“We selected Lucernex because we wanted a product that could handle lease administration as part of a complete store lifecycle solution on one platform”, said Steve DeMott, Director – Application Development and Support. “The Lucernex implementation methodology offers easy to use tool sets that give us the flexibility to make the system our own”.

“We are very happy to have Helzberg Diamonds as a client“, said Mike Nuzum, Chairman and CEO of Lucernex. “We believe using Lx Retail to manage their real estate portfolio will help them cut costs and mitigate risk while empowering them to grow”.

In addition to replacing their existing lease administration and rent accounting solution, REM, in preparation for the FASB rules changes, Helzberg will be utilizing all other modules of the Lx Retail platform including Market Analysis, Site Selection, Project Management, Facility Management and Capital Project Management.

Ken Brown, EVP and CIO of Lucernex stated, “The Helzberg management and staff are experts in real estate management. They will benefit from using Lx Retail and Lucernex will benefit from having them as a client and partner.”

Implementation of the Lx Retail solution will begin in May of 2012.

About Helzberg Diamonds, Inc.
Helzberg Diamonds®, a retail and online jewelry store focused on customer service, was founded in 1915 and has more than 230 stores nationwide, featuring a wide selection of fine jewelry, including diamond engagement rings and wedding rings, precious gems and watches. Helzberg Diamonds takes pride in its history of offering exceptional value, exclusive designs and timeless jewelry. Helzberg Diamonds is based in North Kansas City, Mo., and is part of the Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (NYSE symbol BRK/B) family of companies. For the locations nearest you, call 1-800-HELZBERG (800-435-9237) or visit http://www.helzberg.com.

About Lucernex
Founded in 2000, Lucernex Technologies provides retail real estate professionals with powerful cloud-based solutions to manage the store lifecycle. All Lucernex solutions were designed “by retailers for retailers” and can manage any size portfolio of leased and owned properties. Fortune 500 companies in the corporate real estate, hospitality and retail industries use Lucernex Technologies solutions every day to ensure compliance, mitigate risk and empower effective growth. As an innovative leader in retail real estate solutions, Lucernex continues to grow its customer base by applying its Web-based software expertise and real estate development insight to provide advanced tools and services for business. For more information, please visit www.lucernex.com.
# # #

Lucernex began supporting many features on mobile devices in early 2011 working with one of our large retail clients as a development partner. With our 9.1.2 release we will officially support iPads for all end-user features, even document downloading and viewing.

Lx Retail Mobile is NOT an APP that offers a limited set of features. Instead it provides support for use of our complete, standard solution and ALL end user features through a mobile browser.

A few benefits Lucernex end users have discovered using Lx Retail Mobile:

• View and update info on any page from the field
• Review workflow and task alerts and complete work on site
• Find and enter new sites from the field
• Download and view CAD drawings and, with AutoCAD WS, even annotate and redline
• Review location information on site
• Run models and negotiate with landlords on site
• View and download photos and documents from anywhere (upload coming soon)
• Complete a maintenance ticket, including data and photos, from the store

Lucernex will be providing iPad based demos of Lx Retail Mobile at ICSC Recon 2012 at booth #1208.

About Lucernex
Founded in 2000, Lucernex Technologies provides retail real estate professionals with powerful cloud-based solutions to manage the store lifecycle. All Lucernex solutions were designed “by retailers for retailers” and can manage any size portfolio of leased and owned properties. Fortune 500 companies in the corporate real estate, hospitality and retail industries use Lucernex Technologies solutions every day to ensure compliance, mitigate risk and empower effective growth. As an innovative leader in retail real estate solutions, Lucernex continues to grow its customer base by applying its Web-based software expertise and real estate development insight to provide advanced tools and services for business. For more information, please visit www.lucernex.com.

# # #

The project included a complete client product configuration and data conversion from a client / server legacy system (SLIM).  Implementation also included extensive testing and training.

“We chose Lucernex to replace SLIM to get us on a modern lease administration platform.  We also like the fast performance of Lx Contracts and high quality service of Lucernex’s implementation team.” said Kathy Backman, Lease & Licensing Manager, “Jim and the Lucernex team were very knowledgeable about retailers lease administration needs, which made them very easy to work with.”

“The imminent FASB rule changes will substantially alter the way retailers account for their leases”, said Jim Short, Lucernex’ Director of Client Services, “We enjoyed helping Buffalo Wild Wings replace their legacy system and prepare for the FASB changes”. Jim has implemented hundreds of lease administration systems in his 15+ years of experience and is now focused on converting retailers from their outdated legacy lease administration systems to Lx Contracts.

Ken Brown, former CEO of the National Facilities Group and the creator of SLIM, designed Lx Contracts to be the next generation of Lease Administration solutions for the retail industry, capable of managing all of the changes likely to be implemented due to the new FASB rules.

About Lucernex
Founded in 2000, Lucernex Technologies provides retail real estate professionals with powerful cloud-based solutions to manage the store lifecycle. All Lucernex solutions were designed “by retailers for retailers” and can manage any size portfolio of leased and owned properties. Fortune 500 companies in the corporate real estate, hospitality and retail industries use Lucernex Technologies solutions every day to ensure compliance, mitigate risk and empower effective growth. As an innovative leader in retail real estate solutions, Lucernex continues to grow its customer base by applying its Web-based software expertise and real estate development insight to provide advanced tools and services for business. For more information, please visit www.lucernex.com.

Time, Resources, Processes, and Impact … New Systems, New Rules … More SOX!

Some people refer to the moment in time when everything is finally laid out before them by all their constituents and the pieces all finally fall into place as an “Aha Moment.” That “Moment” is closer than you think; that moment is NOW!

Take the typical 14-month cycle presented in graphic below. This represents a major project implementation when no time constraints are imposed and no additional resources are provided. In terms of a project to enact change to meet the FASB rule changes, this would mean that with the two (2) prior years financial statements needing to be reported, i.e. 2014 and 2013, a project kick-off date of October 2011 would have been ideal.

As of this date, we are more than six (6) months past the aforementioned kick-off date, and hence in the middle of any “ideal” implementation window regardless of whether 2015 or 2016 is the effective date.

While the final details of the regulation are still unknown there has always been a limited, if not large, set of data associated with leases. The data challenges of a new lease management system have always been known, however, the methodology of the calculations associated with the new lease reporting rules have been the moving target.

We are clearly aware of certain inherent aspects of the Right-Of-Use model that has been proposed, therefore:
1) Your balance sheet will increase, with more dollars going to Liabilities on an ongoing basis.

2) Through improved lease design, data collection on ALL active leases, and software selection the transition and going-forward effects can be managed so they are minimally impactful.
   a. Take the space over as late as possible, have the landlord build it.
   b. Have all service related costs specifically identified in dollars.
   c. While upgrading your system, review and audit leases, to capture possible over billings.
   d. Mitigate liability impacts by choosing a lower discount rate, lowering interest costs.

3) A flexible and effective cloud based system that is SSAE 16 compliant, will:
   a. Better enable SOX compliance
   b. Lower compliance and hardware costs
   c. Go-live FAST to get your systems ready in time

4) Allow new processes to be implemented in departments, to streamline and take full advantage of new system features. Consider a complete Store Lifecycle Management system with rent accounting at its core.

5) Evaluate and measure quickly after system implementation; find enterprise related impacts through active modeling and forecasting.

These points are important in establishing a process framework for successful project execution and enterprise alignment. That alignment will enable a swift transition, improved processes, and a competitive advantage.

Shameless Plug

Lucernex has been on top of the upcoming FASB changes from the very beginning with members of our staff staying abreast of every phase of the board actions. Lx Contracts, the Lease Administration and Rent Accounting Module of Lx Retail, was the FIRST product updated to meet the expected standards back in late 2010 with an update to our FASB financial engine and Lucernex continues to update the product with each release as the eventual rules become more and more clear.

Lucernex has been recognized as the leader in transitioning retailers from legacy lease administration systems to our market leading cloud based lease administration solution, Lx Contracts. Learn more about our Legacy Lease Administration Upgrade Program.

Get Ready in 2013 so you can report in 2015

The FASB/IASB Leases Project has gone on, perhaps even dragged on, more than most of us could have expected. Now with the 2nd Exposure Draft (ED), which was originally expected in the 2nd Quarter of 2011, not due until the 2nd half of 2012 one might be lulled in to a false sense of passive inaction. This would be a mistake!

As companies report their financial performance using comparative statements, typically the two (2) years prior, this means an effective date for the new regulations of 2015 requires data collection and analysis to begin in 2013.

The mere fact that a 2nd ED is forthcoming means a final decision is coming quite soon.

The Good

• Renewals are excluded, unless they have a significant economic benefit
• Percentage Rent is out
• Leases under one (1) year are out
• Service costs are out if the lease quantifies the exact dollar amount

The Unavoidable

• The reporting model will be based on a Right-of-Use model and hence the values will be capitalized on to the balance sheet of a company
• Real Estate leases are traditionally structured with free rent and escalating rent, hence their valuation will have an interest component and likely be front loaded

The Issues

• Missing Data, but since a lease is a lease is a lease, if you use a good lease or re-engineer your existing lease today, then we can collect all necessary data now
• Transition, without all the data for ALL the leases the result will be that no option will exist on which transition method you can use and hence the financial impact cannot be moderated, by choosing the best method

Our recommendations are to engage with vendors and suppliers in the know; develop an internal team; integrate your internal and external teams and have them determine your existing processes, infrastructure weaknesses, and develop re-engineered procedures; and, finally, prepare and execute an action plan that has minimal impacts involving re-stating (re-calculating) data that was not addressed in 2013.

Shameless Plug

Lucernex has been on top of the upcoming FASB changes from the very beginning with members of our staff staying abreast of every phase of the board actions. Lx Contracts, the Lease Administration and Rent Accounting Module of Lx Retail, was the FIRST product updated to meet the expected standards back in late 2010 with an update to our FASB financial engine and Lucernex continues to update the product with each release as the eventual rules become more and more clear.

Lucernex has been recognized as the leader in transitioning retailers from legacy lease administration systems to our market leading cloud based lease administration solution, Lx Contracts. Learn more about our Legacy Lease Administration Upgrade Program.

Can you believe it has only been two years since Apple introduced the first iPad?¹

The use of tablet computers has rapidly increased since Apple released the first iPad in 2010. Gartner predicts that almost 119 million Tablets will be sold in 2012 and over 665 million will be in use by 2016.²

This trend is already beginning to impact retail real estate development and that impact will grow dramatically as Tablets become more and more ubiquitous.

Retail store lifecycle management requires a large amount of fieldwork due to the geographical dispersion of assets. Tablets, therefore, are an ideal solution for many real estate professionals who spend a great deal of their time on the road.

Every phase of the store lifecycle can benefit from Tablet use, which will drive faster and better site selection, improved project construction performance, more cost effective capital project management, quicker and cheaper maintenance management and an overall improvement in all cross lifecycle workflows.

Examples of how Tablets improve retail store lifecycle management include:

1. Perform a quick site and market demographics analysis using GPS gathered from the Tablet on location.
2. Quickly submit a new site from the field by submitting the GPS coordinates of your location.
3. Complete a site survey while standing on the site using an online form in real time with all required field as well as quick uploads of photos.
4. Update project schedules at the project site while you are having a status meeting or while walking the site.
5. Review drawings, forms, photos on site. Whether the site is under construction or in operation, have real time access to all location information.
6. Upload documents, photos and more from any location using the Tablet camera.
7. Complete forms and work flows at a location; any forms or workflows that need your attention can be done from the field.

These are just a few examples of potential benefits from Tablet computers for the retail real estate industry; there are hundreds more. While uptake of Tablets into retail real estate organizations has been minimal to date, it is happening. And, those organizations that are using them are already seeing huge benefits from using them.

Benefits our users have experienced using Tablets and Lx Retail include:

1. Increased productivity. Field staff no longer have to return to the office for days to enter data collected in the field. This means 20%-30% more time looking for and securing sites or managing projects.
2. Decreased errors. Data is real time, even data collected a few minutes ago at a site, project or store. Working with the most up to date data means fewer errors.
3. Faster completion of work flows. One of the biggest technology challenges for any solution has been collecting data quickly from field staff who often slow down workflows while others wait. Allowing them to complete tasks and update data from the field means ALL workflows get done faster and ALL processes go faster.
4. Increased utilization of the technology. Providing access anywhere at any time, has made uptake of the software by more people go far faster. This benefits all in the organization as the data in the technology become more and more real-time and valuable.
5. Decreased cost. The combination of Tablets and Cloud technology means lower IT cost and faster performance.

Why haven’t more organizations switched to Tablets? Challenges include:

1. Security. When someone carries a Tablet into the field they take intellectual property with them. And, Tablets, unlike many laptops, have limited ability to be secured as part of an organizations network infrastructure. The introduction of Windows based tablets in 2012, which allow IT organizations to extend their security easily to a Tablet, should help this issue. Many are also working to find effective ways to secure iPads.
2. Bandwidth. Many tablets rely on Wifi connection but even those that can also utilize cellular connections may not get a great connection from many locations. The introduction of 4G into many Tablets in 2012 plus the rapid roll out of 4G networks by the cellular carries should improve bandwidth substantially.
3. Learning curve. The two dominant Tablet platforms, iPads with iOS and Android tablets (Android OS) are different than a MAC or a PC. They use gesture-based navigation and have different tools and utilities. While Tablets are really much simpler to use than a PC or MAC, they still take some getting used.
4. Things you can’t do. Tablets provide features and functionality that no MAC or PC can. They also lack many features. For example, I love my tablet and take it on trips, but if I need to work on a complex spreadsheet or write up a blog, I prefer to use a MAC or PC for the extended features and large physical keyboard. Many tablets now offer use of Bluetooth keyboards which help, but the spreadsheets on most Tablets are not capable of doing many things a full version of Excel can.

Shameless Plug

Lucernex began limited support of Tablets for our Lx Retail and Lx Contracts products in late 2010 and have since launched a very large restaurant client using iPads across the entire lifecycle. In 2012 we have extending our support of Tablets with a Tablet friendly interface and support for ALL areas of our system for iPads and Android Tablets. We also plan to support Microsoft 8 Tablets in 2013. Many of our clients understand the potential value of Tablets in their development and operations and we expect a large uptick in Tablet-based use in 2012.

References
¹ Wikipedia – History of Tablet Computers
² Techcrunch, April 2012. Apple Of Our Eye: Gartner Predicts 665 Million Tablets In Use By 2016, Over 45% Of Them iPad Devices

What is IWMS anyway?
IWMS? It’s Location! Location! Location!
The Power of Location Management
IWMS – Why so expensive?
Real Estate in the “Cloud”
How Capital Project Management fits in an IWMS
What makes one IWMS easier to implement than another?

Risks of upgrading Lease Administration Software alone or as part of an IWMS

Dallas, TX (March 9, 2012) – In a Software Advice article from March 8th by Ashley Halligan, Joseph Valeri (see Joe’s management summary here), President and COO of Lucernex Technologies, discusses the differences between the most common software solutions in the maintenance and facility management markets and the business challenges they address.

Read the article here

I recently wrote a new whitepaper detailing the progression of technology within the corporate real estate industry. The image below provides a summary of that history. This blog focuses on the newest technology, tablet computing, and how it’s already impacting retail real estate productivity.

Cloud computing is gaining rapid acceptance due to its ability to provide dramatic IT savings almost immediately. Even more important is HOW end users utilize Cloud systems. Many real estate end users spend most of their time in the field. As a result, there is a rapidly growing need to use tablet computers, such as iPads, as the primary input device. Since products that are NOT delivered in the Cloud have trouble running on a tablet, many software providers opt for building custom smart phone apps. Due to the small screen size and limited capability, these types of apps provide a very limited amount of functionality and are typically targeted at one purpose, such as entering basic data for a work order.

Cloud-delivered solutions, on the other hand, are ideally suited for use on tablet computers. Instead of having to build custom apps for a smart phone, Cloud providers can deliver their entire application via a tablet without having to build any custom products. The SVP of Real Estate for a large specialty retail chain recently told me that using tablets will allow him to keep his team in the field 5 days a week instead of 3 ½. Doing that would mean they would not only find more sites, but they would have a better chance of locking up the best sites.

Using tablet computers offers many advantages to corporate real estate professionals. A few examples include:

• Field professionals can stay in the field 100% of the time without having to return to an office to enter data collected in the field.

• Data collection in the field can be done directly into a Cloud based system avoiding the rework associated with writing all data down on paper and then entering it later. The screen size of the tablet allows users to enter entire forms easily.

• The tablet computers GPS locator can be accessed by a Cloud application and used to provide the real estate professional data in the field in real-time.

• Photos can be taken on the tablet computer; this is also an advantage for field uses of construction project management and facilities management applications.

• A tablet computers screen is large enough to effectively review documents from the field.

It is important to note that Software-as-a-Service or SaaS solutions are not necessarily Cloud delivered solutions. Many SaaS providers have not invested the substantial time and dollars required to move their solution into the Cloud. See our blog discussing the differences between SaaS and the Cloud.

It is expected that most retailers will be purchasing new systems in 2012 and 2013 to be able to process transactions and produce the results and reports that will be required by the new FASB guidelines. Smart retail companies will be replacing their legacy systems with Cloud computing applications that deliver this required new functionality in a complete store lifecycle management system that will allow them to gain efficiency through easier processing, and dramatically drive down IT capital and operating costs.

For a more detailed discussion on retail and corporate real estate technology please get our New Whitepaper.

Shameless Plug

The entire Lucernex Lx Retail platform was moved into the Cloud in early 2010 making it not only the most comprehensive store lifecycle management system available, but also the fastest to implement and the fastest performing. In 2011 we launched Lx Retail and Lx Contracts for mobile devices with one of our largest clients using iPads to perform most end-user tasks from the field. In early 2012 we will launch major enhancements to Lx Retail and Lx Contracts to take further advantage of the capability of tablet computers.

Lucernex created the first SLM solution, the first SaaS solution for retail lifecycle management, the first cloud solution for lease administration and store lifecycle management and now the first tablet delivered retail real estate solution. Since 2000, we have been the leader in technology for the retail real estate software industry.

Previous IWMS related Blogs

What is IWMS anyway?
IWMS? It’s Location! Location! Location!
The Power of Location Management
IWMS – Why so expensive?
Real Estate in the “Cloud”
How Capital Project Management fits in an IWMS
What makes one IWMS easier to implement than another?

Risks of upgrading Lease Administration Software alone or as part of an IWMS

Typically in our blogs, we attempt to write an impartial analysis of the subject at hand and save the Lucernex marketing for the end. However, in this blog, the story of the SLM and Retail IWMS market is really the story of Lucernex so there is no way to separate the Lucernex details from the body of the blog.

This is the story of how the Retail IWMS market came about, from the perspective of several industry experts who work at or with Lucernex. As IWMS is a consolidation of the Facilities Management, Facilities Maintenance and Corporate Real Estate software markets, I am very sure there are other opinions from other vendors, especially from outside the retail part of this market, but here’s our viewpoint.

In the mid-1990’s Mike Nuzum and Joe Valeri, Lucernex’s founders, had similar visions for technology the retail market needed to improve its processes. Mike had successfully built multiple retail chains as the real estate expert and had developed repeatable processes that made him successful. Joe was running property development systems for Marriott International and trying to find software that fit his vision for what the market needed.

In 1999, at the AEC systems show in San Francisco, Mike and Joe were introduced through a mutual friend at the Fairmont Hotel on Knob Hill. Both had visions of a software product the industry needed. The result of that meeting was a collective vision for a new software product, which led to the founding of Lucernex in 2000. In 2001, the first Software as a Service (SaaS) Retail IWMS and SLM product of its kind was released. The term SaaS has just been coined in February 2001 and the acronyms SLM and IWMS had not yet been coined; Lucernex was delivering both. The product drew the attention of the industry leader and innovator in Lease Administration, Ken Brown of the National Facilities Group (NFG), maker of SLIM. Ken and Joe set out to integrate the two applications and, at NFG’s 2002 User Conference, what was then called Lucernex Rollout Manager was demonstrated for about 100 retail and corporate users of SLIM. This 2.0 version of Lx Retail included integrated Market Planning, Site Selection, Transaction Management, Project Management, Facilities Management and Lease Administration all delivered over the Web as a SaaS solution.

In 2002 Lucernex won a few small deals with AEC firms, developers and small retailers, then, in 2003 Lucernex got its first major sale to Chipotle Mexican Grill, then a roughly 70-store chain. Chipotle used what they call “Lucy” to manage the growth of their real estate. Additional sales to YUM Brands (they call it YUM Builder) and Circuit City helped Lucernex finalize the Store Lifecycle Management (SLM) technology. Michael Bell, then of Gartner, coined the term IWMS in 2004 around the concept of an Enterprise software product that covers the lifecycle of real estate.

In 2005, in an effort to rapidly increase sales, Lucernex licensed the product to Accruent with the idea that Accruent’s established sales team would do a far better job of driving new sales than Lucernex could. Accruent had also purchased NFG and brought the SLIM product under its umbrella, which was already largely integrated with Lx Retail. With the Lucernex product, branded Accruent Store Lifecycle Management (SLM), Accruent established itself as a market leader in the IWMS and SLM space. For the following 3 years Accruent sold SLM to over 50 large retailers and, with Lucernex inside, became one of the top performers in the Garner IWMS Magic Quadrant.

In 2008, after Accruent had chosen a dramatically different technology path, Lucernex decided to update the product and return to the market including selling it directly to the market. With Ken Brown now at the helm of Lucernex product development, the data architecture was expanded to allow a single database solution to handle the entire lifecycle adding lease administration and rent accounting to the otherwise complete list of Lx Retail modules.

In 2009 the first Cloud Computing solution in either the SLM or IWMS industries was released and in 2010 the first product to support the expected, new FASB guidelines was introduced.

Lucernex began as the industry visionary in 2000 with a SaaS-delivered full lifecycle enterprise corporate real estate software system to manage all aspects of any real estate holding. We have continued our initial focus on the Retail market. We have never deviated from our goal of creating a single platform, single database solution that is high performing, easy to implement and inexpensive to maintain. We are the only SLM or Retail IWMS product on the market today that can deliver the entire functional lifecycle on a single JAVA platform and single database with no third party licenses required. We have also maintained our technology visionary status with the first Cloud solution (The Lucernex Cloud) in 2009 and the first upgrade for lease administration and lease analysis to handle the new, proposed FASB / GAAP rules in 2010. On 2011 we innovated again with the first SLM or IWMS solution to support iPad and Tablet computer use which we are extending in 2012 with a unique interface just for iPads and Tablets. Stay tuned for more innovations in 2012!

Previous related Blogs

What is IWMS anyway?
IWMS? It’s Location! Location! Location!
The Power of Location Management
IWMS – Why so expensive?
IWMS in the “Cloud”
How Capital Project Management fits in an IWMS
What makes one IWMS easier to implement than another?
Why building real estate software in house is no longer financially feasible
Risks of upgrading Lease Administration Software alone or as part of an IWMS

To be awarded certification, an audit of Lucernex’s Quality Management system was conducted in 2011 culminating in certification in November of 2011. A third party auditing firm, Quality Systems Registrars, Inc. (QSR), performed the ISO 9001 certification.

“ISO 9001 certification proves how dedicated Lucernex is to customer service and continual improvement. It will ensure that we continually improve our service processes and our customer satisfaction”, said Joe Valeri, President of Lucernex.

If you are interested in learning more about Lucernex’s ISO 9001:2008 certification or about Lucernex Quality Management System, please call 972.403.7100 or email sales@lucernex.com.

About Lucernex
Founded in 2000, Lucernex Technologies provides real estate professionals with powerful software tools to guide them through the real estate store life cycle. It is the only solution designed “by retailers for retailers” and can manage any size portfolio of leased and owned properties. Fortune 500 companies in the commercial real estate, hospitality, retail, construction and engineering industries have been utilizing Lucernex Technologies software solutions every day to ensure compliance, mitigate risk and empower effective growth. As an innovative leader in retail real estate solutions, Lucernex continues to grow its customer base by applying its Web-based software expertise and real estate development insight to provide advanced tools and services for business. For more information, please visit www.lucernex.com.