Case Study: Big 4 Accounting Firm achieves $36M annual real estate savings with Accruent's EMS space-utilization solution

How the firm was able to significantly reduce real estate costs by comparing reservations to actual usage to determine true space utilization rates

A Big 4 accounting firm with 4,500 employees at its New York City headquarters and branches in more than 100 countries needed to understand how 30 floors at HQ were actually being used. Although hundreds of employees could book temporary "hoteling" workspaces, the firm had no way to verify whether booked space was occupied, leaving them unsure about forgotten, abandoned, or contingency-held space.

By implementing EMS Software to capture check-ins and compare bookings to actual attendance, the firm discovered only 49% of assigned offices and 67% of hoteling spaces were used, leaving 1,665 workspaces vacant daily. With that insight they vacated six floors and sublet three, realized $85M in savings over five years, moved real estate from their second-largest to third-largest expense, and expect an additional $97M in savings over the next five years (about $36M annually).