The Leader - November/December 2007 - (Page 62)

perspect Ives: the evolv ING real estate I ND ustry The companies that embrace the global model will be large, they’ll be sophisticated, and they’ll be very demanding. They are already challenging and reaching out to the service provider industry in wholly positive ways. What are some of the industry best practices you’re seeing? ellzey: I have seen a few leading companies take a more aggressive stance around innovation and introducing management routines to ensure that the corporate real estate team is engaged in innovation activities of the firm. They’re setting a tone of always looking for better ways to do things. But it doesn’t happen by accident. It takes the leadership of a corporate real estate executive to set that tone. Innovation is something we’re hearing a lot about in general. Right now it’s interesting to see where some CRE executives have taken hold of that and are trying to bring it internal to their practices. Something else we’re seeing an awful lot of now is what you might refer to as end-to-end project management or program management. It’s the ability to look for a way of integrating process delivery across functional silos to really deliver that total outcome for the client, the internal business client. There’s a lot of focus right now on how to integrate that and how to provide a more seamless end-to-end experience for the internal business customer. The upshot of it is to really orchestrate and streamline the touch points between the functional silos to deliver a great total outcome. I’m very struck by the continued focus on workplace and corporate real estate executives’ really seeing the need to formalize a partnership with their other partners, be they in HR, IT, Finance, Communications, or others to take a look at how they are going to build a more integrated strategy around it. The companies that are making the most headway are those who come together and look at it holistically as a team. There’s also a lot of focus right now on speed, and that takes you to a place where you’re looking at your processes and how you’re using technology to enable them. leaDer: We’re hearing a lot of concerns from both end users and service providers that the CRE sourcing, or RFP, process, is too expensive and inefficient. Is there any way to improve it? ellzey: I’m sure there is. I’m fond of telling people that one of the biggest deals we ever did in the corporate services arena was based on a two-page RFP. It had 12 questions, and it was tailored to each service provider. It really focused on the capabilities that they most needed. That’s not to say there wasn’t a lot of time and effort and money spent in responding to it, but I was always struck by how very focused it was around what that real estate organization was trying to do at the time. And they seemed to put their energy into the particulars rather than the more general kinds of questions and issues that you wonder whether people read the answers to anyway. I think there is an opportunity with some examples that haven’t been quite as onerous as the traditional approach. They’ve been very focused, and I think they’ve led to good outcomes. An awful lot can be done up front with meetings or the so-called yellow pad sessions, workshops, and one-one-one with select providers – to go ahead and down select so you don’t have six firms going through everything and then drill down from there. I’ve seen a lot of very productive processes run more through teams, meetings, and presenting on issues of great concern and demonstrating ability to deliver and having boots on the ground in the right locations for the right type of activities. Somehow the key might be to step back and look at some of this that we’ve just gotten in the habit of doing. Maybe we’ve forgotten to stop and ask whether it’s still adding value. leaDer: You were a driving force in CoreNet Global’s CoRE 2010 research on IRIS (Integrated Resource and Infrastructure Solutions). What’s your view on how much progress has been made, and where do you see this concept going in the next few years? ellzey: I still see an awful lot of it. But here’s what I would say. With 2010, we saw corporate real estate organizations seeing the need to have a tighter integration and collaboration with those other functions. We saw some firms that 2 0 0 7 the le aDe r 62 November / December

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Leader - November/December 2007

The Leader - November/December 2007 Leadership Contents Message from the CEO Real Estate in the News Investing in India 110 to One Smaller Workspaces, Better Workspaces Innovating the Workplace Through Design Sustainability and Energy Efficiency Getting It Right Using Location Intelligence to Reinvent Franchises Philips International’s Ron Blanken CB Richard Ellis’ Karen Ellzey The State of Louisiana’s Mike Olivier Industry Tracker Economic Developer Directory Discovery Forum Findings Career Development Emerging Leader Economic Development in the News A Look Ahead Executive Development Spotlight

The Leader - November/December 2007

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