American Express Take Control Of Their Space

American Express is a globally known household name synonymous with quality. The multi-faceted travel and financial services organisation employs over 85,000 people and its famous blue box logo can be seen in every city centre throughout the world. Of course, behind the public face of American Express is an even larger back office network that supports the every day operations of this global company. There are literally hundreds of office buildings stretching across all five continents, which represent one of the largest assets - and liabilities - of the organisation. The American Express real estate portfolio must be constantly managed and reviewed to ensure it is meeting the present needs and anticipating the future requirements of the expanding business.

It's taken a few years for American Express International to be in a position to use ARCHIBUS to its full potential, but in the last twelve months the applications have really taken off and now the system is proving itself indispensable in many ways. The main reason for the slow start was a lack of resource, with too many other pressures on the Real Estate division to permit the focus necessary to put various systems in place. AutoCAD was being used for the space planning elements of the management process, but many of the required reports were generated manually using spreadsheets. The implementation of ARCHIBUS, which would ultimately save time and ensure accuracy, had initially been approached from the wrong angle with the emphasis on capturing all the available data before any relevant use would be made of it. Steve Thorley, previously Space Planning Manager at American Express International, explains: "We were trying to capture information such as who sat at which desk and the technology needs of that individual.

The project was getting bogged down with detail. It was like painting the Forth Bridge! We could never get further than Amex House, the European HQ for Operations in Brighton. Just to keep the existing data up-to-date swallowed up all our resources. At the end of the day, we made a key decision that who sat where didn't matter."

Room Booking goes Virtual
There was one application of CAFM, however, that was implemented during this period which illustrated the value of the system. Excitech Computers Ltd., who supply CAFM Solutions to American Express International, and Steve Thorley worked together to enhance the Room Booking module of Help Desk & More® to manage a new office concept for American Express in its prime London location - the Virtual Office. With the cost of central London real estate at a premium, some creative thinking identified that the sales teams based at this location were under-utilising their dedicated work space. By establishing an area on one of the existing floors of the building that was flexibly designed to support any one of the team members as and when required, Real Estate was able to consolidate two floors into one, thus realising a saving of £800K per annum in real time costs. One of the factors that made this solution viable was the use of Help Desk & More® to manage the availability and booking of desks for the sales teams, so that people could be assured of a desk when they arrived in the Virtual Office.

The Room Booking database of Help Desk & More® came to the fore again a little later in the project, when Real Estate received a request from the sales team senior management for additional workstations. By analysing the data collected since the Virtual Office came on-line, Real Estate were able to demonstrate that the existing desks were being under-utilised by 40 percent. "This was a huge break-through," says Steve Thorley. "Whereas in the past, Real Estate would have reacted by taking on more space, now there was hard evidence to support the argument that by working smarter - which involved planning ahead and staggering office visits - the problem could be alleviated without incurring additional cost."

Subsequently, the Room Booking module of Help Desk & More® has been effectively used throughout the UK for managing the booking of conference and meeting rooms on various sites by a central administrator. By centralising the function it has taken away 'ownership' of individual rooms. This has led to a decrease in perceived need of 20 percent and an increase in availability of over 100 percent. The central administrator can also match the number of people with the size of the room, avoiding the scenario of three people meeting in a 12-person conference room.

CAFM Outsourced
In 1998, a combination of different factors put the implementation of ARCHIBUS into the spotlight. Firstly, the concept of planning space using an international grid system was rolled out globally. The space planning team had pioneered this approach in Amex House and increased occupancy levels from 1900 to 2700 in 18 months. The adoption of this space standard meant that floor space was maximised, churn was reduced by up to 80 percent, and departments were able to expand and contract very quickly.

Secondly, a series of business re-engineering initiatives were introduced which meant that cost-centre managers were made more responsible for the space occupied by their teams. Almost overnight, it became imperative that there was a system that could capture space usage data as seamlessly as possible and produce quick, accurate reports using this data. Business Re-engineering identified this as an ideal process to outsource, rather than employ an additional internal team. The business reasons for this decision were very straightforward: Space management does not feature as any part of American Express' core business. By outsourcing the process, any peaks and troughs would be supplemented.

Specialists entirely focused on space management would provide a superior service American Express International approached Space Planning Trends, a company specialising in strategic space planning and management, which had been set up by Steve Thorley the previous year. After an in-depth analysis of the requirements and a feasibility review of technical considerations concerned with outsourcing the process, American Express awarded a CAFM contract to Space Planning Trends to manage the complete portfolio of buildings throughout EMEA and JPAA. The choice of ARCHIBUS as the software system was taken by the US who wanted to ensure a global system was ultimately put in place. John Martin, Vice President American Express Corporate Real Estate Services International, explains: "We knew we had to choose an outsource partner with the necessary skills whom we could trust to act in the very best interests of American Express. We have developed a very close knit relationship with Space Planning Trends that gives us the best of both worlds. We can call on their expertise at any time, day or night, and they are constantly suggesting innovative ways for us to maximise our investment in the system."

Strategic Decision Making
Although a building is not normally entered into ARCHIBUS until it has become part of the Real Estate portfolio, its strengths were used to great effect during a particular project in India. Four locations were being considered as possible lease sites for a new office to support the International operation. Space Planning Trends was asked to prepare strategic space plans for each of the buildings, which were then entered into ARCHIBUS. There were two compelling reasons for undertaking this task. Firstly, landlords measure space in different ways, often in order to best reflect the particular selling points for the market they wish to target. By entering the data from each landlord into the system, ARCHIBUS was able to verify the information and provide facts for negotiation purposes. Following on from this, because a common standard was used to enter and measure the space, a like-for-like comparison of the four buildings was possible. As Steve Thorley explains: "We were able to empower the negotiators with accurate comparisons, rather than relying on the landlord or local architect's data."

"This proved to be a very worthwhile exercise, since some original data received from a local source had initially inferred that Building 'A' was approximately 25 percent more space efficient than it actually turned out to be. As a result of our findings, American Express felt confident in choosing a different location."

Occupancy Data
American Express Corporate Real Estate Services (ACRES) is responsible for charging out floor space to each of the departmental cost centres in EMEA and JPAA. Before the CAFM system was implemented, these charges were calculated manually. Because of the intensive manpower resources required, this meant that although UK charge outs were calculated monthly, the balances for usage in International real estate were only charged to the departmental cost centres annually because it was impossible to keep track of changes.

Now, Space Planning Trends produces monthly occupancy reports which are accurate, consistent and on time. The company has set up a process to ensure data is continuously received, in order to keep the physical floor plans up-to-date using AutoCAD Overlay, so that the CAFM database always reflects the latest information. The whole automated process is seamless to ACRES, whose only concern is the data produced.

Dispute Resolution
Of course, with departments responsible for their costs, situations do arise when the square footage charge-out may be disputed. This is most likely to occur when a department relocates. A CAFM report can be requested and produced that will verify the accuracy of the charge-out and resolve disputes quickly and cleanly.

Fairer allocation of costs
Disputes are arising less frequently than before because the allocation of costs is far more transparent. In a campus situation, there may be several departments sharing a location and in the past common space, such as the restaurant or training room, was 'guestimated' for charge-out purposes. With CAFM, guesswork is a thing of the past since accurate percentages are automatically calculated. For instance, one department may have five teams in three different locations within the campus, which may equate to 7 percent of total useable space. It would therefore be charged 7 percent of campus common space.

Report Provision
In fact, there is a whole range of reports that Space Planning Trends produces for ACRES at the touch of button, by drilling down into the ARCHIBUS database. These can be as detailed as 'Workstation by Building by Cost Centre'.

Examples of reports
The financial heads of each business unit often require data, and reports are frequently prepared for American Express Senior Management. "This is one of our strengths," says Steve Thorley. "Dependent on specific requirements, we will take the pertinent data and use Crystal Reports to incorporate it into both spreadsheets and graphs, providing far more user-friendly presentation material than the standard print out. We know that people absorb information in different ways, so by offering a choice we ensure that all personal preferences are catered for."

Space Planning Trends also utilises the very latest technology to provide senior American Express executives with global access to the data. A highly secure terminal server facilitates authorised dial-in from anywhere in the world. Once remote access permission has been verified, the user is guided through standardised templates that allow real time reports to be created and printed at the external site.

Long-term satisfaction
Without doubt, ACRES could not have succeeded in meeting the business re-engineering needs for departmental cost allocation without automating the process with ARCHIBUS/FM. However, the real savings have been realised when the power of the system has been combined with strategic space planning to provide valuable input to the decision making process, as the example of the India project mentioned earlier testifies. "It has exceeded expectations," concludes John Martin. "We now have accurate, verifiable data that is managed for us on a daily basis. Space Planning Trends utilising ARCHIBUS on our behalf has proved an irresistible combination."