Colliers brings to the table a full gamut of portfolio-oriented services while Encompass handles all spectrums of facility overseeing. David Koester, Encompass' vice president of business development, says the teaming is particularly beneficial as "Corporate America continues to move to single outsource providers of real estate, facility management and operational services to help improve operational effectiveness and take advantage of economies of scale." He believes Encompass has the technical expertise and Colliers, the real estate marketing success, to offer the best possible "value solution" for corporate clients.

Ray Ahrens, Colliers' vice president and general manager, tells GlobeSt.com that the intention of the alliance is to provide broad scale-geographic services to clients with broad scale-geographic interests. He confides the alliance already is servicing some existing clients and has garnered some new names, but can't publicly share the names. "There has been a lot of activity," he says.

Encompass has 32,000 employees nationwide while Colliers has more than 8,900. Ahrens says Colliers conducted a nationwide search to find a partner like Encompass. "We expect the arrangement to be of particular value to clients who want to outsource more occupancy responsibilities in order to concentrate on their core businesses," says David Bowden, Collier's executive managing director of corporate services.