He sat back in his chair and looked towards the window,the logo on his cup facing him. He had ordered straight black coffee which had raised the eyebrow of the smiling face behind the register. He noticed the car as it pulled in clean,crisp and quiet. A tall man dressed simply and professional stepped out and walked towards the coffee shop entrance. As he entered he glanced left and acknowledged his friend sitting and waiting. They both had a more than passing interest in each other's business. He had a device tucked under his arm so he reached with one hand into his pocket to pay for his coffee. He turned and smiled to his friend, walking to the small table in the corner to sit.
"How many cups is that already today?"
"Only two, do you think I drink that much coffee?"
"It's still early. Can you make it to your usual five today?"
"Are you counting?"
"No, not really. Hey, thanks for meeting up with me this morning."
"Glad to. I want to get your feedback and thoughts on this. It can only help us both."
"I hope so. This could be a big deal for all of us. Have you had a chance to look at this new tool that they just gave us?"
"Actually I have been digging pretty deep into this thing. I know I'm on the property management side and not the leasing side but it lets us see all the documentation."
"I don't have a problem with that. It's permission based and it's secure. I'm not going to touch any of your docs unless you want me to comment on something."
"Yes, that's the same for me. I'm more interested in dates and details. There is so much more information that I am able to access to help me understand what it takes to get this deal put together. It's amazing to me the issues inside and outside that need to be dealt with."
"Did you see the email about the traffic light they wanted to change?"
"Yes, where did that come from?"
"The state out of nowhere decided that they wanted to change it..."
"So, everyone had to step back and regroup to make sure they complied with the state?"
"Yes and that kind of thing happens all the time."
"It helped that I had access to that information. It may not have been important to me at all but then it did become a factor."
"I agree. I was somewhat reluctant to share financial information and detailed plans at first but once I understood the collaboration part of how this worked it became clear that this tool was enabling us to create a better workflow for the deal."
"Does it help you on site?"
"It can help with the visuals, especially the site plans and traffic flows. Nothing like putting eyeballs on those at the site. What about your end?"
"I see so much more from the start of the deal which helps me understand what the tenant is trying to accomplish from the beginning. I also see this helping with a historical database. For instance if we change something one year from now we have that change documented and we can track what that means."
"Do you see a costs savings piece to this?'
"It has to be. As long as it's not just keeping data to keep data."
"We've been doing stuff like this before but this is now a real time data point. We need to use that to our advantage."
"I see it helping us on the property management side even more. I think it will help us anticipate what we can do and may be even prevent possible problems before they become problems."
"I like the way you're thinking, keep digging into this thing. It's a tool we need to use every day."
"I agree. Keep me updated from your side also."
"I will. I need to get to a meeting. See you later this week."
"Thanks for meeting up."
They stood up. He tucked the device back under his arm. He could not help but think. They had always been friends but had never really worked that close together because they were in different departments. It looks like that had changed. As he opened his car door he smiled a little bit. A simple tool, a helpful friend and a conversation. It looked like more future business for both of them.
