In many corporate organizations, the real estate and facilities department is counted on to provide office, manufacturing, distribution, ,R&D, labs, retail and other space types to support their organization’s operational needs. The facilities need to be clean, appealing to the employees and project the appropriate image of the company.
The truth is the real estate portfolio of owned and leased assets sit on the balance sheet as the second or third most valuable or expensive single asset depending on whether they’re leased or owned. This places the real estate and facilities department in the envious position of managing a critical asset and one that can truly impact, positively and negatively, the financial performance of their organization.
Because of this simple truth, the CRE professional deserves a very prominent seat at the table charting major decisions involving the financial and future direction of the company. By operating the portfolio in the most efficient manner possible, at the lowest of realistic total cost of occupancy and minimal environmentally impact, the CRE can have more profound impact on the overall organization than just about every other department.
It’s time you get your “seat at the table.” But, when you get there you better bring along solid actionable business intelligence about occupancy costs, space utilization/optimization, facility benchmarks, environmental impact and financial terms which may allow for dispositions or aquisitions to grow or contract in support of the direction of the company.
Go ahead, ask for your seat at the table! you deserve it!!!
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