CB Richard Ellis Gains a 20-Fold Return on its Salesforce CRM Investment Every Year

Challenge

• CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) is the world’s premier, full-service real estate services company, but one of its clients was struggling to work efficiently.  Key indicators included projects not completing on time or within budget and inconsistency in the quality of delivery.  The degree of project administration and management was also above average―a consequence of poor quality reporting  
• Their existing tools and basic software packages prevented them from being able to clearly identify risks or cost escalation and in turn prevented them from providing their customer, the business leadership, with transparency on project scope, delivery, cost or key milestones for decision making

Solution

• CB Richard Ellis deployed Salesforce CRM SFA and the Force.com to create ‘Proflo’, a multi-tenant Software as a Service (SaaS) program management platform which helps real estate teams and program managers deliver programs globally in a compliant, consistent manner
• Developed entirely using the Force.com Platform as a Service (PaaS), Proflo simplifies the complete construction project lifecycle into 47 steps using toll gates and workflow―transforming process into a straightforward workflow and managing authorizations
• The Force.com made it easy for CBRE to modify the functionality of Salesforce CRM SFA to meet its unique requirements: using the metadata framework and a series of simple point-and-click wizards, the team designed custom user interfaces and modified the structure of the data model and the application’s business logic to create a tailored Proflo application
• Globally accessible and available in multiple languages and currencies, Proflo provides an exceptional strategic and tactical reporting function, featuring interactive dashboards, report wizards, and dynamic  tiered reporting

Results

• Using the cloud development model, CBRE brought Proflo to market 60% faster than traditional methods
• CBRE is receiving a 20-fold return on its investment in Salesforce CRM and the Force.com every year
• Salesforce―through Proflo―has helped reduce project administration and management significantly, with the volume of paperwork falling by 50%
• Transparent reporting improved business leadership and allowed management to focus on strategic issues 
• CBRE enjoys early visibility into project risk and cost escalation
• The SaaS and PaaS offer a greater degree of flexibility―the team are no longer constrained by the limitations of the system