Project Octane -- Partnering for the Common Good

Digitizing Real Estate Transactions... In one of my previous lives, I helped develop a cooperative of onion farmers in Honduras (it's a long story -- OK, the Peace Corps).    So I've always been intrigued by the challenge of organizing individuals to achieve a common objective.  Which brings me to Project Octane, the consortium of four service providers -- Trammell Crow, Jones Lang LaSalle, Insignia Financial and CB Richard Ellis.  These are firms that compete with each other aggressively, yet are cooperating to build a common suite of "tools for online transaction management and collaboration ... to simplify and accelerate the sale or lease of commercial space."  Do these people really love each other?  Will they stick together during the hard times?  Will they attract other competitors to join with them?

These were questions on my mind when I had lunch recently with Mark Rose, Chief Innovation Officer at Jones Lang LaSalle, in Washington, DC.  Wow, there's no doubt in my mind now that Rose is committed to the ideal of an open industry standard supported by all the major players -- owners, tenants and brokers.  Why?  It's simple.   That's the only way that individual firms and, by extension, the industry as a whole can become more efficient.  And if the industry does not become more efficient, it will continue to see profit margins erode. 

So in June, the four members of Octane participated with several venture firms in a $13 million round of financing for workplaceIQ.   Octane Ventures then contracted with workplaceIQ to build a transaction management application that will be available to both members and non-members for a fee later this year.  Meanwhile, Octane hopes to expand its membership and industry acceptance as an open platform.  Stay tuned.

--Peter Pike / ppike@pikenet.com