Delivering more with less : How can property contribute

Rising property costs, challenging economic conditions and tightening budgets can put organisations under significant pressure to deliver more with less.  So, how can a property portfolio best respond to this?

Achieving financial objectives in this environment requires clarity, precision and the ability to make informed decisions quickly.  If your organisation is facing these challenges, the good news is that the right framework can provide the insights you need to respond effectively and efficiently . 

Here’s an example of how you could tackled this situation, turning complex problems into actionable solutions.

The Challenge

Your executive team has set ambitious new financial parameters, requiring immediate budget cuts. At the same time, rising property costs, compounded by inflation, threaten to derail the portfolio.  The Portfolio Managers need to make tough decisions fast, but are struggling to understand how to balance cost-cutting with maintaining long-term strategic goals.

This is a common challenge faced by many senior leaders today. The key is understanding where the opportunities are, how to track the impact of proposed changes and how to pivot quickly when things don’t go as planned.

STEP ONE

Build a clear perspective of the status quo 

The first step in addressing this challenge is to understand the property expenditure and income parameters of the portfolio.  This provides a picture against which to asses any changes.  Experience has shown us that a “portfolio on a page” that can be shared with the leadership team, gives the organisation a perspective that allows them to see “the-wood-for-the-trees”. 

STEP TWO

What should be included in a “portfolio on a page”

These metrics need to resonate with the leadership team and identify how the portfolio helps deliver the organisations wider goals and objectives.  It’s about understanding the contribution the portfolio makes to the business.  What parts of the portfolio are enablers that allow the organisation to achieve its business goals and more importantly which aren’t.  

STEP 3

Scenario planning and sensitivity analysis – a “what if analysis

To truly understand the potential of achieving savings, it’s crucial to be able to undertake scenario planning and sensitivity analysis. With the right tools, you can model different budget revision scenarios and assess their financial impact. By identifying the potential consequences of various changes, you can make more informed decisions that balance short-term savings with long-term portfolio performance.

STEP 4

Engage with the business – no black holes 

All too often property can be viewed as black hole by an organisation.  This can result in cynicism and criticism of property budgets and proposals.  To obtain the buy-in of senior leaders, you need to be able to present scenarios and options live, using real-time data.  A rigorous property tool where you can respond to any questions live is the key to this engagement with the business and the senior leadership team.  This enables you to run scenarios live and benchmark sites against the KPI’s established in Stage 2.  

This kind of functionality gives your leadership team the confidence to pivot, without having to wait days of analysis. It turns meetings into actionable moments, giving real-time feedback on what changes will deliver the desired results.

STEP 5

Activity to deliver results

With your portfolio information at hand, you are now empowered to optimise your portfolio, delivering results for your organisation.  Changes to a portfolio will require step-by-step actions and co-ordination with both internal and external parties.  A well-developed property tool allows you to track progress, monitor delivery and report on the portfolio as required.  

The Outcome

This approach you will be empowered to:

  • Achieve new financial parameters: The executive team will have confidence that all opportunities for savings have been explored and analysed.  Savings can be made while still maintaining portfolio health so that it is fit for purpose. 
  • Identify opportunities for efficiencies: Properties that are falling below KPI’s are flagged for review, enabling evaluation of their value to the organisation, .
  • Drive action that delivers: Having identified the opportunities your platform needs to help you deliver them. Opportunities are of little value unless they are actioned.  
  • Metrics that deliver for your organisation:   Portfolio KPI’s become integral to the ongoing management of the property portfolio, ensuring that the right targets are continually at the front of mind and continuously tracked.
  • Future Proof – Respond to changing dynamics.  As the operations of the business evolve and change you now have a tool that monitors the value you are deriving from each site and will help you identify future revision, rationalisation and resource reallocation opportunities

In the end, this will not only help with financial targets, but also lays the foundation for a more strategic, metric driven approach to property management moving forward.

By using the right tools and processes, organisations can make smarter, more confident decisions that align with both short-term goals and long-term strategic vision.

Is your organisation ready to leverage the power of tools and processes to unlock better property decisions? Start developing your optimal property platform with the help of TwentyTwo, because when it comes to making the optimal property decisions, having the right information at the right time and streamlining your processes is the key to unlocking opportunities and savings.

Author

Don Smith

Principal
Director, Commercial & Innovation

Property-tech innovator and solution-finder. Don has 30+ years of property experience and a passion for…
Date
29 January 2025

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