ithin days of this issue arriving at your address, many in the U.S. and elsewhere will be noting with sadness and anger the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. What a different world we are in, and have been in for the last five years. It doesn’t seem so long ago that one could walk to the gate of an arriving flight – with a water bottle in hand, no less – to greet friends and relatives as they deplaned. Those days are gone.
But what has changed in the corporate real estate profession and, more specifically, in our organizations? I wrote my first Editor’s View column, which ran in our November 2001 issue, in the weeks following the attacks, while debris was still smoldering in New York’s financial district and our Armed Forces were preparing a military response to the attacks. It was clear then that things had changed for corporate real estate and facilities managers – for pretty much any industry anywhere for that matter.
At this five-year mark, and with the specter of additional terrorist attacks never far away, it might be a good idea to pause and consider whether we, as people managers and portfolio managers and as organizations, have done all we can to mitigate risk associated with the post-9/11 world.
Following are some questions to raise with colleagues or just to think about as time permits; having concrete answers to as many as possible could make a big difference to the people we share work space with and to the assets you manage.
• How did my organization respond to the events of 9/11 in the corporate real estate context? What new policies and procedures were adopted? Is everyone familiar with them who needs to be? Are they still valid, or do they need to be revisited in 2006? Does my staff know the drill for handling a crisis – terrorist or otherwise – involving a company facility?
• With respect to physical plants and other workspace,
are managers of remote operations getting the same level of risk-mitigation resources that the headquarters or primary plants get? How will those managers communicate in the event of a communications failure? What’s the backup?
• Within the past five years, has my corporate real estate operation made sure that all critical facilities in the portfolio have redundant systems in another location to which key applications can be transferred if necessary?
• Has my department put forth to senior management a clear and feasible disaster-recovery plan for each major facility in the portfolio? Has the plan been approved? Do I have the resources to implement it? Is the plan even mine to manage? Is everyone clear about who does what in the wake of a disaster, natural or otherwise?
This is exactly the type of topic that ought to be discussed with co-workers and with peers in the corporate real estate profession – as was the case at a recent IAMC Professional Forum. Perhaps it’s an area for some meaningful “best-practices” thought to be applied. Perhaps the answers are too organization-specific.
In any case, be safe.
Till next time,
Mark Arend
P.S. As time permits, let me know your thoughts on some of these questions. We plan to make space available on our Web site where readers can learn from others in the industry about how they handle these important matters. Stay tuned.