What does strategic space management mean? How can it benefit corporate real estate managers?
Strategic space management is one of those terms that belong solely within the realm of FMs. After all, what does a CRE team do that isn’t already done by someone else? But there are many benefits to having a dedicated space management function within a larger CRE organization.
Let’s check out what strategic space management is all about and how it benefits organizations.
What is Strategic Space Management?
Strategic Space Management (SSM) is a process that helps organizations to identify and implement the best use of their physical assets, including buildings, land, equipment, and people. SSM focuses on how these resources are used to achieve organizational goals. It also includes identifying opportunities for improvement in existing facilities and developing new ones.
In short, efficient space management solutions will tell us what spaces our employees need and how many and optimize those spaces to maximize employee performance.
What are the Key Benefits of Strategic Space Management?
Strategic Space management has largely evolved over the years with a focus on achieving sustainability for organizations and decreasing operational costs. Here are the 5 key benefits of Strategic Space Management:
1. Optimizing Spaces with Efficient Utilization
Efficient Space management is about continuously improving how people use a current space while being mindful of future space needs. It’s about managing space in such a way that enhances space utilization. When you work area well, you can improve your organization’s overall efficiency.
Effective space management in an office environment can lead to improved space usage. It can also help management team members better handle issues like move/relocation management, asset management, space allocation, and even space planning.
And when an integrated workplace management solution (IWMS) helps enhance decision-making, managers can drastically improve their real estate portfolio performance. It leads to space management decisions that are truly strategic.
With the right IWMS in place, the real estate management processes can include everything that makes space more efficient and optimized.
2. Striking an Effective Lease Management Solution
A sound lease management system is essential for every real estate professional. Whether you are managing one small business leasing just one small room or are responsible for enterprise facility management across multiple properties, having all your documents and data in one place helps make it much easier to manage and even normalize lease costs.
Ultimately, a good lease management solution integrates with your space management software, saving you both money and time.
It should provide you with a complete view of your entire portfolio, allowing you to see all leases at once and any changes made to them. You should also have access to all relevant information regarding each lease, including the tenant’s name, contact details, rent amount, start date, end date, and so forth.
This integration allows you to track all your leases easily and keep up with all the essential details.
3. Managing Your Assets Effectively
Asset management is another significant benefit of using strategic space management. With this approach, you can ensure that your building is always ready for occupancy. And if you want to know where your assets are located, you can get a clear picture of them.
You can plan and avoid unnecessary costs by ensuring that your assets are always available.
You can also reduce maintenance costs by ensuring that your assets are adequately maintained. For example, you can schedule regular cleaning services for your offices and common areas.
By doing this, you will save on not only labor costs but also energy bills.
4. Reducing Operating Costs
Another great advantage of strategic space management is its ability to reduce operating costs. By optimizing your space, you can increase productivity and lower operational expenses.
For instance, you can implement strategies that allow employees to work from home or telecommute. It can significantly cut down on travel expenses and parking fees.
In addition, you can create spaces that are conducive to collaboration and communication. These areas can foster teamwork and encourage creativity.
Many companies are now looking to CRE to help them develop a comprehensive workspace strategy that addresses both short-term and long-term goals. As part of this effort, they’re turning to space management software solutions that can help them manage their assets more effectively.
5. Futuristic Space Management
Facility planning almost always comes down to space utilization. And improving space utilization always comes down to choosing the right information warehouse management system (IWMS). The same space management software that enhances space management today will also inherently improve space management tomorrow.
For example, good headcount planning for the future can only be done when CRE managers have accurate Space Metrics. It includes things like cost per employee and vacancy and occupancy rate. Good space management software is always at the heart of good space management.
6. Striking Balance for Flexible Working
The real estate industry is changing. And while many people still love having a traditional nine-to-five job, there are now more opportunities for those who want to work flexibly. In fact, according to a recent report from FlexJobs, one out of every four workers in America works some form of flexible hours.
This shift toward flexibility is creating challenges for real estate managers. For example, what happens when someone wants to come into the office during off-hours? Or they’re looking for a different type of workspace altogether.
In addition to supporting flexible schedules, a suitable integrated workplace management system (IWMS) must also allow managers to understand how their buildings are used throughout the day. After all, it’s essential to know whether some regions of the building are occupied or vacant.
And that’s where occupancy tracking by the space management software comes in handy. By collecting usage information about each building area, managers can see exactly how employees spend their days. They can even determine which spaces are most popular than the ones that are hardly used.
7. Achieving Operational Efficiencies
The cost of running a traditional facility is a costly undertaking. It may cost about $1 million per month just to run a single business. But what if there was a way to reduce energy consumption while maintaining the same comfort level?
That’s where the concept of “smart buildings” comes in. Intelligent buildings allow organizations to monitor and control everything from lighting and heating to air quality and security. They collect information from multiple sources, including sensors and space management software. It enables facilities managers to make better decisions regarding managing their space.
But smart buildings aren’t just about cutting costs. They’re also about sustainability. By monitoring the amount of energy used throughout the day, smart buildings can help reduce carbon emissions and lower operating expenses. And because smart buildings rely on IoT technology, they can provide additional benefits such as improved safety and access to critical information.
What is the Key to Strategic Space Management?
Real estate professionals know it takes more than just owning a building to manage it effectively. There’s no better way to understand how well you’re managing your space than by looking at what people are doing inside.
That’s why it’s essential to have accurate, real-time information about how people are currently occupying space. Real estate teams can make informed decisions to improve their property management strategies
with robust space management reports and analytics, including space utilization data.
For example, identifying how space usage changes over time helps determine whether you need additional space. Knowing where people spend most of their time in each unit allows you to focus on improving those areas.
And seeing how space is currently being utilized allows you to continuously optimize your space management strategy—all while keeping your employees happy, engaged and productive.
Can Strategic Space Management help with Organizational Growth?
In many ways, office environments are self-contained ecosystems. They’re often designed around specific processes, systems, and habits. These environments naturally evolve, growing and changing as employees come and go and the needs of the organization change.
But what do you do when the environment itself isn’t cooperating? What if it’s grown too big, too fast? It could have been neglected for far too long. How do you turn it into something better?
Strategic Space Planning helps organizations take control of their spaces and manage them effectively.
The Bottom Line
Strategic space management is about maximizing the value of your real estate assets. It’s about taking full advantage of your space and getting the most out of it. IoT Solutions by Zan Compute helps with radar-based technology – Zan Wave Occupancy Sensors to track the occupancy, traffic, and usage in common areas of the facility.
And when you do that, you can dramatically improve your overall real estate portfolio performance.