Controlling your destiny: Leveraging flexibility and cost certainty in CRE

The challenges and uncertainties of the global economic and political climate create a range of unique and ever-changing pressures and demands for corporations and their real estate portfolios and planning. Radical change in global business models and daily advancements in technology have altered the face of traditional corporate structures. Greater space efficiency is becoming more apparent, with many occupiers focusing on cost control and efficient use of space, rather than expansion. There are new global economic powerhouses — fast-growing, dynamic corporate entities as well as a seismic shift in gross domestic product from emerging economies. All of these evolving developments cause concern, challenges and opportunities for global corporations and, within the corporate real estate (CRE) function, pose the same dilemmas and possibilities. The pressure to align a flexible, adaptable and cost-effective real estate platform to match, or indeed predict, the corporation's next moves is now more critical in terms of its impact on the success or failure of the business. This paper will demonstrate the increasing demand for workspace planning that attempts to reduce the risk and exposure of the CRE function and provide more agility, flexibility and cost control, asking: ‘How can managed, flexible office solutions form part of a CRE strategy?’