Talent Brokers: Commercial Real Estate Gets Personal

 
There is a better way to do things in the world of commercial real estate.

Partly the result of a paradigm shift toward flexible or short-term lease options and partly due to the influx of young professionals into the workplace, no longer is it enough for landlords to offer space as a service.

The modern office tenant boasts an elevated awareness of their sense of place and expects a higher quality of experience from their place of work—one that mirrors the same digital ease found in other aspects of their lives, from food ordering to transportation services.

CRE leaders, asset managers and landlords are finally recognizing this need and are working toward more humanistic approaches. According to the Deloitte 2020 Outlook, one half of survey respondents cited smartphones and tablets as an integral part of tenant and end-user engagement.

Today, app-based entry into buildings, emergency contact information, real-time Property maintenance and information about neighborhood offerings all rank as some of the most essential features in attracting, retaining and reassuring tenants. But how has this shift come about?

A simple solution to complicated demands

 
CRE execs realize the two-handfuls of challenges associated with the industry in flux. On one hand, there’s the day-to-day constraints that property managers face; and on the other hand, the demands of a modern workforce of tenants.

Property managers are stretched thin because much of their day is devoted to being reactive rather than proactive towards the needs of their tenants. Plus, the tools they have to boost the efficiency of tasks is largely out of date and clunky. Scattered systems of paper handbooks, spreadsheets and forms no longer suffice as they do nothing to give property teams a way of evaluating how engaged or how actively tenants are utilizing building offerings.

In today’s real estate market, without an intelligent way to measure success, missed opportunities stack up. By tracking and aggregating data in a straightforward analytic dashboard, property managers can quickly understand adoption, engagement or usage rates while also gaining clarity into user behaviors and preferences.

Workplace experience technology brings best-in-class services under one roof and help CRE owners bridge the talent gap by consolidating communications platforms, work order management systems, tenant surveying technology, digital advertising display screens, a perks and rewards program structure and many other integrated tech offerings, such as transit information or wellness programming.

Across asset types; shopping centers, industrial parks or a triple class A building; there are options to infuse your workplace experience platform with attributes that boost engagement, attract tenants, retain them and add value to your property as a whole. These features are configurable, modular and responsive to a property’s unique needs.

Office occupants are here for a good time, not a long time

Property managers must find meaningful and inventive ways to foster positive workplace experiences to attract and retain tenants from the next generation of the workforce.

These digital natives value balance, comfort, and above all, a sense of community. They believe these values should ripple outward to the built world and the expect the same convenience they are used to in other aspects of their connected lifestyle.

Excitingly, this cultural shift towards togetherness complements the standardization of best technology practices will lead to a path to a sustainable business model. Instead of working with multiple platforms and technologies to piece together a comprehensive view of a building, its inner workings and occupants, PropTech is helping create people and purpose-centric office ecosystems, benefiting all parties.

The availability of tech tools has quickly become a decision-maker for employees taking on new jobs and provides yet another pathway toward building a more engaged and experiential workplace culture.

By breathing life into office complexes around the world, we can see an evolution in the nature of work, employee well being and the sense of community that often goes missing in our busy day-to-day.

In the end, the employee is just as important as the tenant since happy employees equal productive workplaces.

The power of workplace experience technology lies in putting CRE firms firmly in the driver’s seat, allowing them to turn their building into a product and create the opportunity for repeat customers.

About Clinton Robinson and Lane

 
Clinton Robinson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lane, a workforce experience platform transforming the way landlords, tenants, and occupants interact within commercial office spaces. To learn more, visit: www.joinlane.com.

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