How CBRE Centralized Contract, Client and SOC 1 Processes Across A Global Organization

OVERVIEW

CBRE’s Investment Accounting and Reporting Solutions division (“CBRE IA&R”) operates on a global scale, supporting clients across markets, service lines and regulatory environments. IA&R manages a number of clients, each with complex and high-volume contractual obligations tied to financial reporting, delivery timelines, and audit requirements.

As the business grew and teams became increasingly globally distributed, CBRE IA&R needed a singular, centralized point where their global team could manage client information, contractual commitments, and compliance activities without relying on spreadsheets, email, and individual knowledge.

Challenge

Coordinating Contracts for Global Customers

To ensure the globally dispersed IA&R colleagues had comprehensive visibility and easy access to critical client and contract data, CBRE IA&R sought a solution to integrate information previously spread across various systems.

Each client engagement could involve hundreds of deals and dozens of contracts, each with unique terms defining what work must be performed, when it must be delivered and how it must be reviewed. That information flowed into the organization from multiple regions and often landed with a single individual, while teams across the U.S., Europe and Asia needed visibility into the same obligations.

The challenges were not rooted in staffing or intent, but in structure:

• Contract terms and client data were scattered across spreadsheets, inboxes and local files
• Compliance activities, including SOC 1 control self-assessments, were managed manually
• Global teams lacked a consistent, shared view of obligations and status
• Leadership had limited ability to see where work was overdue or at risk

Approach

CBRE IA&R initially focused on consolidating documents and client information into a single repository. As conversations expanded internally, it became clear that the same data supported multiple functions across the business, including client management, performance tracking, and compliance.

Rather than selecting separate tools for each need, the team looked for a platform that could serve as a shared system of record and support multiple workflows tied back to the same underlying client and contract data.

Key considerations included:

• Ability to centralize contract terms and obligations
• Flexibility to support non-standard, client-specific processes
• Visibility across distributed teams and functions
• Usability for a broad internal audience

Solution

CBRE IA&R implemented Onspring as a centralized platform to manage client contracts, related operational activities, and SOC 1 compliance processes.

The team worked closely with an Onspring designer to build a tailored solution rather than relying solely on out-of-the-box applications. The implementation focused on bringing critical contract terms, delivery requirements and control activities into a single system tied directly to client records.

With Onspring in place, CBRE IA&R was able to:

• Centralize contract data and client obligations
• Track task completion with timestamps and accountability
• Surface overdue items and upcoming deadlines through dashboards
• Support client surveys, KPI tracking and SOC 1 control self-assessments using the same underlying data

While the implementation required time and careful change management, the team budgeted accordingly and rolled out the system deliberately across the organization.

Results

With Onspring, CBRE IA&R gained a clearer view of work that was previously distributed across various systems.

Centralization improved internal communication by creating a shared source of truth for contract obligations and operational tasks. Teams could see, in real time, which activities were complete, which were overdue, and where follow-up was required.

The increased visibility also provided opportunities for refinement of internal processes for even greater efficiency.

The organization is still early in its journey, but leaders expect the benefits to compound over time as historical data grows and processes continue to mature.

Customer Perspective

David Deardurff, Director of Client Management at CBRE IA&R, described the impact simply:

“Onspring has made our firm more organized.”

For David Johnson, Senior Director of Client Onboarding at CBRE IA&R, the value was immediate in day-to-day work:

Success Story

“Now I can find what I’m looking for within a few clicks. It makes my life easier every day.”

David Johnson · Senior Director

CBRE

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