Six Trends Impacting Commercial Real Estate Technology Strategy
A reaction to the Smart Building Academy Podcast Episode 240
By Tim Cramer | Director of Solution Consulting | Key2Act
Recently, I listened to a very insightful and interesting podcast from Smart Buildings Academy. During the episode, Phil Zito, Founder and CEO of Smart Buildings Academy, interviews Maureen Ehrenberg, CEO of Blue Skyre IBE, about commercial real estate (CRE) and the strategies a listener could consider as they navigate the ever-evolving post-COVID world.
During this episode, Maureen breaks down some really great concepts, including a few that I found thought-provoking and have summarized below. This episode is worth a listen for anyone looking to deepen their strategic insights and improve their service delivery to building and facility customers.
Concept 1: Death to the “9-5” - The global pandemic forced businesses to adapt to new working environments and adopt flexibility for the majority of non-essential office workers. For many of us, remote work has become the norm and all indications are society will not return to the pre-COVID ways of conducting business for some time, if ever. To evolve and operate in the “new normal”, businesses will need to adapt their commercial spaces to be more flexible so they can react to the changes in demand as the need for space shifts and/or becomes contextualized.
Concept 2: On-Demand Commercial Space - With this new way of conducting business, Maureen describes how some commercial spaces are adopting a flexible, short-term and on-demand tenant model to fill their space, similar to Airbnb. This contrasts with the traditional model of tenancy where a single large space is leased for years at a time.
Concept 3: Efficiency is Key - This is not only true of energy usage and asset utilization, but also for the space itself. CRE needs to adapt how they fill the spaces they have, as well as how they monitor, measure, and verify performance to ensure comfort, asset longevity, maintenance reduction, and energy optimization.
Concept 4: Work Smarter Not Harder - Technology should be incorporated into, and assist with, solving business problems. Maureen suggests using technology in unconventional ways to solve existing problems helps to further strengthen the CRE offering. An example Maureen provides is a cleanliness issue of communal space on a certain floor. She suggests that technology could be leveraged to determine how often the elevators stop on each floor. Then the data could be used to provide just-in-time or right sized services for all communal spaces and reduce potentially redundant, unneeded, or costly recurring services.
Concept 5: Newton’s 3rd Law - In this episode, Maureen makes a great point about the tradeoff between energy saving activities and the operational impact. Sure, lowering the lights and reducing the air flow saved energy, but it has a detrimental effect on the comfort, safety and wellbeing of the occupants. Which was more important? All savings are not created equal and with each action there is a consequence. CRE’s will have to embrace the spend when it contributes to positive working environments even if it comes at the cost of something else.
Concept 6: One Size Does Not Fit All - When considering the initiatives to be pursued in any building, the factors of what is needed for the proper utilization of the space are key, and not all are the same. Its fine to start with some common metrics, but custom tailoring to each application becomes critical to achieving the highest returns.
All in all, my conclusion here is that there is there are many problems to solve with all commercial spaces regardless of whether we are talking to facility managers or service providers that work for the facility managers. As we open discussions on these problems, many of them can be solved in part or in whole with the capabilities of BOB, the world’s first building optimization broker. The value of this solution is accentuated and enhanced by the new challenges born from COVID. Some questions to consider when analyzing your own business or in conversation with customers or peers might be:
How have you seen the impacts of COVID affect the sites you service?
How are you adapting your business strategy to meet the needs of the new business environment as it evolves?
What are the practical ways you are balancing energy use and operations?
If you would like to learn about these topics, and many more, listen to the full episode: https://podcast.smartbuildingsacademy.com/240
About the Author:
Tim Cramer | Director of Solution Consulting | Key2Act
10+ years in HVAC/BAS as a Property Manager (22 buildings), and BAS Service Operations Manager (over 1,500 buildings – commercial, retail, residential)