How to Make Sound Decisions On Reducing Bottom Line Costs

GlobeSt.com recently met up with Greg Rivera, senior vice president at Accruent, the world’s leading provider of physical resource management solutions, in Las Vegas. Rivera is responsible for the company’s retail industry, and also leads the company’s big data and lease accounting initiatives.

Prior to Accruent, he led global consulting teams helping retailers capitalize on consumer advocacy and apply it to their omnichannel strategy and has helped retailers and wholesale distributors leverage big data to improve their pricing strategies. We sat down with Rivera, who began his career in management consulting at Price Waterhouse, and we discussed software, data insights and more.

GlobeSt.com: Accruent recently purchased EMS Software. What’s the strategy behind adding their space management software to Accruent’s portfolio?

Greg Rivera: People are often the largest expense for companies and they are the primary users of business space. While space (real estate) is the second largest expense for most companies, properly creating and organizing facilities has traditionally been seen as just a cost of doing business.

We’re constantly talking to our customers, over 10,000 of them, about their needs for optimizing real estate and driving value. Accruent purchased EMS because its software creates a direct impact on how efficient and productive employees can be. Providing the appropriate spaces employees need to get their work done improves efficiency and creates an environment that is inviting to new and valuable talent.

We discovered Accruent has many mutual customers with EMS who validated how easy it is for users to adopt their space management technology. In addition to its existing integrations between EMS and our maintenance management, we saw the opportunity for many other points of synergy with our portfolio of solutions. This cohesiveness gives our customers greater visibility and insight into the data that will help them make sound decisions about how to reduce their bottom line costs.

GlobeSt.com: How can scheduling improve employees’ experience?

Rivera: As companies redesign their workplaces, how space is used is viewed as more than a real estate or facilities issue – it’s a people issue. That’s why the first rule of workplace technology is: Focus on the user.

Office environments have become a differentiating reason why employees accept one job over another. And, companies are finding that offering flexible, activity-based workspaces such as hoteling or hot-desking translate into how employees really want to work and efficiency.

87% of employees say flexibility is important or very important, and 45 percent of millennials report that they’d accept a lower salary for a more flexible workplace. So, providing more flexible options, and having the technology to connect external workers, is key to hiring and retaining the next generation.

The easiest way to do this is through a scheduling platform that seamlessly integrates into the daily employee experience. Mobile apps, room signs and integration with everyday tools like Microsoft Outlook, Google GSuite and Skype make user-adoption easy and simplify the way employees access company space and resources, while also gathering valuable data.

GlobeSt.com: How are data insights helping companies optimize their space utilization?

Rivera: In addition to more satisfied employees and a 13 percent increase in worker productivity, EMS Software gives companies data through which they can further reduce costs.

Thanks to its easy-to-use interface and immediate workspace benefits, employees quickly start using EMS for all their scheduling needs. As a result, companies gain significant insight into their holistic usage patterns and can make positive changes to both employee behavior and their real estate footprint.

For example, one Big-4 accounting firm looked at data collected through EMS to see how much and what spaces were actually being used by employees. They discovered that only 49 percent of assigned offices were being used, while transient employees used only 67 percent of the hoteling space — leaving 1,665 workspaces vacant daily. Through EMS, the firm was able to reduce its costs by vacating six floors of expensive Manhattan office space and subletting three, for a cumulative savings of $85 million over 5 years.

GlobeSt.com: How severe is the problem of space under-utilization?

Rivera: We know, from usage across our customer base, that 30-40 percent of workspaces are underutilized on a typical workday. And meeting spaces are inefficiently organized, with 53 percent of conference rooms built for a capacity of more than seven people when 73 percent of meetings have just two to four participants. With a single workspace today costing between $8,000 and $14,000 per year, there are tremendous opportunities for cost savings.

Meanwhile, video conferencing presents a highly valuable resource, when used efficiently. 87 percent of remote users feel more connected to their team and processes when using video conferencing, and 94 percent of businesses that utilize video conferencing say it increases productivity. Since up to 50 percent of conference rooms will be video-enabled by 2020, according to Argon Research, it’s incumbent upon businesses to plan to make the most of it.