Cut costs and be sustainable at the same time

How to measure and manage energy, space and assets to cut costs and meet corporate green standards

Organisations are quickly discovering there is vast potential to capitalize on real estate and facilities. In fact, there is over 20% hidden waste in physical resources and workforce time spent on workplace-related assets. Buildings consume more than 45% of commercial energy resources and are therefore one of the largest controllable green issues that impact the organisations environment.

Planon invites you to a webinar to learn practical and economical solutions to leverage your existing investments and jumpstart greening the workplace. Learn how you can save your company thousands of pounds per year in meeting environmental initiatives.

Real Estate Advisor Larry Barkley and Larry O'Brien, Sales Director of Planon will cover:

Managing carbon footprint and energy in an affordable way

Creating energy benchmarks to identify underperforming locations.

Case studies of companies who saw major returns, improved employee satisfaction and met environmental initiatives.

How to get started: Practical tips to ensure an optimal ROI.

Register Now
5 November from 3.00 till 4.00 pm

Planon Named to Software Magazine’s 27th Annual Software 500

Brighton, 21 October 2009–- Planon, a global provider of enterprise real estate and facilities software, today announced its inclusion on the Software Magazine’s Software 500 ranking of the world’s largest software and service providers, now in its 27th year.

Planon was ranked 275, with software revenue of £25 Million. This is significant jump from their previous rank of 296.

“The 2009 Software 500 results show that revenue growth in the software and services industry was healthy, with total Software 500 revenue of £299 billion worldwide for 2008 representing 8.8% growth from the previous year,” says John P. Desmond, editor of Software Magazine and Softwaremag.com.

“This is the third year in a row Planon has made the Software 500 list, each year climbing higher in the rankings,” said Pierre Guelen, Founder and CEO, Planon Group. “The Planon series of facility and real estate management software solutions delivers substantial cost savings and a clear, measurable return on investment. The Company’s continued success bears testimony to the fact organizations today are prioritizing both green and cost-reduction projects.

Some 44 percent of the 2009 Software 500 companies are privately held, of which Planon is one

The Software 500 is a revenue-based ranking of the world’s largest software and services suppliers targeting medium to large enterprises, their IT professionals, software developers and business managers involved in software and services purchasing. To view, the entire list, visit www.Softwaremag.com and click on subscribe.

The ranking is based on total worldwide software and services revenue for 2008. This includes revenues from software licenses, maintenance and support, training and software-related services and consulting. Suppliers are not ranked on their total corporate revenue, since many have other lines of business, such as hardware. The financial information was gathered by a survey prepared by King Content Co. and posted at www.Softwaremag.com, as well as from public documents.

Free whitepapers for download

Download one of the whitepapers:

CAFM/IWMS: Balancing Technology, Processes and Objectives
In today’s organization, proper selection and implementation of a facility management automation solution is critical in determining the current and future value the FM department has to the organization. This white paper examines the value of FM Automation, the importance of balancing process and objectives before deployment, and trends in FM.
Download

Financial Guide: How to save money in a tough economy
For many organizations, the management of real estate and the workplace remains a somewhat opaque and arcane area. Often this function is viewed a pure cost of doing business. And, while this can be the reality, more often it can be a potential source of value creation and can be a positive contributor to profitability and increased shareholder value. So, why do many organizations overlook the financial opportunities that reside within this area?
Download

Financial Guide: Cutting Costs on Capital Assets
Regardless of industry, most organizations are feeling the pinch from the financial crisis and the slowing economy. Market conditions are impacting company spending dramatically and many are taking a more cautious stance on capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expense (OPEX) allocation. In addition, there is a growing requirement for more deliberate and rigorous financial analytics.
Download

Real Estate Facilities Lifecycle Management (REFLM)
A business environment that is unyielding in its persuit of bottom-line savings and process efficiency has driven enterprises to seek greater alignment of REFLM strategies with corporate goals. Enterprises now realize the strategic value of REFLM as it proves to be a point of advantage in managing an area of significant corporate spend and high complexity. The results are spend and process visibility delivered through collaboration and ease of access and exchange of information. This provides further support to the positive impact that REFLM has on the development and execution of corprate strategy.
Download

Planon supports sustainable assessment standard BREEAM

In addition to LEED, the new Planon 2009.A release also supports Europe’s most accepted building assessment method BREEAM. A measure to describe a buildings environmental performance. Developed by the Building Research Institute in the UK, the BREEAM standard is available for new, existing, and different types of buildings like offices, schools, hospitals and industrial assets. By adopting BREEAM in its solution portfolio, Planon supports organisations in several ways to improve their sustainable footprint.

During a BREEAM assessment
Organisations need to provide evidence whether they meet criteria. Planon keeps track of a lot of relevant data and information that helps Corporate Real Estate organisations to deliver this evidence fast like maintenance plans, controlling cycles, monitoring results, metrics like numbers/m²/distances/occupancy, procedures, documentations, historical data, energy usage etc. This information eases and speeds up the BREEAM certification process, and also supports in achieving the best assessment level.

After a BREEAM assessment
The results and credit points are stored in the Planon database. This allows organisations to make cross portfolio analyses to identify, execute, and analyse new green opportunities in it’s real estate, and apply to criteria as required by regulations.

With this solid input, Planon supports the objective to demonstrate progress towards corporate environmental objectives and finally supports corporate cost reduction goals in combination with a reduced environmental footprint.

Reduce costs with a simultaneously improved footprint

Driven by the global credit crunch, enterprises are forced to find new ways for immediate cash savings. In addition the pressure for sustainable buildings, energy control and CO2 reduction is huge. The new Planon suite-release 2009 offers new functionalities to meet these requirements.

Potential for cost reduction

Buildings contribute more than 35% to global CO2 emissions. Market research¹ shows that on average today’s workplaces are occupied only for 50%. In a downturn economy this offers huge potential for short term cost reduction, to save money for your core business, and to become much more flexible in supporting the company’s workforce.

New functionality

The new Planon suite-release 2009 offers a set of new functionalities to enable meeting these goals. Planon’s Hotelling solution supports flexible workplace concepts resulting in improved utilizations and corresponding space-, travel-, energy-, and cost reductions. Full integration with Microsoft Outlook™ for reservations eases the accessibility to meeting rooms, e-conferencing, and shared facilities to reduce time consuming, expensive, and CO2 producing travels. New mobile solutions for Professional Field Services support ‘just in time’ maintenance to meet legislation, efficient resource utilization, and greener buildings.Sustainable standardsThe adaptation of sustainable standards like LEED and BREEAM complete Planon’s support in Green Building initiatives.

Green Workplace Economics™

Organisations need to eliminate waste, align services demand, and improve organisational agility in Corporate Real Estate and Facility Management processes to meet cost reduction and simultaneous greener operations. Planon now unites all these goals in a concept called Green Workplace Economics™.The concept centres around gaining profit through cost savings while simultaneously improving environmental sustainability. The concept Green Workplace Economics™ is more and more adopted by the market and enables Planon to continue huge its R&D efforts (18% of turnover) to support organisations in executing cost reduction programs and green operations.

Read more on:
www.planon-fm.com/ (Corporate)

www.planon.co.uk/ (UK)

www.planonsoftware.com/ (US)

CAFM best practice

Planon synopsis
For over 25 years Planon software has been helping some of the world’s biggest and best known companies intelligently manage their workplace operations and real estate assets. With around 300 employees and an R&D budget of approximately 20% of annual turnover Planon is able to respond and even anticipate the need of its 1300-plus customers. Planon has offices in Europe, the USA and India and has a growing global Partner Network.

Introduction
When I see the term 'best practice', I often wonder if this is a missive to train in a particular subject or if it is a reference to the best way of doing something!

With reference to CAFM system implementation, this dual meaning is entirely appropriate, as those who have been through the process will no doubt agree. Prior experience or a practised approach, as in most things, helps enormously and when this is combined with proven standard set-ups or blueprints then significant savings can be made.

However, for most organisations embarking on a CAFM/IWMS implementation such a 'best practised' approach is not likely to be immediately available within the client team. CAFM systems, and more so with comprehensive Integrated Workplace Management Software solutions like Planon, touch virtually all secondary (supporting) processes within modern organisations from soft FM to hard FM services and from corporate real estate to supply chain integration. As such, the implementation of these systems should not be undertaken lightly nor without due consideration and planning. Success is required first time and the project must run on time and on budget, so recruiting 'best-practice-practised' experience to your project implementation team is a high priority.

At Planon, we see the successful organisational implementation of an 'Integrated Workplace Management System' as made up of two basic components; firstly a project control and command structure and secondly, specific implementation work packages. We call our method 'PIM2'(Planon Implementation Method 2) and this is because it encapsulates our specific software best practices and system set-ups together with (aspects of) the industry accepted project management method, Prince2. PIM2 is used by our professional services teams on a daily basis and is scalable for use in small medium and large scale (multi-national) implementation projects. Our best practices and implementation scenarios represent our accumulated experience in over 1300 implemented customer solutions and are central to the success of our solutions.

Software does not implement itself, and once a project is agreed and software is purchased it needs to be carefully introduced to the organisation in a controlled manner and according to an agreed timetable. In this article I will focus on the vitally important issues surrounding proper project set-up and control, without which any project is compromised from the very outset. This is not intended to be detailed 'how-to' instructions but simple and I hope practical guidance.

Do you know where you are going?
Read the complete article here
author:
Nigel Francis
Version:
Essential fm report

Facility Management Plays a Key Role in Times of Crisis

EuroFM and the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) are hosting the "European Facility Management Conference" (EFMC). Planon is one of the main sponsors of this event that will take place on June 16 and 17 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

According to the leading international facility management (FM) associations, FM suppliers can provide significant support to their clients in times of crisis. "Especially in times like these, the importance of facility management is in the very centre of attention. It is not only about cost cutting but sustainable added value to the core business. For most of us in the FM sector, the current situation is more a chance than a threat," says Albert Pilger, Chairman of the European Facility Management Network (EuroFM).

EFMC organizer IBC Euroforum (Informa Group) talked to John McGee, Chair of IFMA Board of Directors, and asked him three crucial questions.

Why is FM so important in hard times?

John McGee: "In hard times, budgets get reduced, projects get deferred and maintaining a positive flow becomes more difficult. Facility management professionals are critical to the business in these times including leading the prioritization of maintenance projects, staying in control of day-to-day building costs, reducing energy consumption and advising on where to defer and where to invest in building improvements."

What does IFMA expect for the FM industry within the next one or two years?

John McGee: "We can expect challenging times for the next several years. New construction will continue to be low, major emphasis will be placed on project elimination and deferrals and increased efforts will be made to reduce costs. Due to both the economic downturn and the positive impact of the stimulus package, major emphasis will be placed on improvement projects to improve energy consumption and costs."

What are the current challenges of global FM?

John McGee: "It is critical that national and international associations continue to network and work on common initiatives. A great example of this is the partnering between EuroFM and IFMA. Such partnering allows the transfer of best practice, benchmarking, research and education across countries for the advancement of the FM profession globally."

Collaboration of Business and Research

"One world, different problems - joint efforts, sustainable solutions" is the motto of EFMC 2009. In order to underline the collaboration of economy and science, the Business Conference and the parallel Research Symposium will be networked. More than 50 top speakers from Europe and abroad will allude to strategies, profitability and sustainability of FM. Keynote speeches will be delivered by Slovenian Cultural Ambassador Miha Pogacnik, concert violinist and entrepreneur, and by Rob Creemers, Dutch information industry trend watcher. Creemers will go into the development of FM, considering global and European challenges. Magnus Kuchler, Partner at Ernst & Young in Sweden, will host the "FM debate of the year" addressing the issue of outsourcing. EFMC 2009 will be supported by more than 30 national FM associations - in particular Facility Management Nederland (FMN) and IFMA-Holland - and more than 40 research and educational organizations.

Exhibition and Side Events

Leading FM service providers such as Planon, Echelon and the International Facility Alliance will be exhibitors at EFMC 2009. The social programme will comprise a welcome reception, a student poster session and a gala dinner on the occasion of the European FM Award Ceremony. The four award categories are: partners across borders, European FM of the year, European FM researcher of the year and European FM student of the year.

Source:

http://www.planon.co.uk/

http://www.reuters.com/

Planon reduces costs and improves sustainability with Green Workplace Economics™

Enterprise surveys reveal more than 20% hidden waste in physical resources and workforce time spent on workplace-related assets. Buildings create an enormous ecological footprint by consuming more than 45% of commercial energy resources. Planon’s Green Workplace Economics™ concept centers on gaining profit through cost savings while simultaneously improving environmental sustainability.

Corporate real estate and facilities managers are pressured to identify immediate cost savings in the face of a major economic crisis, an enormous environmental challenge and a technological revolution leading to rapidly evolving workplace concepts. Legislation and corporate social responsibility drive enterprises to achieve a sustainable reduction of their CO2 footprint. Increasing workforce flexibility requirements represent potential for simultaneously accomplishing both goals.

The new Green Workplace Economics™ concept (http://www.planon.co.uk/web/CAFMSolutionsProducts/CAFMPlanonSolutions/CAFMGreenWorkplaceEconomics.htm) answers those challenges with three factors: Eliminate waste, Align need, Improve agility. All three are adopted in four primary Planon Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) solutions: Corporate Real Estate, Smart Workplace, Maintenance Management and Integrated Services Management.

Corporate real estate managers improve performance by aligning real estate strategy and operations with financial, operational and environmental goals. Effectively managing the increasing workforce flexibility creates a smarter, efficient workplace to reduce costs and simultaneously improves the sustainability footprint.

A ‘just in time’ and ‘fit for purpose’ approach to maintenance management enables cost-effective, undisturbed operations, minimizing unplanned downtime and steering effective maintenance. Last but not least, an integrated management solution effectively renders employee RE, FM and IT services, supporting primary processes and enhancing workforce satisfaction.

http://www.planon-fm.com/

Thought leaders interviews: Pierre Guelen

Planon's CEO Pierre Guelen was interviewed by Steven Hanks from iwms news. In their “Thought Leader Interviews” series iwmsnews.com interviews all important Thought Leaders from the IWMS industry. In their second interview they have interviewed Pierre Guelen, CEO and Founder of the European market leader Planon.

1. Please introduce yourself to our readers
My name is Pierre Guelen. I am founder / CEO of the Planon Group, a global leader in Integrated Workplace Management Software. Planon is headquartered in the Netherlands, with offices around the globe.

Click here for the pdf.version of the interview.