Page 16 - Realcomm13-Final-LR

end-points supporting the operations of the company—we’ve
effectively reached a tipping point.
For 2016, we’ve been on a continued data kick. Two examples
would be enabling the visibility and the transparency of our
Jim Whalen leasing data and activity using the VTS platform and the ratio-
im Whalen serves as SVP and CIO responsible for the direc- nalization of our energy data on EnerNOC’s platform. They have
tion and implementation of technology and applications at both been powerful enablers in elevating our game focused on
JBoston Properties, a fully integrated real estate investment important data flows for our business. We’re in phases two and
trust and one of the largest owners and developers of Class-A even three in terms of realizing economies of scale with a focus
office properties in the United States. Prior to joining the compa- now on process improvements. Once you’ve established a data

“With increasing connectivity
via IP, we see our network as
a fundamental enabler of our
business. We support more
end-points for our facility
systems than we do end-points
supporting the operations of
the company—we’ve effectively
reached a tipping point.”

platform with elevated accuracy the logical pivot
is to then leverage it, like the automatic feed to
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, or the account-
ing accrual process that everyone goes through
at the end of the quarter, you reap all these
benefits from the investments made there. We’ve
also got a significant Oracle Human Capital
Management (HCM) rollout. It’s about self-ser-
vice and workflow, but it’s also a data play about
ny in March 1998, he served as VP, IS for Beacon Properties. Over meaningful analytics around our work force to support decision
a 30+ year IT career, Jim has supported real estate operations making. All these investments have a data theme facilitated
ranging from residential, construction, public housing, commer- by a SaaS cloud platform, which is then facilitated by mobile
cial office and retail. enablement.
We consider ourselves a mid-size IT shop, so the alignment
What technology and business initiatives were most import- to SaaS providers is logical. If you look at what we’re doing with
ant in 2016? EnerNOC, it’s like an ERP equivalent for energy data. And that
To achieve our mission here at Boston Properties, my team cate- is a conscientious alignment to support our stated corporate
gorizes our services and projects into three buckets. A highly-in- sustainability goals and GRESB, and personally, I think, a trend.
tegrated stack of corporate applications support the operations Taking this core integrated technology stack that we have, and
of the company; the running of the day-to-day business of with additional investments, effectively extending it. So, whether
interacting with our customers and maintaining our data and it be VTS, whether it be EnerNOC, whether it be the Oracle HCM
process integrity as a public company. Our second grouping is initiative, it’s about rationalizing data and pivoting to processes to
property amenities, which includes DAS and Wi-Fi enablement, make us a more efficient and effective company.
the deployment of technology in collaborative common spac- We’re also on a continuous journey around security; contin-
es—which are an increasing component at many properties— uous because it is never ending in terms of staying up on it,
and lobby operations. We’ve been doing a lot of work in that strengthening components, and being sure we have a solid
space which ultimately focuses on the occupant experience; for governance program in place. We continue to segment our facil-
example, we perform over a million visitor check-ins at our lobby ity systems, putting them in the right buckets, and then putting
desks, so optimizing that customer experience is important. The controls in place for remote connectivity and access. We redid all
third area is our facility systems. With increasing connectivity via of our remote contractor standards coupled with an upgraded
IP, we see our network as a fundamental enabler of our business. multi-factor authentication platform. We put in a new incident
We support more end-points for our facility systems than we do response plan last year. In all three of those areas—corporate

14 Realcomm