SunTrust accelerates productive mobility: A corporate real estate story of speed in execution and driving shareholder value

Abstract

Corporate real estate (CRE) business units should align their strategy more closely with key organisational goals — such as driving shareholder value — and view themselves as a key factor for the business in the revenue-generation equation. This paper presents a case study of how SunTrust's CRE function quickly made that transition, dramatically shifting priorities to improve the bank's efficiency ratio. The team accomplished this goal by reinventing the bank's workplace environment to match the needs of its employees. Previously, the focus was primarily on how to save money and occupancy expense; however, the traditional metrics of CRE, such as cost per seat or square footage per seat, while important measurement tools, did not tell the whole story. SunTrust CRE chose instead to focus on how it could partner with businesses on decisions that impact its efficiency ratio — how much the bank spends to make a dollar — which was a much better gauge of CRE's contribution to shareholder value.