The rise of data-driven Corporate Real Estate Management | ABN AMRO Case Study

In recent years, ABN AMRO has gone through a process of change in many ways. This has also affected the facility services that the bank provides. A strong focus on the collection and application of data has made it possible for the facilities department to transform itself from a cost centre to a value centre.

The global financial sector has to deal with increased digitisation of banking affairs and the emergence of disruptive players who are competing with the more traditional providers in the market.

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As a consequence, many of the local bank offices in the Netherlands (including ABN AMRO branches) have been closed or merged. At the same time, more and more employees are concentrated in the head office located in the Zuidas business district in Amsterdam. “Bank accommodations have grown a great deal more complex for facility management,” confirms Mark van Rijt, Managing Director of Facility Management at ABN AMRO. “By now, we have twice the number of people working than the office was originally intended for! You can imagine that this places a heavy burden on our shoulders to ensure that everyone can still achieve the most optimal performance in a pleasant working environment.”

Mark van Rijt on how this has affected building management at ABN AMRO:

By now, we have twice the number of people working than the office was originally intended for!

Mark van Rijt

Fluid working environments

In addition to the high occupancy rates, Van Rijt also notices a trend in which local offices and headquarters are playing a more prominent role in business processes again.

“The concept of flexible occupancy rates up to 60% based on The New Way of Working has been left behind us. Newly introduced Agile working methods like Scrum involve completely different parameters in the working environment. Interdisciplinary teams are now used that can change their composition at the drop of a hat. From a facility management perspective, we are therefore required to come up with flexible solutions, so we can implement fluid working environments that basically adapt to the needs of our employees.”

‘We are pro-actively gathering questions from the business and then handing solutions back to them. Our added value can be found in the fact that we bring together all facilities data and can draw from that when we want to solve a specific issue in the business.’

Read how ABN AMRO leverages space utilization data to optimize building management

In the full ABN AMRO case study, we discuss how ABN AMRO created a significant backlog on tactical and operational level by leveraging the data. Several clear cut practical examples of the application of the data are shared. important to realize is that it does not have to take long to achieve results. We spoke with Diedrik Broekman, Head of Business Intelligence FM: “We are pro-actively gathering questions from the business and then handing solutions back to them. Our added value can be found in the fact that we bring together all facilities data and can draw from that when we want to solve a specific issue in the business.”

While decommissioning space is a very tangible result, the use cases your organization benefits from can vary depending on its growth and the overall company goals. Some examples of use cases in which space utilization data plays a key role in are validating workplace strategies, right-sizing meeting rooms and accommodating growth. Real and continuous utilization data, used in relation to space planning, presents a major opportunity to validate and work on these strategies. And it makes getting senior leadership buy-in a whole lot easier.

“We are therefore required to come up with flexible solutions, so we can implement fluid working environments that basically adapt to the needs of our employees.’‘