From The Star:
A study published by Regus showed that a 25% improvement in CRE/HR/IT collaboration relates to an additional 1.36% in an organisation’s return on assets (RoA), plus a 2.25% return on equity (RoE). In other words, companies where IT, HR and CRE departments work in silos may perform less well financially.
The research found that companies are conscious of scope for improvement in this practice. Perhaps symptomatic of the lack of development are the corporate management lines for the CRE functions of participants in the study. Just over a third (34%) reported to the chief financial officer, but others reported to the chief operating officer, the business division, the CEO, treasury, IT, procurement, or others. The corporate management lines for IT departments often show similar diversity.
The diversity of reporting lines suggests possible confusion about where functions like CRE and IT sit within corporate structures. There’s no right answer, but some of these reporting lines risk sidelining them, or preventing creative collaboration with other corporate functions. The desirability of IT, CRE and HR functions converging is heightened by technology advances. In the survey, 59% of respondents said they no longer struggle to work effectively outside the workplace. Smartphones, tablets and cloud computing have dispersed teams and changed work.
via How HR and IT relate to corporate real estate.
