The Challenge of Efficiency... How will the role of service providers evolve in the future? Well, here's one prediction: Brokers will likely become either advisors or "process facilitators." "They will be expected to do more work in less time, probably for lower individual transaction fees." Anticipating this trend, "most US brokerage firms ... are developing more efficient transaction models." Translation: We need to exchange information more effectively.

That's the message from the Jones Lang LaSalle case study prepared by Centerprise for the recent PikeNet Forum. And that was the focus of our third Roundtable, featuring a spirited discussion between Mark Rose at Jones Lang LaSalle, Art Hall at Cushman & Wakefield, Jeff Hipschman at Studley and Chris Shaida at RealFoundations. Jones Lang LaSalle, along with fellow Octane members CB Richard Ellis, Insignia and Trammell Crow, strongly supports the development of a collaboration platform currently under development by WorkplaceIQ for delivery (my guess) in 2003.

But Hipschman challenged Rose with a simple quick-fix proposition. (I'm paraphrasing here.) "Why doesn't Octane develop a standard for exchanging new listing information? Isn't it ridiculous that brokers broadcast hundreds, even thousands, of e-mails, often with huge attachments, announcing new space availabilities? Why not agree on a couple dozen fields of critical information, e.g., address, square footage, and lease rate? And why not use XML data tags to facilitate the exchange of this information into a database?"

Hipschman pointed fellow panelists and the audience to XML4CRE, which is aimed at "creating standards for XML-based building listings and flyers." Needless to say, we didn't resolve this issue. Much less, the broader question of standards that might facilitate a Nasdaq-like system for real estate. Hey, we couldn't perform miracles! ... If you would like to purchase all three case studies (Boston Properties, Jones Lang LaSalle, and Sprint) for $95, please click here to order online.

--Peter Pike