Michael Jordan's Weblog

People think that our coporate real estate function (CRE) at Sun ("Workplace Resources") is about acquiring or disposing of office space, keeping the offices clean, stocking the breakrooms with coffee, that kind of thing. But it's so much more!

This posting is one in a series where I'll be addressing this topic of "What else is there?"

Let me start by talking about access. One of the key responsibilities that a CRE function has is where to put people. I've talked a little about this in the context of impact on local economic development. Internally, the over-arching value proposition (the "CTQ" as we say in Six Sigma) is access: Access to talent such as top notch software engineers in St. Petersburg, access to customers and partners in important markets, even access to proximate and remote development environments for research.

Making these decisions about what goes where most cost effectively is complex and high-impact. It requires knowledge about local economies, strong partnering across the business and with human resources, IT, and other corporate functions.

If you are in CRE today and are still talking to your business customers about "square feet per person" and other real estate metrics, it's time to wake up. Access is a much more important discussion.