PeopleCube Predicts Five Business Trends for 2010

21 January 2011

Organizations will leverage actual real-estate utilization, workplace business intelligence, alternative workspace, video conferencing, and SaaS for accelerated cost savings and ROI

PeopleCube, provider of intelligent workplace management technology, today foretold five business trends that it believes will emerge—or continue to gain ground—in 2010. These include capturing actual utilization of space to better understand corporate real-estate requirements, leveraging workplace business intelligence to gain insight into current and future space needs, implementing alternative workspace programs for economic and environmental benefits, leveraging video conferencing to facilitate collaboration while minimizing costs and energy usage, and continuing adoption of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model for quicker ROI with less risk.
Capturing Actual Real-Estate Utilization
Executives with responsibility for overseeing corporate real estate can save their companies thousands, sometimes even millions, of dollars by managing their real estate portfolio efficiently. The key to pulling this off is to know how space is actually being used.
“The ability to track actual vs. planned utilization of space is a revolutionary advance,” said John T. Anderson, CEO of PeopleCube. “It enables real-estate executives to know exactly how space is being used, so they can make sound decisions about when—and whether—to expand or retract the real-estate portfolio. This results in straightforward cost savings, and in some cases it can even provide a basis for income generation.”
Cost savings come from organizations’ paying only for the space they need and not paying to furnish, heat, cool, and/or light existing space that isn’t being fully utilized. Further, income can be generated by corporations’ subletting underutilized space.
Tracking actual usage also aids with energy consumption because it enables companies to consolidate workspaces, develop alternative work environments, and hibernate space that is not currently needed. For large enterprises, the potential cost savings in the coming year and beyond are enormous.
Workplace Business Intelligence
Workplace business intelligence (BI) technology helps an organization gain an accurate view of its current and future real-estate needs by providing, not just data, but analysis of that data and resulting actionable information. Leveraging this information can lead to potentially significant savings in direct operating costs within the organization’s real-estate portfolio.
“Given the state of the economy—and recognizing that real estate is the second-largest cost for most organizations—it’s easy to see why corporations would want to implement BI capabilities that help them understand how their space and assets are being used now, and that enable them to predict future needs to avoid unnecessary expenditures,” said Anderson.
Consider, for example, a corporate real-estate vice president who might be in charge of managing millions of square feet of space. Using trending and other workplace BI information to reduce that area by just two percent would mean dropping hundreds of thousands of square feet. In high-cost real-estate markets, such a reduction would add up to major cost savings.
Alternative Workspace
PeopleCube believes that, throughout 2010, more and more companies will seek to reap economic and environmental benefits by implementing alternative workspace programs.
“Alternative workspace programs can significantly reduce costs and enhance sustainability efforts,” said Anderson. “Growing transportation costs, greater workforce mobility, accommodating a work/life balance to attract top talent, and the desire to reduce carbon emissions are all driving factors in implementing new technologies that support flex work programs.”
Video Conferencing
Visual communication services and solutions enable enterprises to facilitate collaboration while reducing travel costs and associated carbon emissions. The improvements in, and increasing accessibility of, video conferencing technology, in conjunction with an increasingly mobile and geographically dispersed workforce, will cause video conferencing use to grow in 2010.
“Video conferencing offers an effective way to reduce costs and carbon emissions without sacrificing collaboration,” said Anderson. “As with any resource used to support new technologies, to gain the ROI payoff, organizations must maximize equipment utilization through efficient scheduling and management."
SaaS Surge To Continue
At the start of 2009, PeopleCube predicted the continued adoption of on-demand software—aka SaaS or subscription software—and it sees this trend continuing throughout 2010.
“SaaS speeds customer adoption of an application, resulting in quicker return on investment,” said Anderson. “It requires no capital outlay, just a monthly service fee and perhaps a small setup fee. It offers a very affordable total cost of ownership, as well as the ability to increase—or decrease—usage as needs change.”
It costs customers nothing to keep SaaS software up-to-date, and there are no hidden costs such as hardware, annual maintenance fees, or internal support personnel.
From a software company’s perspective, SaaS makes it easier to accommodate the growing needs of its customer base. It strengthens quality-assurance efforts and makes it easier to add product capabilities that customers request.
Learn More About These Five Business Trends
PeopleCube’s Resource Center offers a wealth of information about capturing actual real-estate utilization, workplace business intelligence, SaaS, alternative workspace, and video conferencing. Visit http://www.peoplecube.com/resource-center-overview.htm to access white papers, case studies, and on-demand workshops. For additional information and insights, check out the Scheduling Chronicles blog at http://www.peoplecube.co.uk/