Workspeed claims a new way for tenants in need of carpet cleaning, temperature adjustments and other service requests to communicate with service crews. Instead of calling the property management office or filling out forms, requests for service can be placed online using the Workspeed Building software.

To initiate a service request, the user goes to the homepage and clicks on a button that generates a simple form. After filling out a brief description of the request, including location and the name of the person the responding engineer should ask for upon arrival, the customer submits the form. Then, one of several things happens.

If the request-a temperature adjustment, for example-is not billable, it is dispatched immediately to the members of the engineering team. They see the request on their pagers or other wireless device, and a member of the team responds to the request.

If the request is billable or if engineers need additional information, the form will be Emailed to a person authorized to approve it or to the originator for clarification. As the request passes through the workflow process, users receive periodic Emails regarding changes of status (such as when the request is completed). The system also allows users to check on the status of a request throughout its life-cycle.

The homepage also contains links to building information and announcements as well as a report-generating feature. Reports can be created listing service requests by type for several different time periods.

I found the software to be extremely easy to use and straightforward, with an appealing and well-designed user interface. According to director of product development Christopher Phillips, many of the tenants using the software have little prior computer experience, and it seemed realistic to me that a novice user would feel comfortable with this system.

Workspeed Building is offered as a subscription-based ASP. Phillips states that the system is currently used at 45 properties totaling 23 million sf in 11 metro areas.

"Including signed agreements, we have 33 million sf that we're ramping up," he states. The firm boasts a roster of participating owners that includes Apollo Real Estate Advisors, Archon Group, Vornado Realty Trust and Mack-Cali Realty Corp.

Phillips cites a tenant-adoption rate of 80%. However, tenant satisfaction and increased service efficiencies are not the only benefits Workspeed claims to provide; the system is also said to offer opportunities for building ownership to increase revenue.

"We have the ability to put fee-based services in front of tenants," Phillips states, adding that tenants are more likely to request services such as extra cleaning or overtime air conditioning if they can do so online by using software with which they are already familiar.

The company closed on $15 million of series B financing in May, 2001; participants were Insignia Financial Group, Vornado, Archon, Apollo and Mack-Cali, among others, Phillips reports. "A lot of our investors have become customers," he says, "and having these investors helped us to develop a product that is very close to what the users would have designed themselves."