Being a commercial real estate director isn't an easy job. Your duties can take you all over the country, if not the world. While you know that the assets you oversee are a fundamental part of your company's success, others in your company view your portfolio as a cost center. If you're underfunded, overworked and understaffed, or if everything's great and you'd still just like to make your job easier, here are five time-saving tips that will change how you do business.
1. Use Technology to Streamline the Process
If the role of technology in your department stops at entering dates in Outlook and scanning documents into Acrobat, you're missing out on opportunities to streamline your processes. Commercial real estate software programs do more than just manage critical dates. They're a place for you to enter, store and access lease data. The best of them also have analytic functions that help you reconcile CAMs, analyze your current portfolio and even pull market data in to compare the spaces you occupy to other offerings in their markets.
2. Pre-calculate Metrics
Calculating portfolio metrics shouldn't be a challenging job. However, for many directors, the process is done at the last second under challenging conditions. Whether you're staring down the gun at a last second lease negotiation or your CFO needs a financial performance report, calculating property metrics under the gun is rarely the most time-efficient way to do it.
Instead, use your commercial real estate software to calculate regular metrics reports. This way, you have them handy when you need them. You can also use them to keep an eye on your portfolio's performance and step in proactively to make adjustments if they're needed.
3. Hire and Integrate a Broker
No matter how large, well-staffed and experienced your corporate real estate department may be, there's nothing that can replace having an experienced outside broker on your team. Your broker is actively in the market every day doing transactions. He has a different perspective on the market and a different skill set. As an outsider, he might also be able to see things that you cannot. Instead of just hiring him, make him a part of your team.Give him access to your commercial real estate software so that he can see the entire picture of your portfolio, include him in important meetings, and keep him in the loop. The more he knows, and the more input he gives you, the more value you will get and the more time you'll save.
4. Don't Fear Site Visits
It's amazing what you can do from your desktop. Thanks to detailed psychographic data, satellite imaging and commercial real estate software that delivers real-time information on available spaces, you can learn almost anything about anywhere from your desk. For all of the data that you can access, though, there's nothing that can equal visiting a site and seeing what is actually happening there. Having on-site location intelligence helps you make better decisions, saving you from having to undo mistakes down the line.
5. Put Everything in the Cloud
Cloud computing isn't just a buzzword. It's a completely different way to relate to information, making it placeless. If you're doing your job right, you aren't spending a lot of time at your desk, and your data shouldn't be there, either. The more that you can store in cloud-storage repositories, whether they're public cloud services or private ones administered by your IT department, the more productive you'll be. If you can also access your commercial real estate software over the cloud, you've got another leg up as well.
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