Workflow Management -- Racing Toward Adoption?

Is the Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty? ... In an e-mail last week to the Business Integration Group, I suggested that Internet adoption was "creeping along." Oops. Ron Savage, CEO of BIG, has a different perspective. "We have a system that completely automates the lease transaction, including abstracts and document management, that flows through construction including equipment data and warranties through move-management, including putting people in seats, that seamlessly leads to operations. ... Imagine 1 billion sf of empirical data. We currently have 75 million sf, 50 clients 4,500 leases, 60,000 documents, in 1,200+ cities in the all 50 states and Canada and 40 countries. We have another 200 million in transition with over 600 million in the pipeline. ... This is not creeping along any more." Yeah, I hear you. And I'm pushing adoption like crazy, too. But most real estate organizations will find Internet adoption a gradual process.

For example, Peter Ho, Director of Corporate Real Estate Services at MC Real Estate Services in Kansas City, recently provided excellent insight into the adoption of SiteStuff, his firm's procurement service. "The SiteStuff model has many benefits, including overall product savings and streamlined order processing (which means more time to spend with our clients/tenants and reduction in the number of purchase orders and invoices to be processed). ... I am finding that it requires our associates time to learn a new way of business. First, I have asked our procurement associates to purchase commodity type products (e.g., light bulbs, cleaning supplies) to see and feel how an e-procurement model really works. ... Finally, our challenge is to assure our associates that what they have done to date is valuable and that this business model will provide new and more rewarding work enabling continued professional and personal growth."

That's the intriguing point. The challenges facing the growth of Internet-based real estate services are largely cultural issues surrounding change. Why should I switch from my old way of doing business? How will I learn a new system? Do I have to like computers? How safe is my data? Will I keep my job? And my suspicion is that answering these questions successfully will become a competitive advantage for these new service firms.

--Peter Pike