Modular Wall Systems

One of the biggest questions on the minds of facility managers across the country is how to incorporate green products while saving money. The largest on-going cost in most facilities is churn caused by growth/contraction/relocations. Construction costs are regularly planned into the budget to make sure everything is in place for optimum performance. To that end I'd like to talk about movable wall furniture systems.

Almost all of the major workstation manufacturers have begun development on modular office systems. It's a natural progression to extend panels to the ceiling and provide attractive options outside of workstations and cubicles. The tough sell is that currently the cost is higher in most markets than traditional drywall construction - often high enough to put it outside the budget of your average company. Another difficulty is that since it is classified as furniture it is often excluded from a landlord TI allowance. However there is a growing trend in the real estate market for landlords to pay for these style walls within the TI assuming that they stay with the building at lease end.

With that being said, there are significant advantages to looking in the direction of a furniture system instead of traditional construction. The most important to a facility manager is cost. Wall systems are made to last up to 15 years. A typical payback period for a system of this type should be measured in terms of number of moves instead of years. Walls that are built to move are a cost avoidance over traditional construction. The electrical and data systems within them are built to be plug and play which makes things twice as easy. It is not uncommon for these walls to pay for themselves after even 1 reconfiguration. In more expensive construction markets they may even be the same price as traditional office construction.

The second reason is they are built to be environmentally friendly. If you are looking to have a LEED or environmentally certified space then these walls are the only way to go. Their use eliminates construction waste, they are often made from recycled materials and they can be reused many times. For a modest to good payback you are able to do your part for the environment.

If you are looking to undergo a workplace design change talk to your furniture vendor about this option. You may find that it fits well into your already existing plans. Or you can always contact us for help. We're always willing to talk construction methods.

Entrepreneurial America

Small business is the backbone of America. Economic growth depends on new businesses and small businesses. Sometimes it can be scary to hear the success rate statistics or about the flash in the pan businesses. A lot of people that would like to break away from the corporate world decide not to because they hear that only 20% of businesses survive past 4 years.

Fear not though. According to many recent studies most small businesses actually make it past the four year mark. 50% according to some studies. If ever there was a time to break out on your own and ride that idea that has been sitting in the back of your head it is now. Most people have that one idea that they think could be their key to independence and financial security. Deciding to actually break out and execute it is the hardest part. Leaving a secure job and pay check is a scary thing to do.

Fortunately, it has never been easier to find assistance in starting up your business. Venture capital companies seem to be everywhere giving out money to all kinds of new businesses. Small business loans are fairly easy to get for the common entrepreneur. Consulting companies are around to help you plan out every aspect of your business you don't have the know how to set up perfectly yourself. Consulting companies specializing in every aspect of business exist: Real estate, management, recruiting, logistics, inventory, workplace, business strategy, strategic assessments, site selection, etc. The list is as long as your imagination.

Unfortunately it is nearly impossible to find a consulting company that specializes in everything you are looking for. Who wants to bring in five different companies to help them. Life would just become more complicated than if you tried to figure everything out yourself. Those people that pull the trigger and start their business go out and get their financial backing, find a real estate broker and start getting everything lined up. All the ducks seem to be in a row, but are you sure you aren't missing anything?

Integrated Strategies works with real estate brokers. Our job is to help those brokers' clients be in the best position to succeed long-term. Our goal is to create partnerships with businesses so that we can help each other over the long-term. We see our role as that of client advocate, setting up everything necessary. We can set you up with procurement strategies with the vendors you will need on an everyday basis. We have the capabilities to manage your facilities or assist with your asset tracking. We have the tools to implement, design, or manage any physical work you need completed. And we aren't outsourcing any of that work, it's all done in house so you can meet, know and have that single point of accountability for the entire aspect of your business that you need help with.

America has become a small business, service economy. Specialization is the key to success anymore. Specialize what you do well at and we'll help you with the rest.


Technorati Tags: consulting, entrepreneur, small business

Employee Driven Change

Where does your company stand in the business pecking order? Businesses know their competition within their industry inside and out. They know who they compete with for customers and who they are consistently bidding with or against. An overlooked aspect of business is who the labor competition is or brand competition. Small businesses aren't just competing against their competitors for employees, but against related industries, large multi-focused companies and the potential of starting up a new business.

One of the ways that our company guards against these is by providing a way for new employees to maintain their own entrepreneurial interests and activities within the context of our business. I've mentioned our innovation process before and it is really the driving philosophy behind our success. We bring in the services of small businesses that we work with a lot to improve the capabilities of both parties. Our most successful employees are the ones that treat the business as if it is their own and tailor our offerings the way that works the best for them.

I work a lot with about four or five different sales people and not one of them uses my services the same way. Each one of them has their own version of our main presentations with their own flavors introduced. Each one has their own way of making sales presentations and their own version of proposals that are all written within the context of the overall business goals. This constantly drives each person to pull the best from each of their coworkers and create new service lines.

How does your business deal with alliances, partnerships and competition? Are your employees motivated to evolve their methods to improve the way your business is run?
Change always comes from within. It will happen naturally if the proper motivations and people are in place. Competition is the driver that shows you what you need to be doing, the direction you need to go. Do you embrace it and adapt or fight and try to do things the way that you have always done them? The answer to that question is the difference between a growing business and a dying one. Look at the RIAA and MPAA with their current business strategy. They are doing everything possible to protect the way they have done things.

Don't be like them. Embrace your competition, even the competitors that bring an entirely new model to the table that is seemingly makes yours out dated. Keep pushing forward and you will continue to succeed.


Technorati Tags: innovation, consulting, entrepreneur, riaa, consulting

HR Departments and Business Growth

Having a structure relevant to your company's culture is an important requirement to running a healthy business. Putting the correct people and departments in charge of appropriate tasks is a critical decision. Unfortunately, many HR departments have become the owners of job descriptions, workplace setup, technology rules, job interviews, on and on. Departments need to have the ability to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities without artificial constraints placed on them by a group that does not understand how they do business.

I was at a job fair last week recruiting for Supply Chain and Logistics job candidates. We had a nice simple table without the flashy give aways or expensive signs unlike the company across from us that had their own table covering, large sign, and about six different types of give aways. Students would walk up to their table, hand over their resume, and promptly be directed to a hiring website. No information about what they would be doing, what kind of jobs were available or how they would be helped to grow. The people manning that table turned out to be from HR. Contrast that with our table where we had a ten or more minute conversation with every student who walked up. We were evaluating each one not on their resume but on their personality, intelligence, and potential to fit into our company. Who do you think will be finding the best new employees? Which company do you think those students want to work for more?

When a group ends up controlling the tasks of another department, it is not always because they took over. Most likely it is because the department ran out of time to do it themselves. Recruiting students was considered a lower priority than the work currently on their desks. Decisions like this cost money in the long term, especially if you are a small business. Having the right people on staff increases productivity, decreases stress and decreases turnover (both voluntary and involuntary). Remember that an organizational structure isn't just the departments and people, it is also the roles and responsibilities for each of those departments and people.

HR departments play a critical role for businesses, there is no way to deny that. Their role in your business should be constantly evaluated to make sure they are promoting innovation and business growth and not hampering it.


Technorati Tags: org chart, hr, consulting, workplace

Strategic Facilities and Operations Assessment

Aging infrastructure and stale business practices can weigh down a company's operating flexibility. More than just a tactile look at what is going on, a company needs to look at the way they are doing business and validate that the core assumptions they are operating under still apply. A building built in 1920 could be fine for some companies but completely inappropriate for another, even a competitor. It comes down to the principles that are grounding your business.

Any assessment should start in the boardroom with the executives. Brush off the mission statement and business plan and see if they are still applicable to the way things are truly running in the day to day operations. Compare it to the competitors and see if it could relate to any of the competitors business plans. If there is any misalignment, sit down and figure out why things are no longer the same. Rewrite the business plan and mission statement if necessary. Make sure that these get distributed through the layers of your company; your people need to know how things should be done and that their executives are staying ahead of the curve.

Next, evaluate the organizational structure to make sure that is supports the business. Often times groups will spring up out of momentary business requirements and never disappear when those requirements change or go away. A good organizational structure will have a clear role for every group. It will also be apparent how the groups will interact and support each other. Organizational structures and the related Org Charts should not be considered fixed entities. As business changes and evolves these need to change and evolve with it. The organization as a whole is simply the chosen method for executing all requirements for performing business functions.

With the business plan and org chart in place, take a look at the facilities and infrastructure. The environment where work is performed is as important as the actual plans. If you have created places where no one wants to work or your employees can't be productive evaluate ways to resolve the situation.

We were working with a client on assessing their facilities two months ago and they were trying to figure out why their work force was older than their competitors and why they couldn't retain young employees. Their problem was entirely related to their space. They had 1970s style workspaces and cubicles, their buildings were former military grade construction (almost no light or design elements), and their technology was completely out of date. Some employees were still using 15 year old beige analog telephones! Older employees didn't mind the setup because it was the environment they had come up in, but young employees essentially refused to work there. Fortunately their lease was nearly up and moving to a new space with new furniture was an option.

The last step of the assessment, after all the changes have been made and communicated, is to put in procedures to create continual improvement. This is not related to six sigma, this is reevaluation. Over the course of a year after all these changes have been made, you will probably notice reduced operating costs through reduced turnover, higher margins and increased productivity. Without continual improvement these costs will begin to increase again until it is necessary to perform a full assessment again. The cost of making all the changes necessary for realignment is not insignificant but they typically pay for themselves in a relatively short time frame.


Technorati Tags: facilities, assessment, org chart, consulting, operations

Generation Y is Putting Its Foot Down

Every other week there seems to be a new story about how Generation Y is disrupting the way that business has been done over the past few generations. They won't work 60 hours, they don't want to be stuck in a cubicle with their head down, they enjoy shiny new gadgets, and they have no loyalty to their new company. Somehow most of the articles that come out make this seem like a bad thing. They make it seem like Gen Y needs to make themselves fit into the square hole that is corporate culture.

Nevermind that Google and others like them having taken the Gen Y philosophy and turned it into a successful, profitable business model. Please ignore the fact that the companies making the most headlines have no loyalty to their employees. Definitely don't notice that the top companies in the world deploy the latest technology to their advantage. These Gen Y'ers need to get with the program and do things the way we've always done them!

Lets step back for a second and reevaluate the situation. Shouldn't companies be taking advantage of the capabilities of these new employees? Just because a job description says one thing, why isn't there flexibility to change it if an applicant has the ability to exceed the words on the paper? One of the biggest problems that keeps Generation Y from forcing evolution in the workplace is the HR department and its role in corporate procedures and policies. Another is the lack of communication that occurs in the workplace between the various generations. Currently there are three generations predominately in the workforce including the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y.

Generation X had a profound influence on the workplace when they arrived. Suddenly offices were forced to loosen up the ties and refocus. There was not a drastic change in when or where work was done, but in how it was done. Now Generation Y is hitting the workforce with their desires for flexible hours, telecommuting, and thirst for technology. Not only that, but Generation Y believes they should advance right to the top of the companies? That's a debate for another day, but there is validity behind the rest of their changes. As if that wasn't enough, Gen Y is pushing for businesses to take notice of non-traditional issues such as the environment and social consciousness.

Each and every business in the world is going to have to stand up and take notice of this new workplace revolution. The question is whether they use it to their advantage or fight against it.


Technorati Tags: Gen Y, Workplace, Millenials