Joining Hands With An Old Friend – Partnering ARCHIBUS Again
It’s such a pleasure writing this note. It’s been over 18 years since my first association with ARCHIBUS, and the world of Facilities Management (or Integrated Workplace Management Solutions if you prefer), and this ranks right up there in terms of landmarks. Our company, Crestere, has just been appointed as “Business Partner” to ARCHIBUS. This certification now permits us to sell the product in the Indian market and to offer implementation and configuration/customization services based on the product around the world. We have high hopes in both areas.
India, I believe, is primed and ready for the value the ARCHIBUS solution has to offer. Clearly, the market exists. There is an array of private sector areas where companies have large real estate portfolios – for e.g. hospitals, multi-locational corporates, BPOs, and software companies. There is also a huge latent market in the Indian government sector. Honest facilities (or Admin) leaders in this business, with their hand to their heart, will agree that so far most of the Facilities Management has been done on Excel with little or no structured solutions being used. Those leaders will also admit that things are changing rapidly. The pressure is on to draw out maximum bang for the bucks spent on the real estate and facilities. Organizations are looking to rapidly, and efficiently monetize the money they spend. Then there is also the need these organizations have, to provide a professional workspace, equipped with the facilities that will enable their workforce to perform at their most optimal level. The desire to get the basics in place in preparation for the advent of technologies like the Internet of Things is also playing a role in this growing movement to consider comprehensive Facilities Management Solutions. In our own way, we hope to able to drive this consideration in the right direction!
The configuration and customization services are an area we are equally excited about – perhaps a bit of personal history plays a role there. As I’ve mentioned, I have had the pleasure of working on ARCHIBUS for a long time now, but the same is true of many of the other folks here at Crestere too. Looking around me I see a bunch of people with 5 or more years with the product. We’ve had, individually as well as collectively, some interesting times in the past while implementing ARCHIBUS in corporates, universities, and government organizations across the UK and Europe. I remember in the late 90’s when we had, possibly for the first time ever, used handheld devices for tracking assets, space utilization and the like. This was the time of the Compaq Pocket PCs, clumsy by today’s standards, but this was really cutting edge at the time. I’m sure this solution, and maybe others like it, played a role in me receiving a Top Gun award from ARCHIBUS in 2001. While the award did not provoke me to take to the skies, ala Tom Cruise, it did drive an abiding interest in the mobile-enablement of ARCHIBUS. Developing the mobile apps that significantly extend the reach, and the utility of the ARCHIBUS solution is something we have continued to focus on in the time since.
This association is a matter of pride for us. ARCHIBUS is the #1 provider of real estate, infrastructure and facilities management solutions in the world, present in nearly 200 countries. They claim that over 8,000,000 users manage over 18,000,000 buildings using the solutions and that they save an estimated $ 100 billion per year while doing so. No wonder they figure prominently in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Integrated Workplace Management Solutions. We believe the opportunity an association with ARCHIBUS presents for us is huge, and that with our experience we are well placed to make the most of it. That apart – it’s also great to join hands with old friends!