Technological advances are beginning to show significant impacts on how office property is managed and operated with the accumulation of digital data that help the commercial real estate industry make informed business decisions. “The biggest trend we’re seeing is this whole digital disruption in our industry, from ubiquitous linked sensors to the technology that’s going into smart buildings,” said Dale Dekker, AIA, AICP principal with Dekker/Perich/Sabatini during a recent presentation at the NAOIP. It’s truly driving commercial real estate in a whole new way.”
Companies are Diving Head First into High-tech Solutions
“Technology and data are changing more rapidly than ever before, transforming the commercial real estate practice at every iteration,” writes chief economist for CCIM Institute, K.C. Conway. In a recent report, he stated that “far removed are the days of fold-out discounted cash flow analysis reports, maps plastered with rub-off decals and microfilm-powered due diligence.”
Massive Amounts of Data a Big Challenge for CRE Professionals
The biggest challenge is to determine how to cull through and evaluate the massive amount of data that is coming from a variety of sources into understandable and usable information to help guide decisions about building management and operations.
“There is a lot of data available, but to enhance our ability to use that data to make better decisions, it needs to be put into solutions that provide better visualization and are easy to navigate, rather than working with multiple dashboards that aren’t very user friendly,” said Sara Shank, managing director for Beacon Capital Partners during the NAOIP event. “As an industry, we need to continue increasing awareness among various constituents of the types of new technological solutions that are available and showcase how they can benefit the business.”
Big data includes everything from leasing, financial and demographic statistics to the collection of building systems information. For office properties, this data is used to improve business operations efficiencies and to help landlords attract and retain tenants. Office property managers are comfortable using nonpersonal big data to improve the performance of building systems, but for privacy concerns, they have not embraced the tracking of tenant movements within the building.
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