NAME OF THE PROJECT ICT as an Enabler for Conversion of Real Estate Business to Customer Focused Workplace Industry (REALISE)
PERSON IN CHARGE Professor Reijo Sulonen
SITES OF THE RESEARCH Helsinki University of Technology (HUT),
Software Business and Engineering Institute (SoberIT), Department of Industrial Engineering and Management (DIEM), and
Laboratory of Construction Economics and Management (CEM)
PARTICIPANTS Professors: Reijo Sulonen, Eila Järvenpää, Jouko Kankainen Researchers: Ilkka Miettinen, Kaija-Stiina Paloheimo, Maria Paasivaara, Casper Lassenius, Antti Tuomela, Heidi Rasila, Nils Gersberg, Tomi Ventovuori, Suvi Nenonen, Jussi Kanerva
Research assistants: Eero Uusitalo and Tuomas Niinimäki
Abstract
Real estate business is one of the business areas that is undergoing profound changes, and, at the same time, growing fast in Western countries, and in Asia as well. However, today end-user organizations, customers of real estate business, focus on their core business, and the ownership of facilities concentrates to professional owners, and services are procured from specialized service providers. To develop as a new industry, real estate business needs new innovative business ideas, models, and applications from other industries. Research and applications in service business, especially in industrial services, has increasingly developed in recent years. This knowledge can be applied and developed for real estate business. Applications of ICT (information and communication technologies) are comprehensively used in other industries, such as manufacturing, logistics or e-commerce. However, so far real estate business has not comprehensively applied ICT in its operations that in some important respects are apt to change. The concept of workplace, referring to the entire work environment with all the services, facilities, and ICT the organizations and their employees need in conducting their business and work, is a rather new concept. Using the workplace concept we can model and understand the combination of real estate business, services for end-users, and ICT applications needed. Workplace industry is seen as the result of development and merger of new business models in real estate business and in service business facilitated with mass-customized ICT applications for this industry.
This study is a joint research project of three research units SoberIT (Software Business and Engineering Institute at Department of Information Technology), DIEM (Department of Industrial Engineering and Management) and CEM (Laboratory of Construction Economics and Management) that combines expertise needed to study the change in real estate business and the requirements the conversion of real estate business to workplace industry needs. Our goal is to provide new knowledge and understanding about different actors and their roles in emerging workplace industry, to analyse and develop service concepts for workplace industry, and to analyse the need for ICT applications for the workplace industry.
The study provides new scientific knowledge about the current state and future needs for development of real estate business, about requirements and models for service business in new industrial context, the workplace industry, and about requirements, models and applications for development of ICT systems to an emerging new industry. Practical utilities of the study are new business models, requirements, and roles for real estate business to facilitate its conversion to workplace industry. The project is carried out in close collaboration with industry experts and international research organizations.
Results
Interviews
An interview study of an innovation environment was carried out during the spring-summer of 2006. The aim of this study was to understand the broader environment for innovative work: who are the main partners, what are the relationships between the partners, what are the key points and where are the main problem areas. The innovation environment chosen for this study was the Aviapolis area in Vantaa. In this study we wanted to create an understanding of the innovation environment in that area, and to find out how innovative work is supported in that area, e.g. by services, workspaces, collaboration relationships and internationalization. Figure 1. presents the participants and their relationships in that innovation environment.
Figure 1. Innovation environment of the Aviapolis area in Vantaa. Literature research
Literature research continued and working papers were written for internal purposes on the areas of knowledge work, business strategies and organisational theory, services and customer relationships, and workspaces for software engineers. We also selected one group of knowledge workers and their work environment for closer study, namely software engineers. After the
Knowledge workers Service providers Service provider s Real estate owners Universtities Research institutes Service integrato r Town s Knowledge workers Customer organizatio n Customer organizatio n Government organizations Customer’ s customer Workplace Make collaboration easier Knowledge, knowhow, Support activities Service packages Business parks ’Technology centers’ Tekes TE-keskus Finpro Finnvera Sitra Invest in Finland VTT, Etla..
literature study (“The workspace of a software engineer – a literature review”) we will conduct case studies on the subject.
Seminars and publications
The project organized workshops and seminars and our researchers wrote several scientific publications, as listed below.
Seminars Organized
1) Research workshop of EuroFM Research Network Group: “Futures of FM”. 11.-20.10.2006. The seminar was organized by Helsinki University of Technology (Suvi Nenonen and Antti Tuomela) with speakers from Realise (Jussi Kanerva, Eila Järvenpää and Suvi Nenonen).
2) Post-graduate research seminar: "Collaborative Innovation Networks" held by Dr. Peter Gloor from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 18.9.2006 - 31.1. 2007. The seminar was organized by the Realise project (Maria Paasivaara, Eero Uusitalo and Tuomas Niinimäki).
Publications and Conference Presentations
Gersberg, N. & Nenonen, S. (2006). The advant-garde of future work? Business Parks' ways to meet future work challenges. In: Haugen, T.I. & Moum, A. & Bröchner, J (ed.). Changing User Demands on Buildings. Needs for lifecycle planning and management. Proceedings. CIB W70 Trondheim International Symposium June 12-14, 2006. Trondheim, Norway, 2006. Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU. pp. 566-578. ISBN 82-7551-031-7.
Gersberg N. & Siekkinen H. (2006) In search of excellence in facilities maintenance services – a new model for assessing the quality and customer satisfaction. Proceedings of the European Facility Management Conference 2006. Frankfurt, Germany 7.-9.3.2006
Gersberg, N. & Nenonen, S. (2006). Otaniemi Campus A Finnish technology hub. OECD -Higher Education Facilities: Issues and Trends - Zacatecas, Mexico, May 29–30, 2006.
Lindholm, Anna-Liisa & Nenonen, Suvi: Kiinteistö- ja toimitilajohtamisen onnistumisen mittaaminen käyttäjäorganisaation näkökulmasta - mittareita, työkaluja ja menetelmiä, 2006
(B118). ISBN 951-22-8295-X (PDF-julkaisu,
http://www.hut.fi/Yksikot/Kiinteisto/julkaisut/verkkojulkaisut/julkaisuB118.pdf)
Miettinen, I. and Tuomela, A. (2006). Changing workplace service requirements of end-user organisations – Case study at Finnish Government Agencies, European Facility Management Conference, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, March 7-9, 2006
Miettinen, I. and Paloheimo, K.-S. (2006). Towards holistic workplace services: turning the focus on end users and service provider collaboration. Paper submitted to 9th International Research Seminar in Service Management, La Londe les Maures, France, May 30 - June 2, 2006.
Nenonen, Suvi; Lindholm, Anna-Liisa. (2006) A conceptual framework of CREM performance measurement tools. Journal of Corporate Real Estate. Vol. 8, No. 3, 2006, pp. 108-119. ISSN1463-001X
Nenonen, Suvi & Gersberg, Nils. (2006) Multidisicplinary Workplace Research in Vartiainen, M. (2006), Workspace methodologies - studying communication, collaboration and workscapes, Helsinki University of Technology, Laboratory of Work Psychology and Leadership, Report 2006/3. ISBN 951-22-8300-X pp.93-103.
Rasila H., Mikkola K. & Rasila T. (2006) Methodology for service innovation in real estate business – Case Senior Housing in Finland. Paper presented at European Applied Business Research Conference (EABR). Florence, Italy 26.-29.6. 2006.
Rasila H., Nenonen S. & Gersberg N. (2006). Service Oriented Real Estate Business. Paper presented at 13th European Real Estate Society Conference. Weimar, Germany 7.-10.6.2006. Siekkinen H., Mikkola K. & Rasila T. (2006) Senior housing as a service business – the Finnish case. Proceedings of Internationa Applied l Business Research Conference (IABR). Cancun, Mexico 22.-24.3.2006.
Tuomela A. & Rasila H. (2006) Network Analysis in Workplace Management. In Vartiainen M (eds.) Workspace Methodologies – Studying Communication, Colloboration and Workscapes. Helsinki University of Technology. Laboratory of Work Psychology and Leadership. Report 2006/3. Espoo, Finland.
Ventovuori, T. (2006), Elements of sourcing strategies in FM services – a multiple case study, International Journal of Strategic Property Management, Vol.10, No.2, pp.249-267.
Ventovuori, T. and Lehtonen, T. (2006), Alternative models for the management of FM services – An empirical investigation, Journal of Corporate Real Estate, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 73-90.
Other Presentations
Miettinen, I. (2006) Työtä tukevat palvelut ja innovaatioympäristö. (Innovation Environment and Services Supporting Work), Palveluinfraforum, Vantaa 26.9.2006.
Tuomela, A. (2006). Workplace management trends in Finland – Cases of Senate properties and Ovenia. Facility Night. Luxembourg, 29.11.2006.
Tuomela, A. (2006), FM & Workplace market trends in Finland, “Facilities management of commercial real estate” seminar in the 4-th Annual Conference “Commercial real estate of Russia: investments, development, management”, in St. Petersburg on 25-27 of September 2006. Tuomela, A. (2006) FM Futures European Facility Management 2006 Conference –2006, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany. 8-10 March 2006.
Tuomela A. (2006), Menestyksen eväät seminaari Tutkimus, kehitys ja koulutus -strategian ja hankesalkun avaus, 24.1.2006 Helsinki, Rakli ry.
Licentiate Thesis and Dissertations in Progress
Ilkka Miettinen:Licentiate thesis: “Inter-organizational relationships of facility service providers
implications for integrated workplace services”. The graduation will take place 21.3.2007. The work for the dissertation will continue.
Kaija-Stiina Paloheimo: Doctoral dissertation: “Customer Oriented Service Concepts”.
The work is planned to be finished during 2007.
Tomi Ventovuori: Doctoral dissertation, preliminary title “Sourcing strategies in facility services”.
The work is planned to be finished during 2007.
Heidi Rasila: Doctoral dissertation, preliminary title:”End-user organizations’ needs and
customer satisfaction through real estate business functions and related services”. The work is planned to be finished by 2009.
Nils Gersberg: Doctoral dissertation, preliminary title: “Productivity of knowledge working -workplace management case study”. The work is planned to be finished by 2009.
