The "Spring Training at Enron Field" has delved into online transactions. Featured speaker Lis Fisher of Arthur Andersen Partner for Real Estate and Hospitality tells GlobeSt.com that commercial real estate's top three uses for e-business solutions are negotiating leases, creating and tracking contracts and procurement. Fisher says there is ample opportunity for a dominant player to emerge from the companies now producing software for the industry.

Arthur Andersen and the Houston CPA Chapter had co-sponsored the sessions and made sure to take several surveys of the 83 commercial real estate professionals attending. In one survey, 43% report that the absence of a dominant industry platform is the main obstacle to e-business trade for commercial real estate. Another survey has a whopping 47% of the respondents saying their companies had no major e-business strategy while 42% report they are without in-house capabilities for conducting online transactions. Only 11% of the attendees report their companies are equipped to handle online leasing and 21% can do online procurement or purchasing. A miniscule 5% can manage contracts online. According to 38% of respondents, the industry is looking to e-business solutions to increase revenue while decreasing operating costs.

While Fisher does not believe the commercial real estate industry lags the rest of the country in adopting these technologies, she doesn't feel Houston is leading the pack either. She terms her speech as a call to action, walking away with the feeling that the participants indeed want change.