I recently attended the ICSC ReCON in Las Vegas. It was a wonderful opportunity to mingle with current and prospective clients as well as leaders in the real estate world. As Vice President of Product Management for Lucernex, I naturally have my ear to the ground regarding technology and tech issues and how they affect retail.

It was an exciting event this year with attendance much stronger than in recent years.

Still, it’s good to see retailers coming out of their recession-induced hibernation. Retailers are expanding again, and taking advantage of the current economy and leveraging the experience/knowledge gained about how particular store locations performed these past 3 years. Retailers are looking to technology for solutions to ensure that they are positioned properly to take advantage of current and future economic swings as well as the new FASB 13 regulations.

On our side, the vendor side, there has been a TREMENDOUS amount of activity the past 12 months. Mergers and acquisitions have really shaken up the industry, which has created some major implementation and delivery issues for legacy systems. I heard from many major retailers that they are struggling with their legacy products. They either cannot get them implemented, they’ve become too expensive for the limited features and capabilities they offer, or they just plain don’t do what they need!

Those issues are translating into a major headache  for the folks in the corner office.   These systems are no longer “nice to have” – they are mission critical, and it can be career-ending to make the wrong decision and spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars on a failed project.   I listened to many stories of failures during my time on the trade show floor. The failures seem to always fall into one of two categories – it’s either a bad implementation of a good product, or a futile implementation of a badly selected “franken product”. Excessive attempts to customize an inflexible product have led to many tears.

On a positive note, there are new players in the industry who have significantly changed the landscape from when retailers last evaluated their Lease Administration and Store Lifecycle Management (SLM) systems.  These new players often have better tools, more experience, and have learned from the mistakes of old.   (I should note here that I count Lucernex in this latter group although truth be told, we are not really new!).   A consistent theme emerged when speaking with satisfied clients (and not just those of Lucernex!); quick, phased implementations and product flexibility without customization is the key to ensuring your end-users are happy and your company is getting the results it expected when it made the investment.

On a final note, hardware-wise I’m seeing fewer and fewer paper notebooks and more and more tablets. The comparison to previous years was striking. That lone person walking around the floor with an armful of binders stuffed with print outs (you know who you are!) looked out of date and disorganized compared to those with the slick presentations on their iPad or tablet. Retailers are making a major effort to leverage these new, portable and powerful technologies in deal presentations, site selection, modeling, demographics and even construction management..

Shameless Plug

Lucernex is leading the retail industry in converting outdated lease administration and store lifecycle management solutions to our cloud-based, market leading solution — Lx Retail 9. Built by Retailers for Retailers, Lx Retail combines all of the depth and capability of the best lease administration and rent accounting solutions (designed by the creator or SLIM) with the market leading store lifecycle management features Lucernex was founded on in 2000. And, since we took the time to do it right, it was built FOR RETAIL from the top down to manage the entire store lifecycle on one platform, one database and with one user interface.

Lucernex’s Lx Retail solution, being cloud-based, functions quite well on both iPad and Android platforms and will be fully optimized for both tablet platforms by year end!

When considering the purchase of real estate software point solutions such as Lease Administration, Project Management, Purchase Management, CMMS and Space Planning/CAFM it is helpful to understand the differences, benefits and challenges of a-la-carte options vs. an integrated suite of products. Individual software solutions are just that – products that are sold individually and have little to no compatibility with other product offerings. Product suites like an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) are offered as an integrated group of solutions and give the user benefits such as flexibility, ease of use, common overhead, better support for system architectures and platforms. Vendors, like Lucernex Technologies, who build their systems from the ground up using one architecture, one database, one codebase and one common interface eliminate many of the problems encountered with so-called “best of breed” solutions. This blog will illustrate specific examples of why an integrated product suite such as IWMS is best:

First, an IWMS product affords a company software flexibility. Users will be able to share data – including setup and security information – throughout the system and configure the system to meet the company’s needs rather than the other way around. The ability to move data such as deadlines, leasing numbers and budgets without having to re-enter it in multiple places saves valuable time, increases accuracy, and eliminates the frustration that occurs when one part of the system doesn’t talk to the other.

An IWMS solution is also easier to manipulate than single point solutions. All products integrated into an IWMS package look, feel and work the same way. Key interface items like navigation menus, common controls, prompts and messages work together to make the user experience more enjoyable. With a common interface, a user can learn one part of the application and then easily apply this knowledge to another area of the solution. One of the many reasons why Microsoft Office is so widely adopted and successful is because it has a common user interface just like an IWMS product.

Another challenge with implementing multiple software products is that many solutions overlap in areas of functionality. Document management, contract management, security and configuration (form building, report creation, workflow setup, etc.) may have specific areas of the application that are the same. When multiple products try to do similar things the inefficiencies and incompatibilities will render part of these solutions useless. Products within an IWMS system “talk” to one another so that these overlapping areas of functionality work together rather than compete with one another. Who wants to enter contact data twice or define different user security roles because one part of the system cannot talk to another and share the information? With IWMS, all products “talk” to one another, share information, and enable the user to function more efficiently.

A final point to take into consideration is that when a company adopts multiple products they increase their implementation costs, training and on-going maintenance costs dramatically. The purpose of a software solution system is to save time and money and positively impact a company’s bottom line. Often, the implementation of multiple products does just the opposite.

Shameless Plug

At Lucernex, we have a term we like to use for solutions that are banded together, using pieces of various applications to create an end to end solution. We call it a “Franken Product” and if you don’t want a monster on your hands, than consider a single platform IWMS solution. At Lucernex, our response to the “Franken product” is Lx IWMS. The Lucernex Lx IWMS platform is a single platform with one database, one code base and one architecture. It covers the entire property lifecycle with modules dedicated to market planning and location analysis, project management, capital program management, lease administration, lease analysis and facilities management that streamline key processes such as site acquisition and development, construction, procurement, grand opening, lease management, property disposition, and capital or remodeling projects. To avoid the problems, challenges and inefficiencies of a Franken Product, strongly consider a single, integrated solution and beware solutions with a consistent UI that are hiding a “Franken Product” underneath.

For more information about Lucernex Technologies’ Lx IWMS, visit www.Lucernex.com

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Previous Blogs by Ken Brown

Optimizing and Globalizing Real Estate?
It’s time to upgrade lease administration software now

DALLAS – (May 3, 2010) – Lucernex Technologies, a developer of business intelligence software for real estate management and development, announced today that it has promoted Howard Zola to vice president of U.S. sales. In this position, Zola will lead the company’s domestic sales efforts for its suite of Location Performance Management products for the corporate and retail real estate industry.

Zola will be responsible for continuing to grow the overall sales of Lx IWMS, Lucernex’s affordable integrated workplace management system; Lx Contracts, Web-based lease administration and rent accounting from the creator of SLIM; and Lx LseMod, the market leader in site selection and portfolio optimization financial analysis solutions for corporate and commercial real estate. Lucernex’s solutions are currently in use by hundreds of thousands of locations in the global retail, hospitality, engineering and construction industries, as well as hundreds of corporate real estate executives and real estate brokers worldwide.

Zola brings over 20 years of technology and sales experience to the Lucernex team. He served as the vice president of major account sales for Comps.com, the online commercial real estate data provider that is now owned by CoStar Group. He moved on to become the chief operating officer and vice president of sales and marketing at WorkplaceIQ, where he led the effort to acquire the Siteseer lease administration software. Zola also served as principle of his own consulting firm which specialized in supporting the adoption and implementations of technology within the commercial and corporate real estate and facility management industries. Most recently, he was the vice president of sales and business development at House Party, Inc. before joining Lucernex as a sales associate in November 2009.

“Since joining our team last year, Howard has been an integral part of Lucernex’s recent success as he has previously worked with many of the major players in the commercial real estate market,” said Joe Valeri, president of Lucernex Technologies. “Our main goal in 2010 is to focus on the growth of our new lease administration product, Lx Contracts, and IWMSCloud, our cloud computing delivery of Lx IWMS. Howard possesses all of the necessary capabilities to lead this effort.”

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to expand Lucernex’s sales efforts for Lx IWMS, Lx Contracts and Lx LseMod,” said Zola. “These products are the best in the industry and I intend to continue working with potential customers to prove the value and show them how Lucernex’s suite of products will make them more efficient and profitable.”

About Lucernex Technologies
Founded in 2000, Lucernex Technologies provides real estate developers and facility managers with powerful software tools to guide them through the real estate development process. For nearly a decade, Fortune 500 companies in the commercial real estate, hospitality, retail, construction and engineering industries, both in the United States and Europe, have been utilizing Lucernex Technologies software solutions every day to better manage the development lifecycle. As an innovative leader in Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) 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 is so confident that we can replace SLIM easier and more accurately than anyone, we will convert data from standard installations of SLIM for free!

To get more information on our SLIM, REM, Siteseer or Retail Lease replacement program, go to our Lease Administration replacement program page. We also have an Accruent SLM replacement program for current users of Accruent SLM (largely Lx IWMS v 3.81) who want to upgrade to Lx IWMS v7.

You can also schedule a meeting with us to see Lx Contracts at ICSC RECon in May.

Accruent’s Store Lifecycle Management (SLM) product sold to dozens of retailer and corporate users since 2004 came about due to a license sold to Accruent by Lucernex in 2003 allowing Accruent to market the Lucernex IWMS solution under the Accruent name. The core of the Accruent solution remains, in large part, the 3.81 version of Lx Retail. Lucernex has since updated the location performance management software and is now at version 9.0 having made vast improvements in the capability. The former creator of SLIM, Ken Brown, is now in charge of Lucernex product design and development after selling the SLIM product and his company, National Facilities Group, to Accruent in 2003. As a result Lucernex can provide the smoothest transition for current Accruent clients.

No first year software cost!!

To make this easy to budget, Lucernex will convert any Accruent client to Lx Retail and charge no first year fee for the software. In addition, as a conversion from Accruent is really more of a simple upgrade into the newer version of Lucernex, our professional services team will charge a simple cost plus 20% for the project.

No one can convert you from Accruent faster, cheaper or more accurately than Lucernex!

Please use our Product Information page if you are interested in talking to an Lucernex representative about our Accruent upgrade.

Dallas – (January 22, 2010) – Lucernex Technologies, an innovative developer of business intelligence software for real estate management and development, announced today that it is offering discounted subscription fees and fixed-price implementation of its Lx IWMS workplace management solution to anyone wishing to transition from Accruent’s SLM and IWMS products following Accruent’s announcement that it has been acquired by Vista Equity Partners.

Lx IWMS from Lucernex Technologies is the most comparable solution to Accruent currently on the IWMS market and offers a higher level of functionality as well as the most natural and lowest-priced migration path. The core of Accruent’s IWMS solution (previous called Store Lifecycle Management), was licensed from Lucernex in 2004 and has been installed as part of Accruent’s solution by dozens of large retailers.

“As the former CTO of Accruent and designer of the Lucernex solution, I think there is no doubt that Lucernex is best positioned to enable a smooth migration for any Accruent retail client,” said Joe Valeri, president of Lucernex. “We want to make sure that any client using any part of our software is satisfied with their investment.”

“In addition to the IWMS solution, many of Accruent’s clients are using legacy client-server based lease administration products such as SLIM, REM and RetaiLease and are looking for a web-based replacement. I am confident that any Accruent client that switches to Lucernex will be happy with the transition and will find the Lucernex team to be more responsive to their needs and willing to work with them to ensure success,” said Ken Brown, Lucernex’s executive vice president of product development and the original designer of the SLIM Lease Administration System.

First developed in 2000 and currently in use by Fortune 500 companies, the Lucernex Lx IWMS platform addresses the unique needs of companies with multi-site, rapidly changing real estate portfolios. The solution can be used to manage corporate real estate of any type and also offers market-specific functionality for the retail, restaurant and hospitality sectors.  Available in both Enterprise and Standard Editions, Lucernex Lx IWMS makes it possible for all real estate management resources to openly communicate and keep all projects on time and within budget. Enabling this kind of integrated communication will ultimately reduce costs, improve productivity, enhance operational efficiency and increase profitability.

To learn more about Lx IWMS, please contact Lucernex Technologies at 972-403-7100 or visit www.lucernex.com.

About Lucernex

Founded in 2000, Lucernex Technologies provides real estate developers and facility managers with powerful software tools to guide them through the real estate development process. For nearly a decade, Fortune 500 companies in the commercial real estate, hospitality, retail, construction and engineering industries, both in the United States and Europe, have been utilizing Lucernex Technologies software solutions every day to better manage the development lifecycle. As an innovative leader in Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) 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.

Brown joins Lucernex from Accruent, Inc. where he served as director of corporate solutions for three years. An expert in compliance, lease accounting and business intelligence/analytics applications, Brown was founder, president and CEO of National Facilities Group in Chicago from 1990 to 2005. National Facilities Group is known as one of the nation’s first providers of lease administration software systems in the real estate industry.

“Ken is well known in our industry as having developed the first – and still one of the best – lease administration products, SLIM, for the corporate and retail markets,” said Joe Valeri, president of Lucernex Technologies. “We are honored to add him to the Lucernex team and given his expertise we are looking forward to his influence on our application suites.”

“I have known the people at Lucernex for many years and I am excited to now be a part of the company and to help take its products to the next level,” said Ken Brown. “Lucernex IWMS incorporates the best features of most of the leading products on the market and offers one comprehensive solution.”

Brown has immediately impacted Lucernex by playing a major role in the company’s recent acquisition of Lease Cost Solutions and the LseMod product.

“LseMod is the industry-leading lease analytics toolkit with specialized offerings for commercial brokers and corporate real estate departments. We will continue to expand its capabilities and integrate the power of LseMod into Lucernex IWMS to maximize its potential,” said Brown.

“By helping us close the acquisition of LseMod, Ken has already proven that his contributions to Lucernex will be vital as we continue towards our goal of adding quality product and service offerings to become the market leader in real estate business intelligence software,” said Mike Nuzum, chairman of Lucernex Technologies.

First developed in 2000 and currently in use by numerous Fortune 500 companies, the Lucernex IWMS platform addresses the unique needs of companies with multi-site, rapidly changing real estate portfolios. The solution can be used to manage corporate real estate of any type and also offers market-specific functionality for the retail, restaurant and hospitality sectors. Available in both Enterprise and Standard versions, Lucernex IWMS makes it possible for all real estate management resources to openly communicate and keep all projects on time and within budget. Enabling this kind of integrated communication will ultimately reduce costs, improve productivity, enhance operational efficiency and increase profitability.

About Lucernex

Founded in 2000, Lucernex Technologies (lucernex.com) provides real estate developers and facility managers with powerful software tools to guide them through the real estate development process. For nearly a decade, Fortune 500 companies in the commercial real estate, hospitality, retail, construction and engineering industries, both in the United States and Europe, have been utilizing Lucernex Technologies software solutions every day to better manage the development lifecycle. As an innovative leader in Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) 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.