Regardless of the industry, it is important to have an office that supports the life of the company's work culture. Sometimes, the way documents are processed can get in the way of a staffer's overall output for the day.
Recognizing these weaknesses is the first step toward to managing upcoming projects like an office-wide renovation for example. Understanding the work patterns of colleagues in advance can influence the way shared work space is set up as well as the business process software that these staffers may need.
CBRE, one of the world's largest commercial real estate firms in the world, decided to revamp its Los Angeles headquarters. How the the company changed its layout led it to become a more paperless office.
When less than 20 percent of the workspace had stations that were equipped with the technology employees needed in order to work with one another, CBRE realized it needed a change, keeping electronic integration in mind, LA Downtown News explained.
"We found that 51 percent of the time, people aren't in their seats," CBRE Executive Managing Director Lewis Horne said during a discussion on the new office. "We were also out of space because everyone owned their own bit of real estate in the office."
Now, staffers can choose where they want to conduct meetings and daily tasks. Through the use of laptops and electronic document management programs, everyone has the flexibility to share information without making photocopies of contracts and strategy plans.
CBRE's new setup may be a huge jump from the typical corporate office environment with cubicles and walls, but a majority of employees enjoy this new workflow. No one is longer limited to their collection of paperwork because it is stored on a secure network instead.