December 22, 2010—PeopleCube, provider of intelligent workplace management technology, has listed the business trends it believes will emerge or continue to gain ground in 2011.
These include a greater emphasis on interactive dashboards, real-estate consolidation, expanded alignment between corporate real estate and facilities management, renewed focus on sustainability, mobile workforce expansion, greater emphasis on a collaborative team environment, and accelerated growth of software-as-a-service (SaaS).
With the economy still in recovery, organizations are looking for ways to do more with less. PeopleCube believes that, throughout 2011, more companies will seek to increase headcount while reducing their real-estate footprint. Organizations are finding that they could be savings thousands, if not millions, of dollars each year by using their space more efficiently. The key is to track actual real-estate utilization through occupancy detection and other methods so that they can uncover ways to consolidate or repurpose existing space.
PeopleCube believes that, in 2011, there will be a movement towards aligning corporate real-estate and facilities-management departments to help maximize operational efficiency and reduce costs. As companies devote more attention to how their space and resources are being used, the responsibilities of corporate real estate and facilities management must coincide with the real-estate objective of the organization as a whole.
PeopleCube also notes that during the recent economic downturn, sustainability has taken a backseat to corporate survival. As companies begin to recover in 2011, they will place a greater emphasis on energy managementnot necessarily for the sole benefit of the environment, but for the economic impact, as well.
Over the past several years companies have experienced significant cost savings and employee attraction and retention improvements by implementing a mobile workforce. In fact, the United States Congress passed telework legislation in 2010, with estimates that it could save over $41 million in reduced commuting costs and underutilized office space by enabling more than 1.2 million federal employees to telecommute. These kinds of savings will lead to a greater emphasis in 2011, not only on collaboration among the key departments involved in a flex work program, including facilities, corporate real estate, HR and IT, but also on the technologies that support the mobile worker when they are in and out of the office.
PeopleCube’s Resource Center offers information about sustainability, interactive dashboards, real-estate consolidation, mobile workforce strategies, and more. Visit online to access white papers, case studies, and on-demand workshops. For additional information and insights, visit PeopleCube’s blog.
