Scheduling Chronicles

EPA Holds Contest Encouraging Energy Efficiency In the Workplace

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sponsoring the first national energy efficiency contest. The contest will involve 14 commercial buildings from different parts of the United States.

Almost 200 buildings applied to be part of the competition. The 14 finalists, selected by the EPA, will compete to see who can cut their energy consumption the most, based on percentage.

Energy efficiency in the workplace can be gained by better resource management and a better understanding of your company’s actual space utilization. Tools like Resource Scheduler and Workplace Business Intelligence  allow your company to cut energy consumption, while becoming more efficient overall.

Investments in Energy Efficiency to Rise in 2010

In 2010 planned investment in energy efficiency is expected to rise after a down year last year.

After a decline last year, a survey of 1,400 North American executives and managers shows that more are planning to make investments in energy efficiency.

In the survey the most popular reason to make energy efficiency decisions was the cost of energy. With energy prices expected to rise this year, practicing better resource management could go a long way in saving your company money while making the organization more energy efficient.

Deciding to make your company more energy efficient could serve to be a money making decision. You will cut energy costs, benefit from government and utility incentives, and even improve your organizations public image.

PeopleCube Offers Three Webinars on Real-Estate Measurement, Management, Forecasting, and Cost Savings

PeopleCube today announced that it is extending its ongoing webinar series with the addition of three programs that will run throughout the month of July. All of the webinars focus on effectively utilizing real estate and minimizing associated costs. They are free of charge.

“Given the state of the economy—and recognizing that real estate is the second-largest cost (after labor) for most organizations—it’s more important than ever for companies to gain an accurate view of current and future real-estate needs, so that they can avoid unnecessary expenditures,” said Rick Boyink, vice president of North America for PeopleCube. “Our complimentary webinars give facility managers and real-estate executives insight into determining how their space and assets are being used now and enable them to predict future needs, potentially saving thousands—even millions—of dollars in direct operating costs within their real-estate portfolio.”

The three new webinars are “Leveraging Alternative Workspace Strategies to Reduce Costs,” “How to Capture Actual Use of Space,” and “Workplace Business Intelligence: Better Real-Estate Management Begins with Better Real-Estate Measurement.” Sessions are available throughout the month, and attendees may select the dates they prefer when registering at PeopleCube’s Resource Center. Visitors to the Resource Center will also find complimentary white papers, case studies, and on-demand workshops.

Measuring, Managing, Predicting, and Saving on Real Estate
 Descriptions of the three new webinars are as follows.

“Leveraging Alternative Workspace Strategies to Reduce Costs”—Participants will learn how to reduce real-estate costs using alternative workspace (office hoteling) software. Examples will be given of customers who are using resource scheduling software to reduce real-estate overhead, improve utilization of shared workspace, lessen energy consumption and costs, and implement or support green initiatives. The webinar will also describe how customers can promote a telecommuting environment and accommodate a mobile workforce, two examples of flexible work programs that increase employee satisfaction and enhance an organization’s ability to acquire and retain talent.

“How to Capture Actual Use of Space”—Designed for facility management and real-estate mangers and executives, this webinar will present different ways that organizations can capture actual usage of space and report on the information that is captured. Determining actual usage of space enables companies to make meaningful real-estate decisions that can lead to significant cost savings.

“Workplace Business Intelligence: Better Real-Estate Management Begins with Better Real-Estate Measurement”—Real estate is typically the second largest expense after labor, and yet it is often one of the most overlooked assets within an organization’s portfolio. Knowing how real-estate space and related assets are being used today—and how they will be used tomorrow—can save organizations thousands, even millions, of dollars. This session will present how workplace business intelligence (BI) can be leveraged by organizations to maximize real-estate space and asset utilization.

Energy management merges revenue goals with environmental goals

Analyst firm Aberdeen Group recently issued a report that outlines how organizations are using energy management to achieve their cost saving initiatives as well as to suport their corporate sustainability programs.  That's the latest from Plant Engineering.

The article goes into great detail about the Aberdeen report.  Specifically, it provides details into the processes and technology used by leading businesses to generate "quantifiable business value."  These leading businesses, identified as "Best-in-Class," had several characteristics in common:

• Best-in-Class companies are over three-times as likely as Laggards to invest in energy management solutions to gain real-time visibility into energy data

• Best-in-Class companies are over two-times as likely as Laggards to consider energy costs while scheduling production

• Best-in-Class companies are nearly four-times as likely as Laggards to consider energy efficiency while scheduling maintenance required actions 

To learn more about this Aberdeen report, click here.

Controling Energy Costs in a Tough Economy

I am a firm believer that a tough economy creates challenges for some but opportunity for others.  Unfortunately many companies today are finding it hard to reduce costs without having layoffs.  But what amazes me is that desite these cases of mass layoffs, many organizations aren't changing their operations.  Conisder this fact I uncovered in a recent Industry Week article titled Take Action or Energy Cost Will Soar as You Reduce Production:

"Many factories are scaling back production and experiencing remarkable increases in the energy component of conversion cost. The cause is clear and preventable. You can avoid this pitfall by taking immediate action to reduce the fixed component of your energy consumption. This is a common opportunity (and problem).

"Failing to take action caused a dramatic increase in energy per unit of production at a large Chicago-based operation last fall. Within that production facility, a 65% reduction in output resulted in only a 10% reduction in energy usage; just 10%! That small reduction in energy, paired with the large reduction in production, resulted in a 257% increase in energy per unit of production."

There is no doubt production loss will affect the botton line but this is also an example of a situation where, if production and workforce is reduced, there is an opportunity for further reductions in energy costs.  For example, if the HVAC system were tied to an automated scheduling application, the heating and cooling of a location could be adjusted quickly and easily based on when the workforce is actually at work. 

Let's take this one step further.  By tracking the utilization of the available workspace, companies are able to consolidate workspace into a specific heating zone and could then "hibernate" the other available space.  This eliminates the need to heat or cool unoccupied space, making it only available when the size of the workforce on-site dictates it, heling to significantly reduce unneccessary energy costs. 

This is just one of the many examples of how companies can turn a bad situation into - well, one that isn't as bad as it could be.  The above mentioned article points to a number of potential energy saving examples and while many of the examples in the article refer to plan production, they actually translate quite well to any work environment.  But regardless of the industry, the message is the same.  A change in work environments should cause companies to look into altnernative workspace or HVAC integration with scheduling software as innovative ways to save money.  Sure, times are tough but there are opportunities to reduce costs though efficiency using wokrplace business intelligence - as long as you're willing to leave no stone unturned to find the right solution for your work environment.

Identifying the Keys to a Green Corporate Strategy

I found an interested article the other day in Environmental Leader written by Rich Lechner, VP of Environment and Energy at IBM titled "The Seven Pillars of a Green Corporate Strategy."  The article rang true to me because his messages are very similar to the ones I espouse.  In essence, the bottom line (pun intended I suppose) is the green strategy your organization implements must include a strong cost saving component as well.  We all want to be environmentally sound but any corporation must ask "at what cost?"  As Lechner points out "$1 in energy savings can often drive an additional $6 to $8 in operational savings."  And the reasons are (relatively) simple: If you are able to reduce your energy consumption, aren't you, by default, reducing your energy costs?

Lechner identifies his seven "pillars" of the corporate green strategy as:

• Strategy: Creating an environmental strategy as part of a larger corporate social responsibility initiative can produce beneficial financial and environmental results.
• People: Implementing alternative workspace, providing more online collaboration tools and creating other environmentally-friendly work environments can help attract and retain top talent.
• Information:As we like to say here at PeopleCube, you can't manage what you can't measure.  Knowing how to maximize utilization of shared resources, workspace, and other mission-critical areas of your business can help you better manage costs today - and tomorrow.
• Products: By understanding the environmental impact of their products enable companies to adjust their manufacturing processes.  Further, companies can leverage new technology that provides greater energy consumption intelligence.
• Information Technology:Reviewing the energy consumption of IT related resources can surprise many people.  In fact, some companies are turning to software-as-a-service (SaaS) as a way to reduce costs and carbon emissions of their IT infrastructure.
• Property: By leveraging technology to understand carbon emissions and real estate utilization, you're able to make adjustments to reduce real estate and energy costs. 
• Business Operations: Similar to above.  Organizations need to change their operations processes to reduce costs and carbon footprint.  But in order to do so, you first need to track, measure and analyze existing use and compare it against targeted environmental benchmarks.

As Lechner indicated, going green isn't as difficult or as costly as you might think.  With the right approach, the right planning, and the right technology, you can quickly and easily be on your way to greener bottom line - in more ways than one.

PeopleCube, York Telecom and Featured Leading Analyst Firm Outline Cost Reduction Benefits of Alternative Workspace

PeopleCube today announced the availability of “A Better Alternative: An Improved Approach to Facilities Management,” a webcast that focuses on the economic and environmental benefits of implementing alternative workspace programs, maximizing real-estate utilization, and leveraging business intelligence reporting and trending data. The webcast features presentations by Jack Heine, Research Vice President in IT Asset Management group of leading analyst firm Gartner; John T. Anderson, President and CEO of PeopleCube; and Judd Cain, Vice President of Managed Services for York Telecom.

In the webcast, featured Gartner analyst Heine explains how implementing alternative workspace programs can significantly reduce costs and have a positive impact on sustainability efforts. He cites increased transportation costs, greater workforce mobility, and efforts to reduce carbon emissions as driving factors for implementing new technologies to support flexible work environments.

“The value of efficient workspace management cannot be understated, both from a cost and environmental standpoint, because it presents organizations with a vital opportunity to simultaneously reduce real-estate costs and their carbon footprint,” said Jack Heine of Gartner. “Further, economic pressures dictate that organizations measure their space utilization to improve their cost management going forward. By reporting and analyzing trending data on actual space utilization, organizations are able to manage costs significantly better in the short and long term.”

Reducing Costs Through Alternative Workspace Is a Collaborative Effort
Flexible work environments are becoming more prevalent because they help organizations reduce real-estate costs, lower energy consumption and carbon emissions, and increase talent acquisition and retention. In order for flexible work programs to be effective, however, there must be a thorough understanding of how space is actually being used in order to maximize utilization and collaboration among mobile employees.

“Successful implementation of cost-efficient flexible work environments requires that organizations understand the dynamics of their workforce and their workplace,” said PeopleCube’s John T. Anderson. “The keys are to identify the types of employees you have, track space-utilization patterns using reporting analytics and trending data, establish company policies to support this type of environment, and, ultimately, manage the roll out by starting with pilot programs in smaller departments with an eye toward maximizing future corporate-wide implementations.”

One Approach: Videoconferencing
York Telecom, a PeopleCube partner, is a provider of visual communication services and solutions that government, education, medical, and corporate enterprises use to facilitate collaboration while reducing travel costs and associated carbon emissions. York’s Judd Cain believes that the ROI a business can gain from videoconferencing is inexorably tied to how well the related equipment is used and managed.

“Videoconferencing is one of the most effective ways to reduce costs and carbon emissions without sacrificing collaborative productivity,” said Cain. “But, as with any resource used to support flexible work programs, the payoff in terms of ROI is dependent on an organization’s ability to maximize equipment utilization through efficient scheduling and management.”

Webcast Now Available
The “A Better Alternative: An Improved Approach to Facilities Management” webcast is available immediately. To listen, go to http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/peoplecube/0/50310882/.

Work, Life, and Environmental Balance of the Green Workplace

Facilities represent the second highest expense for large businesses and the number one producer of emissions.  So why wouldn't you want to maximize your utilization of your available space - or even reduce your space all together.

That's the message in the recent article by GreenBiz.com columnist Dana Sanchez.  In her article titled Telecommuting and the Green Office of the Future, she outlines how many companies are moving in the direction of establishing green initiatives at their workplace by supporting flexible work programs such as telecommuting as well as gaining a greater sense of workplace occupancy.  As I outlined to Dana in my interview with her, most companies think they're space occupancy rate is running between 80-90% yet it's usually much closer to 50%.  So the key to efficient space management is knowing what is being used and implementing office hoteling software to support telecommuters who need to reserve space when they enter the office.

By monitoring and managing space better using resource scheduling software or similar applications, you're not only able to maximize the space you do occupy, you can also find ways to reduce overall costs by converting what used to be individual workspace into flexible workspace.

Negotiating Tactics to Reduce Carbon Footprint

Leigh Stringer, in her Green Workplace blog (which is a great blog by the way if you haven't seen it), recently posted about the results of a carbon footprint analysis of her workplace.  Interestingly, while her company implements several environmentally friendly practices similar to us here at PeopleCube, such as using alternative commuting options and greening the buildings they work in, the largest contributor to their carbon footprint is travel.  In fact, the report indicates that it equates to 53% of the company's total carbon footprint.

They've started using more videoconferencing as a way to offset some of this travel but she points out that many trips are customer visits that just can't be ignored.  However, in her post she she does outline some negotiating tactics to help turn this potential dilemma into a mutually-beneficial solution for both parties.

PeopleCube and Building Sustainability LTD Collaborate to Help Customers Reduce Carbon Footprint

PeopleCube recently announced that it has partnered with UK-based Building Sustainability LTD (BSL) to offer an integrated solution that helps organizations monitor and adjust their carbon footprint based on workspace utilization.  Specifically, BSL's Footprint Tracker energy consumption and management tool integrates with PeopleCube's Resource Scheduler workspace and resource management application using the Resource Scheduler API. 

This integration provides customers with an innovative dashboard that allows them to monitor and reduce energy consumption based on efficient scheduling and utilization of workspace and energy resources.  By understanding energy consumption patters better, they’re able to reduce their energy consumption costs and their carbon footprint.