Corporations Find Surprising Path to Business Productivity

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Oct 27, 2014) - Major corporations across the globe are finding a surprising link to business productivity from the data generated in their real estate operations and portfolio. According to JLL ( NYSE : JLL ) experts, real estate data and analytics should be considered an essential element of how corporations make capital investments and occupancy decisions to improve their overall productivity.

"As corporate real estate experts focus less on physical space and more on enabling productivity across their companies, the insights that data and analytics can provide are inspiring," said Doug Sharp , President of JLL's Corporate Solutions business. "Analytics are becoming a crucial driver of competitive advantage in many industries. But the commercial real estate sector is catching up. We now have the tools and technology to collect the right building or facility data and, by using sophisticated analysis, we can deliver major bottom-line results."

JLL experts have identified three primary areas where companies can use data from their real estate portfolios, buildings and workspaces to decrease spending while increasing productivity:

1) Predictive analysis: where do you need employees? Predictive analytics tools can be used to create better-informed and more cost-effective corporate real estate strategies. New data analytics platforms enable teams to incorporate such disparate factors as lease expirations, projected capital investments and macro-economics to validate strategic location, investment, acquisition and disposition recommendations.

Case in point: a multi-national pharmaceutical company used a corporate real estate portfolio data and business intelligence tool to aggregate and analyze more than 100,000 real estate portfolio and business data points with on-the-ground market intelligence, creating a multi-phase strategy for reducing ongoing facilities costs by more than $200 million. 

2) Challenging assumptions: which building sustainability programs make the most business sense (and cents)? Many studies have linked green offices to improvements in productivity. Today, companies are increasingly using data and analytics techniques and technologies to uncover which green programs achieve the most immediate and impactful productivity gains. Armed with this information, companies are making data-driven decisions and increasing returns on investment in green initiatives.

Case in point : a multi-national company seeking to green its corporate offices used a Web-based software tool to track approximately 100 detailed best practices relating to energy, water, carbon use and waste. They measured this against employee well-being and productivity markers such as thermal comfort, indoor air quality, visual comfort and other features. By benchmarking each facility in its portfolio and adopting best practices to improve acoustics, ergonomics, flexible workspaces and hoteling, the company was able to find more than $160,000 in productivity gains in a single facility. That number, if multiplied across a global portfolio of thousands of locations, clearly shows the power of analytics.

3) Smarter building management: What can your buildings tell you? Today's smart building technologies generate enormous volumes of data. In fact, a new report by CoreNet Global and the Rocky Mountain Institute found that smart buildings are not only useful for saving energy costs (10 to 15 percent or more, depending on the current efficiency of the building) but also helping maintenance staff be more productive. The report cites that rich data streams from smart building technology can also provide insight into space utilization that can lead to additional energy and cost savings.

Case in point: a global consumer goods company used JLL's smart building management platform to reduce energy costs by an average of 8 to 10 percent across a mixed-property portfolio, achieving payback on investment in less than a year. 

"Thanks to new technology platforms, we can utilize many types of real estate data for greater business purposes," said David Kollmorgen , Head of Business Intelligence at JLL. "For example, we can use data to forecast the number of offices we'll need the next day, the next month and the next year or to help make employees more productive at work, by measuring and facilitating collaboration."

"Applying data and analytics to forecast capital needs and mining data smart buildings, real estate portfolio dashboards, and environmental sustainability programs can reveal significant hidden savings and productivity gains that impact an entire organization," said Kollmorgen.

About JLL JLL ( NYSE : JLL ) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. With annual fee revenue of $4.0 billion and gross revenue of $4.5 billion, JLL has more than 200 corporate offices, operates in 75 countries and has a global workforce of approximately 53,000. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services for a property portfolio of 3.0 billion square feet, or 280.0 million square meters, and completed $99.0 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2013. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $50.0 billion of real estate assets under management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit www.jll.com .