As recently as two years ago, retailers were less concerned with cost than efficiency, Thomas recalled. "They were interested in opening stores faster, speeding completion of deals and finding ways to drive revenue," he says.

But times have changed. There are fewer store openings and fewer deals, so nothing backs up in the pipeline. The primary concern is controlling costs, Thomas concurred. Virtual Premise responded to the client survey with a program it predicts will "help real estate departments be more responsive to the immediate needs of the enterprise they serve, improving their cost management, generating savings and driving profitability."

The IMPACT Cost Savings Program includes three components: VP Intellicheck, a lease management Consulting service; Advanced Desktop Audit Manager (ADAM), operating expense and reconciliation software; and Transaction Manager--software created to help retailers gain more insight into transaction work being performed by third-party service providers.

• Intellicheck benchmarks a company's business performance against industry best practices to help firms understand and map the flow of lease management information, uncover specific weak points that keep it from capitalizing on cost saving opportunities, and identify opportunities for improvement. The service starts at $10,000.
• ADAM works with lease administration systems to help retailers conduct more accurate and efficient audits of pro-rata charges, such as Common Area Maintenance, taxes and insurance. It's designed to identify operating expense savings, improve workflow and business processes and track audit data year to year, as well as reconcile statements, manage notifications, validate calculations and manage correspondence. The cost of the software starts around $20,000, depending on the number of stores a retailer operates.
• Transaction Manager is designed to streamline the real estate transaction process to include leasing and sub-leasing activities, as well as purchases and sales of real estate assets. Thomas said it helps customers obtain transparency into real estate deals, drive service provider performance and improve broker results, improve lease terms, conditions and rates, and increase flexibility to respond to market conditions. The cost is about $25,000.

Both ADAM and Transaction Manager are web-based applications, which customers can access anywhere they have web access. Thomas said there are 10 key benefits to SaaS, including:

1. Lower initial cost of ownership.
2. Faster implementations.
3. Automatic access to upgrades.
4. Consistent upgrades without major disruptions.
5. Lower internal IT personnel costs.
6. No need for IT infrastructure equipment.
7. Better data security and privacy.
8. Easy access to support.
9. Enhancements based on customer demand.
10. Allows users to focus on their core competencies instead of technology.