Assessing corporate space needs pays off for Planon - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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Planon Inc.’s Web-based software enables large companiexs to manage their realestat portfolios, determining how much spacs a company really needs and calculating the real estate savingsx of creating more mobile workforces that allo consolidation of properties or leases. As companies focuz on cost-cutting across balancde sheets, Planon executives say reducing property and plant costsbecomes “If you look at a company’s balancse sheet, the second biggesyt expense can be property, planft and equipment,” said Jim senior vice president of sales and “It’s a savings to companies that actually does not cut payroll.
” Throughb modeling with Planon’s a company can develo flexible space for those remote It also identifies spacse unused by divisions that may have downsized or consolidated. By optimizinf the space it has, a company can eliminate the need to builc new space or prompt divestment ofunused space. “Giving upper management a cleare view of space acrosx their entire portfolio leads to some surprising Nauen said. The cost savings to property ownersd is translating into revenue growth forthe company. Last it grew total sales nearly 20 percentto $41.8 millio with software sales making up 50 perceng of U.S. revenue.
The balance of salesw were of consulting services and which the Braintreeofficee performs. Nauen said the company is profitable. Analystz say companies competing in this known as integrated workplace management are poised to benefit from softness in the commercialp realestate market. “Whenever we’r e in a situation where there’s a fair amount of turmoik in highlyfixed assets, the management of those componentse becomes very important,” said Jack vice president of researcbh at Stamford, Conn.-based Founded 25 years ago by CEO Pierr Guelen in the Netherlands, Planonn established its U.S. headquarters in Braintree threeyears ago.
The company has about 15 employeeas locally and expects to grow head coun by five to seveb employees by the end ofthe year, Naue said. The company’s strategy has been to use its platforj to allow companies to manage various aspects of a real estat eportfolio — not just space management, but project development management, maintenance schedules, and, most recently, an application to managde sustainability initiatives. While the company has customers acrosswthe globe, Planon expecta North American companies, specifically ones with more than 1,009 employees, to fuel short-termm growth. It already counts , and regionak bank BB&T Corp. as customers.
Heine said thesee companies are ones that most need specific software to managewreal estate. “If you have maybe four or five then you might be able to manage it on a Heine said. “When you star to talk about largeoffice complexes, it requirez a special solution.” The market for certain aspects of real estatd management, specifically financial asset is dominated by large technology companies such as SAP AG and Planon’w software competes with dozens of other smalll vendors to provide spacr management software to companies and property managers.