CBRE Institute | 2017
Financial Services Symposium
How are companies harmonizing building infrastructure and IT?
How do we adapt legacy workforces to modern, agile workplaces?
How do we measure and quantify gains in employee experience?
If these questions sound familiar, than you are among the many corporate leaders planning your company’s real estate and workplace future. And there is no other industry more focused on preparing for the next 5, 10, or 20+ years than financial services. From global to local banking institutions to securities firms and insurance companies, emerging technologies and the fierce focus on end-user experience are effecting how these organizations provide services in the marketplace, and, in turn, impacting their built environment and employees.
With sweeping waves of transformation and eagerness for dialogue among our clients, CBRE hosted the CBRE Institute | 2017 Financial Services Symposium in New York City, Oct. 18-19. Jointly presented by the CBRE Institute and the CBRE Financial Services Sector, the two-day event welcomed nearly 75 CBRE and client participants representing 20 financial services organizations.
According to CBRE Financial Services Sector Chairs John Belbusti and Tom Kurtz, the event was inspired by input from CBRE’s 45 financial services clients on the most prominent issues they face as they drive enterprise alignment, in addition to feedback received during the CBRE Institute CRE Executive Roundtable, held earlier this year in Scottsdale, AZ.
The agenda was structured to explore trends and challenges facing our clients and the industry, covering workplace experience, portfolio agility, smart buildings, retail transformation, data center strategies, and the economy, among other topics.
What are clients saying?
Having industry peers and CBRE’s thought leaders together in the same room—all talking about familiar challenges and sharing innovative ideas—was really energizing. Looking forward to next years’ event!
I was impressed by the speaker and roundtable line-up. CBRE is dialed into portfolio planning with agile space. We hear a lot about collaboration space and it was great to visualize how that translates into economic metrics.
The sessions I attended were exceptional. There were a few gems that I gleaned from the presenters and casual conversations with peers. Thank you for all the CBRE partnership and your leadership.
Fantastic event all around. This is a must-attend for anyone in the industry that’s planning ahead.
THE NEW ORDER OF REAL ESTATE
The reality of real estate’s new order was the baseline for discussion. CBRE Institute Lead Matt Toner, expressed that the real estate decision-making process at a corporate level places the technology-empowered individual firmly in the driver’s seat. According to CBRE’s research report Always On: Real Estate Responses for a Changing World, the new real estate order will require buildings and work spaces to be more flexible and adaptable than ever. Location will remain critical, but so will the need to accommodate numerous paradigm shifts during a typical 25 year investment timescale.
WORKPLACE EXPERIENCE
With the interest around co-working continuing to find new peaks, CBRE Global Lead of Workplace Strategy Lenny Beaudoin shared a view that the enhanced services model is a natural evolution of working patterns. Expect a majority of workplace environments to resemble today’s leading co-working spaces in the coming years.
Referencing CBRE’s Global Occupier Survey, 89% of financial services corporate real estate (CRE) executives that responded to the survey indicated that space efficiency initiatives are their top strategy. CRE leaders can increase utilization of their physical assets to allow for strategic reinvestment and reallocation of costs into further talent attraction and engagement programs.
Additionally, hospitality is becoming the new standard for facility management. Lenny predicted that CRE, HR, IT, and Operations will be jointly measured by their ability to create vibrant social networks. Over the next five years, expect more personalization and ease of access hallmarks of corporate amenities.
THE RISE OF OMNICHANNEL RETAIL
Resembling consumerism trends in the workplace, CBRE Head of Retail Research Melina Cordero, shared that millennials most value time, convenience, and choice—even when it comes to banking. According to FICO, 53% of millennials do not think their bank offers anything different than other banks and 27% say they have never visited their bank branch. This behavior is shifting physical priorities from transactions to brand awareness, customer service, support, and advisory.
Consumers’ preference for omnichannel (combining online and in-store shopping) is critically important to retailor survival and growth. Adaptive real estate strategies for banking and consumer goods alike should:
- Collect and leverage data to understand the what, where, and why of customer demand.
- Respond quickly and as cost-effectively as possible. Agility is critical and data is pointless if you are not able to react.
- Enable physical location strategies to complement (not compete) with online services; this is key to solving the omnichannel puzzle.
INSIGHTS: UNLIMITED
CBRE practice and thought leaders facilitated breakout roundtables on smart buildings, cyber and data center strategies, and the multitude of data and analytics available to develop robust portfolio strategies.
Additionally, CBRE Chief Economist for the Americas Jeff Havsy shared key data points and insights around an economy that has grown quite complex, unpredictable, and difficult to plan against—with leading indicators pointing to a mild recession in early 2019.
FORWARD MOMENTUM
CBRE’s goal for the symposium was to enable peer-to-peer CRE interactions and further formalize and promote knowledge sharing across the financial services sector. CBRE clients and the industry as a whole can expect additional similar events, delivering bespoke sector advisory services and valuable thought leadership.
For additional information or questions, please email CBRE Financial Services.
