Abstract
During 1988 it became apparent that a radical re-think of the way IBM United Kingdom Ltd utilised its property portfolio was required. Working patterns had been changing at an increasing rate, notably with regard to the emerging use of home and customer site terminals and the increasing importance of mobile telephones and technology. All of these changes were allowing the salesman or systems engineer to spend more time with their customers. At the same time increasing occupancy costs were highlighting that after salaries, IBM’s largest single overhead was the combined rent, rate and operating cost of its property portfolio. As the changing patterns of work and increasing occupancy costs were being observed, continual development in the size and power of home and office technology had transformed previous assumptions. IBM was therefore able to identify an opportunity to combine the updating of its own technology with a radical re-think of its use of office space, home working and customer site work. The way this was to be implemented would make real changes in its total property portfolio with implications for the next decade and beyond. Most important of all it would make substantial productivity gains available to increase the company’s competitiveness and profitability. Between 1989 and 1991 IBM United Kingdom Ltd introduced a method of working known in IBM as SMART, which stands for Space Morale And Remote Technology. The author of this paper was IBM Property’s Project Manager for a number of SMART projects prior to the spinning-off of IBM’s Project Management, Consulting Services and Facilities Management groups to form the independent company Procord Ltd. © 1992, MCB UP Limited