As a member of Corenet Global, the world’s leading association for corporate real estate and workplace professionals, service providers and economic developers, I thought you might be interested in a few of the initial results from the first in a series of global conversations that we are conducting with our members around the world about how business changes by the year 2020 will shape corporate real estate. Highlights include:

New forms of technology

• Hand-held devices will allow for “collaboration in the pocket” any time, any place. Tablets and cell phones will bring even greater mobility to work.
• The computing function will continue its trend to be outsourced to the cloud, but IT support will get more involved in support of hand-held devices (phone and tablet) as these grow as a primary method of doing work.
• Workers will be encouraged to “BYOT” (bring your own technology) to work, further blurring the distinction between personal and business technologies.

Shifts in manufacturing

• There will be a resurgence of manufacturing in the US, mainly through regional operations and reverse foreign direct investment as the spread narrows between the benefits of China (low wages, available labor) and the US (more people willing to accept lower wages, fewer benefits).

Changing energy sources

• At the portfolio level, corporate occupiers will become producers and consumers of energy through fuel cells, wind turbines, and solar panels. As some move off the grid, new revenue streams may be realized.
• Power will increasingly come from micro-grids that lessen reliance on centralized delivery of electricity.
• Wireless power, delivered in Ethernet fashion could also become a reality.

How and where people work

• 40% of workers in developed countries and 20% in emerging countries are expected to work remotely at least part of the time.
• Work will go to people as opposed to people going to work due to increased leverage of personal technology.
• ROI on people will be more important than ROI on facilities and property.

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