OSCRE at the National Academy of Science

Andy Fuhrman, CEO of the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE), reports that on June 24 he will be speaking at the National Academy of Science - Federal Facilities Council. Topic of his address is, "Warfighter or Office Worker -- Converting Operating Dollars to Mission Funding by Leveraging Emerging Technologies for Real Property Asset Management."
Also speaking with Andy will be Lt. Col. Mark Madaus, USAF - Asset Management Optimization Branch.
Andy's talk will focus on the "unsexy" behind-the-scenes work that organizations need to do to move to a higher level of operational excellence, while Lt. Col. Madaus will provide a look at his mission to reduce operating expense and Real Estate portfolio size by 20 percent by the year 2020. A key component of the Air Force's mission is use of the OSCRE Space Classification Standard.
The session will be held in Room 109 of the Kirk Center at the National Academy of Science in Washington DC. Start time is 9 am on June 24 and the session is open to the public.

How Can You Control Real Estate Costs?

The website iwmsnews has published an interesting piece with the intriguing title, "10 Ways To Reduce Costs Immediately". It's worth a look. The advice may be common sense, but it touches on issues that organizations may not be acting on even though they know it makes sense: Eliminating non-performing assets and contracts; charging back internally for use of space; cutting underutilized space from the portfolio; implementing virtual meetings and the like.
One of the author's key points is that when it comes to cost reductions, organizations tend to look first at cutting valuable human capital rather than looking around them at a real estate burden that may be already taking far more out of the business than it should. And, given the cost of real estate, many jobs could potentially be saved by right-sizing the portfolio.
The word "immediately" may be misleading. Analysis of the portfolio and understanding where opportunities to divest, sublease or otherwise dispose of underperforming leases and assets takes time.
But that's where an IWMS system can provide enormous time-savings. With at-a-glance reports highlighting the occupancy and utilization of facilities, cost of leases in various markets and costs of equipment repair and replacement, organizations can gain a rapid -- if not immediate -- sense of where savings can be made.
As the article says: "Accountability is the key concept for cost reductions. You have to ensure that you can compare figures and that people are accountable for those figures. Therefore you have to identify cost reductions possibilities and start eliminating these costs now!"
Technology such as IWMS provides that level of accountability that organizations need to begin making the good decisions that can save millions of dollars and ensure a business that can survive a difficult economy.