ve got to both deliver on the basics and innovate every day. BertasI: In this global market, talent is the name of the game. If you’re a market-driven entity and you run your region or city like a business, you’re going to address those needs. We’ve interviewed CoreNet Global members – both corporate end users and service providers – and we understand that we have to deliver the talent pool. We have to do what it takes on the ground to make it happen so you (corporations) can attract and retain talent. leaDer/cpN: can actually create opportunity. Any time there is an economic downturn, it causes our clients to rethink the way they’re doing things. One of the big things we can offer clients is the opportunity to take a fresh look at occupancy expense and introduce new ideas and solutions they may not have thought of – then help them accelerate the implementation in a highly focused way aimed at getting quick results. tamBurro: We’re seeing mixed signals. On the one hand, there’s evidence of a slowdown in the U.S. and some parts of Europe, but on the other hand, there are the emerging markets like the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. We’ve seen double-digit growth in some of these markets as well as many African countries. BertasI: Related to the economic slowdown, what are your biggest challenges today? harrIs: It has direct impact on business and the path we’re on. We’re challenged to figure out how to be agile. So we’re looking at a number of solutions in terms of how we shorten the time to market, do more with less and try to improve the financial performance of our company. ellzeY: The economy is having an impact on our clients. For us, it’s a fantastic opportunity to prove the value point of outsourcing to our company, because we can change and adapt quicker than ever before. For our global and strategic clients, we have strategic account plans that have already built in some anticipation of things that could happen. We already have the playbook. olhasso: The challenge of delivering consistent integration across the 75-plus countries that we’re operating in has influenced our We have several lines of business, and the economy has a different effect on all of them. But in our line of business, Global Corporate Services, this challenging economic environment 2 0 0 8 th e le aDe r Looking at it globally, it’s really important for government at any level to make sure that the infrastructure to, from and through your community is in place, whether it’s transportation, intellectual capital, or trade services. 60 septemBer / octoBer
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