Certainly, there are several unambiguous indications that an organization’s RE and FM technology platform needs to be modernized in some way, including:
- An inability to access required performance metrics
- Inadequate reporting tools and collaboration capabilities that create gaps in data sharing and analyses, as well as critical processes
- Significant changes to organizational requirements since the legacy system was implemented
Even in the absence of these indicators, there is a consensus that any RE and FM organization is well-served by undertaking a system selection exercise roughly once every five years. Of course, the passage of five years doesn’t automatically render RE and FM technologies obsolete; however, it certainly can serve as a useful milestone, an impetus for an organization to reexamine its existing technologies considering its changing business.
Regardless of whether such a five year reexamination results in the implementation of a new technology solution, the evaluation process itself delivers considerable opportunity and value. Below are five reasons why this exercise is so important to your organization:
1. You should know what you’ve been doing.
The exercise provides an opportunity to review current RE and FM business processes and align to industry best practices as well as drive decision-makers to ask themselves what the future-state of their processes should look like.
2. You should know what you need today.
The exercise provides an opportunity for an organization’s RE and FM group to capture and fully understand the current-state of its technology requirements, which may have changed considerably.
3. You should understand your technology options.
With a greater understanding of business requirements and processes, RE and FM professionals have a solid foundation for comparing the latest technologies on an apples-to-apples basis, thus facilitating better decisions in the event the deployment of a new solution is required.
4. It’s an opportunity to improve reporting capabilities.
The exercise represents an opportunity for leaders of RE and FM organizations to focus on reporting, analytics, and integrations to enable actionable decision-making.
5. Your department should be in sync with the larger org and its goals.
Armed with a deeper understanding of new technology offerings, RE and FM professionals have an opportunity to match their department’s requirements, as well as the larger organization’s requirements, with those offerings.
Marian Carter
Managing Director, GCS