Products & Services Software
Seeing Gold at 20-20
Chicago—20-20 Technologies won first
place for the 2007 Best of NeoCon awards for its 20-20 Office Sales,
featuring the Idea Center. This is the third Best of NeoCon Award
for 20-20 Technologies in five years.
20-20’s Idea Center helps companies keep typicals up-to-date
through product and price changes, and allow users to create and
store typicals with a variety of criteria for future searching.
Typical furniture configurations and sample rooms can be created
and saved into individual libraries for use as a starting point
in any new project. For more information, visit www.2020Technologies.com
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Business strategy meets software solutions
by Lisa Mulcahy
We’ve seen the research, experienced the efficiency technology
brings to the office, and know how to add value to organizational
structure. But somewhere between strategy and implementation there’s
an expensive gap to fill—the actual cost of converting to
new facilities and real estate management software. It’s
not the purchase price we’re talking about; it’s the
time it takes to adapt to new business practices that go hand-in-hand
with new software.
Often companies are left to their own devices to train employees,
evaluate business processes, and implement a system once “the
tech guys” who sold them the software have sealed the deal.
San Francisco-based Bricsnet, a company that provides Fortune
500 clients with web-based facilities and real estate management
software, has set out to change all that with its strategic advisory
services. “By partnering with top firms that understand business
problems, not just software, we can bring in a team of experts
to augment a client’s staff to achieve a greater speed to
value,” explains Larry Barkley, Bricsnet’s vice president
of strategic client services.
Establishing a network of resources to help clients is an invaluable
service considering that the actual cost to implement software
is usually two to four times the cost of the software itself. Bricsnet
is aiming to reduce that number to one or less.
Adapting to a new way of working and thinking is not an easy
feat. Bricsnet’s consulting partners include CB Richard Ellis,
Deloitte Consulting, and Ernst & Young. They provide best practice
knowledge and support clients as requested to bring in the right
expertise at the right time to ensure a seamless transition that’s
in keeping with company goals.
According to Barkley, the two most common areas where clients
need the most help are space management and lease management because
both are data driven. If there’s not a consistent process
in place for keeping records, inputting data, and updating information,
it can be an arduous task to adapt to a software program. Though
it may be time-consuming and difficult for a company to internally
assess and implement necessary changes, Bricsnet’s consulting
partners can rapidly address the issues because of their solid
real estate and change management experience. Often it involves
creating a complete and adequate portfolio of information, converting
hard copy floor plans and drawings into digital files, doing a
lease audit and loading leases into the system.
But that’s just the “paperwork” part of the
pie. The other part is setting a business strategy for the future.
It’s a new world of real estate. Research shows that 40%
to 60% of the time office space is not being used. So what’s
the answer? Bricsnet partners can assist in determining the most
effective use of space and what alternative workplace strategies
are feasible for your business.
Because besides streamlining management with software, in the
end it all boils down to one business objective, to reduce the
costs of owning and operating corporate real estate assets.
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Taking the Pain Out of Move Management
Background: Founded in 1984, The MathWorks is the
leading developer and supplier of software for technical
computing and model-based design. The company has been profitable
every year since its inception and is privately held. The
MathWorks’ customers are 1,000,000 of the world’s
leading technical people, in 175 countries, on all seven
continents. These customers work at the world's most innovative
technology companies, government research labs, financial
institutions, and at more than 3,500 universities. |
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Facilities and Property Overview: Headquartered in Natick,
Massachusetts, the company has offices throughout the world. Currently
the facilities group manages four buildings in Massachusetts and
one in Michigan, with a total of more than 300,000 square feet
and over 1,200 employees. However, that will soon change with the
addition of the international offices and employees bringing the
total to 15 locations, 400,000 square feet and 1,400 employees.
Challenges: At The MathWorks, head count growth has always
exceeded available space. As a result it was important for the
company to be able to maintain contingency space so that employees
would be put in the right seat at the right time. For space planning,
the facilities team manually color coded paper maps. Facilities
then distributed the paper maps to departmental directors who would
write employee names in the appropriate workspaces.
This time-consuming process took months to complete and could
not be considered accurate because of the constant churn—typically
more than 100% each year.
It became apparent that a new solution was needed which would
allow The MathWorks to better track its space and employees.
Solution: Bob Donahue, space planning manager for The MathWorks,
began searching for a solution that would help them remove paper
from the space management process. This solution would need
to track the constant churn, maintain accurate facility drawings
and provide on-going updates as needed. After reviewing a
number of solutions, Donahue soon realized that many applications
were overly complicated and would require a large team and a long
time frame to implement.
Throughout the evaluation process, FM:Systems’ technology
continued to rise to the top. FM:Systems’ flagship product,
the FM:Interact Workplace Management Suite, provided the
core capabilities that The MathWorks needed and would allow the
company to add additional functionality over time. In addition,
it was easy to understand, configure and would allow The MathWorks
to integrate its existing AutoCAD drawings.
“What use to take us days now takes us only minutes,” said
Bob Donahue, space planning manager at The Mathworks. “FM:Interact
gives us the opportunity to be much more strategic and allows us
to make projections months in advance.”
Results/Accomplishments: Since implementing FM:Interact
in 2004, the company has experienced significant results, including:
- Rapid implementation—The company was able to implement
FM:Interact in less than one month including preparation of technical
and needs analysis, software installation and configuration,
and on-site training.
- More efficient move management—With the help of
FM:Interact, a team of two facility professionals moved over
500 employees with zero errors in only two weekends. Prior to
FM:Interact, this move would have taken months and extensive
resources.
- Better management visibility into workplace information:
At the push of a button the company has immediate access to space
and employee information allowing Donahue to quickly provide
critical data to executives and other departments
- Increased executive buy-in: Based on the hard numbers
that Donahue was able to provide, the executive team has clearly
seen the value in FM:Interact. Since implementing, Donahue and
his team are working on a completely different level with the
executive team. Instead of discussing the accuracy of capacity/occupancy
numbers, they are able to utilize FM:Interact’s “out
of the box” reports to know exactly where the company is
getting tight for space, which groups are involved, and exactly
where the critical areas to focus on are located.
- Integration with other enterprise systems: The MathWorks
has integrated FM:Interact with both its IT and HR systems.
Nightly updates on changes such as new hires and transfers keep
the workplace data up-to-date at all times.
- Enterprise-wide expansion: While the system currently
only manages the buildings located in the U.S., plans are in
place to add all international office space in 2007.
The MathWorks also has been pleased with the customer service
provided by FM:Systems. Says Donahue, “We have had great
response from the FM:Systems team. Their support staff is always
available, and we never feel as though we are caught in a huge
queue which can be typical with other companies.”
”The bottom line is that productivity has been greatly increased
since implementing this technology. The ratio of time saved is
10-to-1, for every ten minutes we spent prior to FM:Interact we
now spend only one minute. I think that speaks for itself.”
Case Study: The MathWorks
Industry:
Software for Engineering and Science
Facilities:
300,000 sq ft.
1500 employees
FM:Systems Solutions:
FM:Interact and FM:Space
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Client Since: 2004
”The bottom line is that productivity has been
greatly increased since implementing this technology.
The ratio of time saved is 10-to-1, for every ten minutes
we spent prior to FM:Interact we now spend only one minute.
I think that speaks for itself.”
Bob Donahue
Space Planning Manager
The MathWorks
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New tool for maximizing shared space
Designed for corporate real estate and facilities managers who
manage shared desks and conference rooms, AgilQuest Corp. has launched
version 4.0 of its OnBoard Workplace Management System. The OnBoard
software platform measures the actual utilization of workspaces
to determine which spaces can be eliminated, shared, or reconfigured.
OnBoard also allows employees to reserve workspaces and conference
rooms and to locate colleagues, as well as automatically reroutes
telephone extensions to workspaces on specific dates or upon check-in. www.agilquest.com
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Industry kudos for capital budgeting solution
The ARCHIBUS Capital Budgeting solution, a new addition
to the ARCHIBUS solution suite, has been named one of the Editors’ Choice
Top Product Picks by Buildings magazine. Designed from an
end-user perspective, the Capital Budgeting application summarizes
all capital planning activity in a consistent format to prioritize
programs and projects, coordinate activities, and budget resources.
It allows users to develop a centralized methodology to efficiently
manage capital projects across multiple departments and sites.
With additional support for “what-if” planning to reduce
business interruption and cost overruns, the Capital Budgeting
application also integrates condition assessment, capital budgeting,
and project management functions to better allocate budget and
resources for complete end-to-end planning. www.archibus.com
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Data center management made easier
Visser Software Services, Inc. has released ShowRack™ 4.0,
a Web-enabled, data center management solution for real-time, graphical
views of data center rack plans and elevations that enables trouble-free
maintenance, upgrades, and installations. This latest version incorporates
a Windows-based database to drive Flash Web graphics that display
visual information on infrastructure assets.
ShowRack 4.0 provides broad access to asset information for those
involved with IT provisioning throughout their organizations. It
builds on the application’s strength as a tool for planning
layouts and installations in local and remote sites, simplifying
deployment and facilitating rapid and effective troubleshooting. www.vissersw.com
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Computing solution for employees on the go
Two new mobile computing solutions for building surveying and
inspection, construction area estimating and reporting, and facilities
asset and information management are now available from GiveMePower
Corp. Centered around GiveMePower’s PowerCAD® SiteMaster™ as-built
floor planning, design and facilities information management software,
the two different Turn-On-and-Go solutions feature either Dell’s
Axim™ X51v handheld PC or Tablet Kiosk’s eo™ Ultra
Mobile PC as the mobile / handheld computing device, and Leica
Geosystem’s DISTO™ A6 Bluetooth® wireless laser
to measure and instantly create AutoCAD®-compatible drawings
with “point, shoot, done” simplicity and speed. www.givemepower.com
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Cool for schools
SchoolDude.com is quickly emerging as a major player for
educational facility management. Ranking 29 this year on Fast
Company magazine’s “Fast 50” list, the website
offers easy to use, affordable solutions to help both small and
large educational institutions save money, increase efficiency
and improve services.
SchoolDude’s web native solutions are built from the ground
up for the Internet. All users need is a web browser and access
to the Internet to start streamlining their facilities operation.
The solutions are network efficient, “firewall friendly,” and
allow an unlimited number of users. Since there are no servers
to manage or software to install, according to the company, the
total cost of ownership is generally 70 percent less than a traditional
web enabled desktop software system. www.SchoolDude.com
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