Space Exchange™: JLL Extends Coworking Concept to Enterprises by Matching Supply and Demand of Professional Workplaces

CHICAGO, Sept. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The nature of work today is changing, and companies around the world are struggling to define the right mix of workspaces for an increasingly mobile and connected workforce. Match that conundrum with the startling reality that most office space that corporations own or lease is underutilized for a striking 60 percent of a typical workday, and there is clearly a need to balance supply and demand in corporate real estate.

For many companies, where employees work has become less important than results accomplished and innovations achieved. According to Bernice Boucher, Managing Director of Jones Lang LaSalle's workplace strategy practice in the Americas, that fundamental shift in corporate viewpoint is leading to a radical change in how corporations now look to enable their workforces by using their corporate real estate assets to drive both people and asset productivity. This enablement is happening in workplaces both inside and outside of a company's portfolio.

Jones Lang LaSalle's new approach to workforce productivity, called proworking, balances this shift in worker needs with a company's ability to fit those needs within its current environment. The proworking approach helps corporations implement a highly impactful workplace strategy that enhances overall business performance. Jones Lang LaSalle accomplishes it in four steps:

1. Align the workforce with the business goals;
2. Match people to the places in which they are most effective;
3. Create engaging work environments; and
4. Expand beyond the boundaries of your portfolio.

"There is a human-centric shift in worker enablement and corporations are now using this approach to improve their business performance," said Boucher. "Proworking is a natural extension of coworking at the enterprise level, consistently providing professional and well-maintained work environments to mobile professionals by owners of real estate. Businesses need a way to overcome the barriers presented by traditional real estate models and achieve greater flexibility."

To support the corporate march toward proworking—and to help corporations access a network of reliable space options—Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) is now launching a new service called Space Exchange™ that enables companies to expand beyond their boundaries. Space Exchange applies the proworking approach through services that assess workforce space requirements; align people and venues; make underutilized space ready for productive use; connect corporations with a vetted network of professional locations outside of a company's portfolio; and manage those locations on an ongoing basis. It is executed by coupling these services with access to a real-time online marketplace for short and medium-term needs that streamlines the matchmaking process between excess or underutilized corporate real estate and the professionals, teams and companies that require on-demand workplaces.

Space Exchange's marketplace technology is powered by LiquidSpace, a leader in real-time workplace management. LiquidSpace's enterprise-grade software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform provides mobile and Web user interfaces, as well as the underlying asset management platform, for approved enterprise employees to securely find and book workspace and meeting space assets. LiquidSpace's technology also provides essential real-time controls and data analytics for enterprise asset managers.

"Our goal is to help corporations support virtual working and to boost the productivity of underutilized facilities to improve business performance. Space Exchange is the only program that establishes a private network of vetted locations within JLL's global client network portfolio, while providing control and visibility with regard to the users of these spaces," said John Hampton, Senior Vice President of the Corporate Solutions business at JLL. "We are helping companies quickly and easily apply the proworking approach by offering mobile employees the 'right space in the right place'— those locations where workers want to be, with the resources they need."

Proworking's roots: Scandinavian workplace research

Proworking is derived from a Scandinavian research project aimed at understanding the requirements of productive knowledge work. The ProWork study concluded that a company should redefine the workspace as being wherever workers will be most productive. In that spirit, companies are radically shifting their perspectives on how real estate can enable work.

"Large enterprises are starting to open their eyes to the potential of collaborative consumption. There is a massive opportunity to unlock the value of underutilized assets in ways that both empower employees with more choices and generate new sources of revenue. Space Exchange is a great example of this new enterprise trend," said Rachel Botsman, a social innovator and author of the influential book, What's Mine is Yours: How Collaborative Consumption Is Changing The Way We Live. "The potential to open up and optimize the usage of real estate assets is compelling. As the primary owners and operators of commercial real estate, large enterprises are an inevitable next target for the sharing economy."

Traditional approaches to corporate real estate can present barriers to growth and flexibility whether a company is growing or contracting its footprint. Many companies are eager to change their workplace strategies in search of more collaboration and innovation, greater productivity, employee satisfaction and talent retention.

"With proworking, workspace becomes a personal choice, made by the employee, in real-time and matched to the task at hand and the unique environmental preferences of the individual," said Mark Gilbreath, CEO of LiquidSpace. "Proworking companies understand that workplace is defined by where their employees work—and is now a continuum of spaces, including internal company workplace assets, privileged spaces via Space Exchange and public third places, all accessible through one simple application."

The opportunity to test a virtual workplace outside a company's traditional portfolio will be a highlight of the 2013 CoreNet (Corporate Real Estate Network) Global Summit in Las Vegas on October 21-23, 2013, at the Social Networking Point on the summit floor. Attendees can use Space Exchange to reserve private meeting rooms for one to 12 people in the lounge.  Attendees are encouraged to reserve their space in advance, as use of the complimentary lounge is available only by reservation and on a first-come, first-serve basis. To experience Space Exchange, attendees can make a meeting reservation by booking online on JLL's sign-up page.

Join @JLLNEWS' conversation about these workplace trends at the CoreNet Global Summit by using the #CNGLasVegas hashtag.

A leader in the real estate outsourcing field, Jones Lang LaSalle's Corporate Solutions business helps corporations improve productivity in the cost, efficiency and performance of their national, regional or global real estate portfolios by creating outsourcing partnerships to manage and execute a range of corporate real estate services. This service delivery capability helps corporations improve business performance, particularly as companies turn to the outsourcing of their real estate activity as a way to manage expenses and enhance profitability.

About Jones Lang LaSalle

For more news, videos and research resources on Jones Lang LaSalle, please visit the firm's U.S. media center Web page: http://bit.ly/18P2tkv.

Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. With annual revenue of $3.9 billion, Jones Lang LaSalle operates in 70 countries from more than 1,000 locations worldwide. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services to a property portfolio of 2.6 billion square feet and completed $63 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2012. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $46.3 billion of real estate assets under management.

SOURCE Jones Lang LaSalle

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