Don’t ignore your data: it will cost you
For every corporate real estate (CRE) decision you make without reliable insights to support it, there’s a competitor using data to make informed choices about portfolios, operations, and employees.
If you don’t analyze the information you have at your fingertips—and use it to your advantage—then you’ll likely be left behind. Businesses that maximize CRE data consistently outperform those that don’t. A 2020 Capgemini Research Institute report reveals that data-powered enterprises vastly outpace others; they realize up to 70% more revenue per employee and drive 22% higher profits. It’s clear: Long-term success depends on data-driven decisions.
If you use APIs to facilitate communication between your various platforms, you may think you’re already proactive about using your data. But are you capturing all your CRE information? If not, what is it costing you? And can you afford those costs? Real estate is typically one of the top three expenses for organizations.
Here are four examples that illustrate the cost of doing nothing—or even not doing enough—when it comes to your CRE data.
1. The cost of not keeping up with leases
The more properties in your portfolio, the more difficult it can be to stay on top of leases. Which critical lease events are coming up, or have you missed any? How many are up for renewal in the next six months? How do your lease costs compare to the current market? Are costs increasing, decreasing, or staying the same?
If you don’t have data to answer these questions, you don’t have a complete picture of annual lease expenditures and what it truly costs to run your business in that location and space. Not gathering and analyzing lease information compared to market benchmarks may also create missed opportunities to renegotiate lease costs, renew leases on time, terminate agreements, or plan for lease cost increases.
2. The cost of not analyzing work orders
When a work order comes in, what do you do with the information it reveals? Are you regularly analyzing work order data to stay on top of potential problems?
Work orders offer clues that help you identify potential problems in your building or across your portfolio, so you can predict when a system may need attention. Lots of hot/cold calls coming from the second floor? There might be an HVAC problem. Is the elevator frequently breaking down? This could be a sign of mechanical problems that will continue to get worse.
If you aren’t examining the story your data tells, then you’re missing the chance to address minor repairs and maintenance issues before they turn into larger concerns or cause downtime. If employees find themselves placing the same work orders repeatedly, this can also negatively impact the facilities experience, causing them to look for work elsewhere—especially in today’s employee-driven job market.
3. The cost of not evaluating service providers
Do your service providers deliver what they promise in terms of response time, quality, and cost? Are they adding value to the employee experience and bottom line? Is service from a certain provider getting better—or worse? How well do expenses align with what other properties in your area pay for similar services?
Tracking information about service provider performance can tell you everything you need to know. With the right data, you can quickly pinpoint below- and above-average providers to determine whether to continue certain partnerships. If you’re using different providers across your portfolio, you can analyze which one provides the most value for the same set of services.
Equipped with this insight, you can confidently compare service providers to see which deliver the most benefit in terms of response time, quality, and cost.
4. The cost of not optimizing your space
It’s hard to know which spaces are too crowded or underutilized. This lack of insight can not only hurt morale, but it can also lead to unnecessary expenses.
Employees won’t appreciate working in a distracting, uncomfortable environment—especially if you have offices elsewhere sitting empty. But you can’t address a space issue if you don’t know about it.
Tracking your space utilization allows you to make the most of the real estate you have in your portfolio. You can determine where you’re or overutilizing space, so you can determine whether to expand, transform areas for other purposes, terminate a lease, or consolidate offices to reduce unnecessary square footage.
The cost of doing nothing with your data increases every day. Schedule a free demo to see how Azara—a purpose-built data and insights platform for CRE business intelligence—can put all your data at your fingertips and help you get the most out of it.
