Outsourcing for corporate real estate managers: How can real estate learn lessons from other industries?

Outsourcing is a mechanism which has transformed the delivery of facilities management, logistics, IT and other services to today's corporations. This paper looks at the reasons behind the rise and rise of outsourcing and its applicability to Real Estate services and concludes that much remains to be done, both by customers and suppliers, before the market will work efficiently. In particular, poor processes, inadequate measurement and inappropriate reward structures need to be addressed. However, there have been some successful case studies in Real Estate, and the market is sure to grow. Triggers for outsourcing are discussed, and lessons are drawn from more mature outsourcing markets (IT, logistics etc) that should help those contemplating Real Estate outsourcing to overcome most of the major risks.