Daily Reports Direct from the CoreNet Global San Antonio Summit Wednesday, November 10 9:00 am – 10:30 am Closing General Session Corporate Real Estate 2010 Is "On Point" Daniel Burrus, Technotrends author For members of CoreNet Global, the future is visible thanks to Corporate Real Estate 2010. Almost as if he was setting the pretext for the merger of Kmart and Sears that would follow the week after, futurist and technologist Daniel Burrus closed the San Antonio Global Summit by commending CoreNet Global for promoting real estate as a strategic asset and for the association’s collaborative approach to enabling work in the networked world. "The future of this association is actually amazing if we continue to share out stories with other and share the knowledge," Burrus commented at the November 10 closing session about CoRE 2010, CoreNet Global’s industry-leading research initiative on the virtual workplace and how the strategic integration of corporate support services will drive the business models of the future. "What is the strategic vision of us," asked Burrus, regarded as a master of harnessing technology to solve business problems. "Is it that of integration?" He then pointed to the new line of 11 CoRE 2010 research reports covering key areas like integrated infrastructure, portfolio optimization, service delivery models, sustainability and corporate social responsibility. "I’ve had a chance to look at it (the new research reports), and I’m liking what I see. Actually, I think it’s on point . . . There are so many great examples of people who are changing their roles within out ranks right now." Burrus, who wrote the best-selling book Technotrends, explained how CoRE 2010 can help corporate real estate professionals visualize the future, saying that efforts like CoRE 2010 predict permanent and not cyclical changes. "The visible future is readable through soft and hard trends. You don’t want to bet your future on a soft trend." An example of a hard trend is outsourcing while a soft trend below it is offshoring, he cited. Offshoring practices may be controversial in the current context but they will ebb and flow over time. Outsourcing, however, represents both a permanent change in how companies operate and an opportunity for professionals to advance their careers by understanding it. On the other hand, another hard trend – the retirement of the Baby Boom generation – will not only help to feed outsourcing, it should really be read as a re-engagement of this demographic mega-group due to the need for older workers to remain in the workforce, Burrus advised as he chuckled at the prospect of many Boomers’ plans to retire in the traditional sense. "Your future view will determine the future: you. How you view the future shapes the way we act today. How you act today shapes your future." Part of that behavior for future success is opportunism, practicing a sort of ‘carpe diem’ philosophy where everyone’s future roles are "up for grabs," Burrus continued. "The future is not one thing, it’s many things . . . like integration (of business support services). If we don’t do it, someone else will. At this point in time, you have a choice (of being the first to define new business integration models). At some point in time, you will not have a choice. Someone else will have done that, and I’d just as soon see you do it." Turning to CoRE 2010, he asked, "What’s your future view of your profession, of what you do?" Keeping the focus on the concept of business integration, he emphasized, "I am excited about your future when I hear words like globalization and convergence – convergence of industries and roles; convergence of IT, HR, Real Estate, Facilities Management and other things. What we’re talking about is really an integrated approach, not a ‘silo’ approach, working together for a strategic goal." CoRE 2010 is a tool to shape and act on how members and other industry professionals treat the future. "Give me a new tool and I’ll change the world," he added, stressing the importance of open knowledge sharing as reflected in the CoRE 2010 partnership with many of the world’s leading companies. "It’s the sharing of the story, it’s the sharing of the knowledge that makes us strong. Knowledge increases in value when it’s shared." Professionals will need a skill set exceeding real estate to survive and thrive against this backdrop of continuous change, a CoRE 2010 theme that did not escape Burrus’ pervasive view. "If we’re seen as a cost to be controlled, as a service, then we don’t have a seat at the table; we’re not part of the key strategic plan. As we facilitate this (emergence of) virtual workspace combined with the real tangible workplace, we’re managing a ‘both/and’ world of virtual workspace and a tangible physical workspace. How do those really come together? Is there someone who’s helping to bring them together? I’m saying, ‘That’s us.’"