Adding a new executive team member significantly impacts a nascent tech company’s budget. For some, hiring a Chief Technical Officer (CTO) makes sense. Today every commercial real estate brokerage is a tech company. Time and time again, we see brokerages leading technological innovations in the CRE industry. Some sources claim companies can wait to hire a CTO. What do you consider when looking at the CTO’s role in your brand? What Should Your CTO Do? A Chief Technical Officer oversees internal technology implementations in the short and long-term. The CTO ensures the company has the right technological solutions to tackle its challenges. This means they are involved in business strategy and planning plus research and development. Many brands use CTOs to advocate for their service platform. They are the forward-facing technical voice of the brand, demonstrating how these technologies add value to the industry. The Advantages to a CTO All CRE firms, whether a brokerage or service provider, want to stay competitive. From a technology standpoint, that means constant innovation. CRE companies seek to trim inefficiencies in tech products, find new integrations, and adapt to an ever-changing landscape as AI, mixed reality, and predictive analytics reshape the daily workflow. A CTO could be that person to guide the team through the technological disruption and stay on track with the competition. It’s not enough to stay current with the new updates. Look at the industries reshaped, or dying, thanks to technological innovation. How many Blockbusters do you see on your corner? Look at how Netflix transitioned from mail rentals to digital subscription streaming to original content generator. Again, to stay competitive, you need to think ahead. A CTO can be your visionary. Beyond facing forward, a CTO ensure the company is maximizing the value of existing technologies. A CTO brings insights into existing technologies and how to customize the solutions for your business. By trimming inefficient or unnecessary processes with automated ones, the CTO can improve inter-departmental communications, reduce redundant workflows, and improve reporting for better decision-making. The Disadvantages to a CTO The most obvious disadvantage is the cost of hiring and retaining an executive team member. One source claims a Chief Technological Officer salary has a median cost of $230,000. It’s possible that early stage companies might be able to select and implement the technological tools they seek by using external contractors or other partners. If what you truly need is a developer to code product, that’s not a CTO’s role. A tech startup can build their platform and keep processes lean by hiring one or more in-house developers for less than a CTO. A CTO advocates a strategy for the brand in the short and long-term. They’re also a customer-facing role. They should be engaging with customers to learn their pain points. The CTO promotes the brand’s solutions and positions the company as an industry leader. Finding the right person, a knowledgeable individual who can articulate the vision, can be a challenge. Alternatives to the CTO are the Chief Information Officer responsible for developing new technological tools or products to assist customers. This role is more inward facing than the CTO, as it supports the company’s internal IT strategy.

All new innovations bring advantages and disadvantages. Automation technology has streamlined many aspects of our daily lives, but that same tech filled the freed time with information: mountains of statistical data, market reports, blogs, emails, and more. The struggle against information overload is real. How can commercial real estate professionals leverage technology solutions to better handle the information stream? #1. Customize our dashboards The latest Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms use visual dashboards to deliver timely updates upon user login. Customizable dashboards allow clients to see the most pertinent real-time information first. Unless your brand is working toward a specific goal, consider setting your dashboard to present big picture information: vacancy rates, rent data, energy usage, etc. You can dive deeper if necessary. Additionally, select the data presentation format that makes the best sense for the figures and for you. Some information is better suited to a pie chart, like breaking down monthly operating expenses, while comparing quarter-to-quarter or year-over-year data is better suited to a bar graph. #2. Use in-platform communications vs email Email revolutionized communication, but there are clear drawbacks. First, we receive too many messages. The quantity of emails and number of users complicates searching for the right information. It’s easy to miss adding a relevant stakeholder to an email chain, or inboxes drown in “thank you!” response emails. The solution? Use in-platform communication tools. This keeps all the relevant information about the project accessible in one place. Whether it’s a solution like Slack or something built into a CRE-focused platform, the tools allow users to add relevant attachments like permit approvals or floor plans. Loop all people in and out of the conversation as necessary, and keep a running record of all information. Stop wasting time hunting for answers and documents through email. #3. Explore open ecosystems “Open ecosystem” in the technical sense means multiple applications that communicate with each other. This allows for access to a larger network. Essentially, we’re talking about integrations. When two programs talk to each other, the work is streamlined. Think of CRMs that sync with an email marketing program, or a prospect database that integrates directly into a CRM. The integrate eliminates the import/export of data or manual entry. What integrations exist within your current SaaS platforms that you are not utilizing? #4. Embrace AI systems Artificial intelligence automates much of the daily office busy work. For commercial real estate agents and brokers, chatbots can field generic property queries. For service providers, chatbots answer basic customer service questions. AI does more, too. It’s auto-scheduling client meetings in calendars and sending task reminders. With predictive analytics, AI is crunching the numbers to find relevant market trends. It’s the reason why we can predict hot markets or new office leasing trends. #5. Smart email Remember we mentioned the overwhelming amount of email? A smart inbox does more than sort junk from real people. These AI-enabled platforms, like the Spark Mail App, categorize your incoming messages and highlight the most relevant emails first. For the busy professional, this can be a huge time-saver.   It’s important to stay current on the latest developments in commercial real estate and technology. Sorting through the relevant information is easier by leveraging the latest tools. See what matters most every time you log on to your dashboard or your inbox. Let AI help identify the relevant information and spend less time sorting your information stream.

What does collaboration, privacy, greenery, and natural lighting have in common? They’re interior design amenities numerous office space design blogs claim attract and retain talent. There’s a crucial detail these blogs are missing: the tech amenities! Should we expect the connected generation to overlook our need to stay wired? Of course not. Add these tech amenities to woo your talent. #1- Excellent connectivity The importance of connectivity cannot be understated. The newest workforce members want to know everything and accomplish their work now. Whether they’re typing a document or working with an augmented reality program, reliability and speed count. It’s frustrating when a marketing video upload takes forever, or when intermittent service impedes cloud access to vital documents. #2- Cloud-based applications The cloud is what powers the flexible work generation. We don’t need to glue our bums to same desk every day. We collaborate from anywhere at any time on desktops, laptops, or handheld mobile devices. Using the cloud in commercial real estate eliminates the need to download documents, edit, and upload back to a server. We’re always working in the current document version for enhanced accuracy. Multiple people collaborate simultaneously on the same document. #3- Community boards Enhance your building or office space’s quality of life. Online community boards work well for large offices or buildings. It’s how community members keep up to date with the latest happenings in the space. Create new connections across teams and enhance work relationships. Let members ask questions, post important documents, or make special announcements. #4- Remote environmental controls The more employees can customize their working environment, the happier they are. You’ve likely worked with someone who preferred the office a tad too cold in the winter or boiling in the summer. As more offices adapt to the flexible model, increase the comfort level by giving people the ability to control their temperature and lighting based on the season, time of day, or task at hand. New systems enable remote environmental control. Employees use a mobile phone or an AI assistant to turn down the lights and up the HVAC. #5- Collaboration Technology It’s disruptive to hunt for the right cords or set up projectors. Equip your meeting spaces with plug-n-play technology options. A space built for meeting conveniences makes it simple to run impromptu collaborative sessions. Besides projectors or smart screens, consider auto-tinting privacy walls or built-in video conferencing. #6- Distributed antenna system (DAS) This is a small piece of technology that you might not think about, but could really enhance tenant or employee satisfaction. Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) prevent dead spots or dropped calls inside a building. Everyone has a mobile device and needs access whether in the elevator or standing by a window in a boardroom. The DAS ensures they keep connection no matter where they stand. Addressing potential tenant’s technology needs is equally vital to designing a useful and attractive work environment. Make a commitment to deliver a contemporary workspace with the latest in tech amenities.

Ask a white-collar business professional to describe a conference room, and you’ll likely get descriptors like “cold,” “bland,” or “boring.” While we can’t make dull content more exciting through spatial design, we can up the ante on a conference room’s wow-factor using tech. Deliver a comfortable, engaging, and smart conference room thanks to artificial intelligence applications. AI Conference Room Applications Voice transcription Do you assign someone to create transcripts from a meeting record? Make AI that someone. AI automatically generates meeting transcripts while the meeting is happening. There is zero lag time between the meeting’s end and transcript availability. As soon as business concludes, share the transcript. Easier notifications The simplest of AI technology available today automates functions like scheduling and reminders. Send notification of the meeting beforehand, automatically notify others when the meeting has concluded. Spark Assistant uses voice command to start and end meetings, and to record the proceedings through voice command. Smart search Important meetings and conferences often are recorded for later upload and sharing. Video is a valuable resource for expanding the meeting’s reach and for posterity. However, as anyone who’s had to watch a meeting video later can attest, these videos are often filled with irrelevant information. AI’s ability to recognize people and transcribe voice allows for an intelligent video search. Now viewers cut right to the content they want to see. Noise suppression “I like hissing noises,” said no video viewer, ever. This is a small feature that enhances the video and audio quality from recorded meetings. According to Frost & Sullivan, machine learning technology can recognize and suppress background noises, like crowd murmur or a noisy HVAC. Voice Control Create a more comfortable conference experience through voice control. Stop asking Susan to turn down the lights. With Alexa for Business, simply say, “Alexa, dim lighting,” and voilà! Paired with smart room technology, AI controls the temperature, adjusts lighting, lowers the blinds, plays music, or changes the information displayed on the search. Order lunch in the middle of a meeting without stepping out. Who Offers AI for Business? Besides the mentioned Amazon Alexa for Business and Cisco Spark Assistant, other providers offer AI with conference room features. Microsoft Teams is working on speech recognition for multiple speakers in multiple languages. Zoom’s cloud-based video conferences already offer voice-command to initiate and schedule meetings. Soon it will automate meeting transcripts and identify each speaker. Startup Workfit plans to launch an assistant, Eva, that will highlight important action items and sync to a CRM.

BOMA recently released its 600-respondent survey, "Commercial Real Estate Technology Trends 2018." The survey feedback produced some interesting findings on how building operators and managers incorporate technology. Check out these standout results on commercial real estate technology implementation. #1- Only four percent of owners and asset managers consider themselves highly effective technology users. At this stage of global technology adoption, this is mind-blowing. Just four percent are highly effective technology users? Let’s elaborate: BOMA classified early adopters as achievers. In the survey, property managers and property maintenance staff had a higher likelihood of being “achievers,” or adopting technology early. The result shows owners and asset managers lag behind in adopting new technology solutions. #2- Early adoption is crucial for technology effectiveness in CRE. If your company has a wait-and-see approach to technology adoption, this may provide more incentive to jump onto a new development. BOMA’s survey found, “Achievers are four times more likely than Trailers to try new solutions as soon as they are available.” Why does this matter? Adopting a technology product or service takes some time to produce meaningful results, even for the friendliest user interfaces. Achievers are well into maximizing the technology’s capabilities and producing cost savings or operational improvements while Trailers are still wondering if they should adopt a product. #3- Solutions mandated by corporate offices or building owners are 20 percent more likely to be “highly effective” than solutions selected at the property level. Property-level decision-making is important, but many property managers are more concerned with day-to-day management than value-adding. Corporate involvement in decision-making indicates an active interest in the property’s performance. They want to have meaningful conversations with their ground-level staff about specific operational measures. The top-down integration allows asset managers to compare the individual property performances against other properties for better strategic decision-making. This guidance helps improve overall operations. #5- Time and resource constraints are the largest obstacle to replacing underperforming CRE technology solutions. This is probably true of many industries. We could all use more time and more resources. It may seem simpler to keep putting patches on legacy software rather than migrating to a whole new system. After all, transferring to a new system involves increased costs and time lost in training to consider. However, while there may be a short-term blip in performance, adopting new, integrated solutions can quickly simplify managing CRE properties. Over time, the cost of transferring to a new system could be mitigated by a more efficient workflow. #6- More than half of CRE professionals expect artificial intelligence/machine learning and drone technologies to have a significant or profound impact on the future of the industry. More evidence of AI’s disruption in the CRE industry. We are excited about the growing number of machine learning and AI applications in commercial real estate. Drone technologies improve marketing, construction planning, and construction monitoring. #7-Integrated, multi-function solutions are rated as “highly effective” 2x as often as stand-alone systems (and 1.5x more often than proprietary/ in-house systems). Integrate, integrate, integrate. Data silos are breaking down. Commercial real estate professionals want solutions that talk to each other. This survey result backs up the emphasis on APIs and partnerships with other CRE tech providers.

What happens when you bring artificial intelligence into your workplace? You add tremendous potential to boost productivity. However, adding AI isn’t as simple as plug-and-play. Adding AI might drastically alter your team operations. Commercial real estate professionals must be prepared to manage and interact with numerous intelligent agents. Laying the Groundwork We often expect humans to make decisions at every stage of a process. AI requires us to release some of that decision-making. That doesn’t mean humans are less important. We are key to comprehending the data and making relevant judgments based on what the AI discovers. Adding an AI system means you will have to adjust your workflows and established task routines. This goes back to letting go of some decision-making. Think about what systems you want to reduce time or expense, and what you will gain with the time earned back. Be prepared to re-assign work or modify job descriptions because the AI took over a task. Are your staff equipped with the necessary skills to handle the change? Training for Humans and Machines It’s a misconception that AIs are programmed to do specific functions. AI is called machine learning technology for a reason. It needs programming to learn and become personalized. Be ready to teach your AIs how to interact and how to do a variety of tasks. The more the program does that action, the better it will become. Take a chatbot as an example. AI chatbots study past customer interactions to find patterns that achieve the desired outcomes. That knowledge helps AI generate the best responses, helping it improve customer engagement over time. Humans need education about artificial intelligence and how it works. Some may fear AI or robotics taking away their jobs. While our daily tasks will change, the need for human interaction will not. Focus on the skills that make people different from machines: creativity, adaptability, and interpersonal skills. These are crucial characteristics for commercial real estate success. Humans are key to the problem-solving that makes deals work. Expectations for AI Adoption When the time comes to add AI to your team, be clear about the anticipated benefits. You should be able to measure processes before and after the AI’s addition to prove positive outcomes. Generally speaking, AI should make your CRE business more competitive by automating mundane but essential tasks. Staff should have more time to handle the most essential work of nurturing relationships. Gradually introduce AI technology to the team. Adding three or four solutions at once can overwhelm team members and significantly disrupt the workflow. Bring on a solution and make the appropriate changes before adding the next level of AI.

The #1 tenant & resident management platform for all property types & portfolio sizes, Bixby is an easy to use web and mobile app that combines all your resident relations activities into one place. Our team at CREtech recently caught up with Bixby to learn more about their site, strategy and vision. What does your site do? Bixby is a building amenity platform that makes it easy for property owners and managers to provide top quality service to their tenants and residents. Our web and mobile app helps management teams automate and organize their operations, resulting in less time and money spent on maintenance calls, overseeing repairs, and collecting payments. At the same time, tenants and residents benefit from a better building experience through access to on-demand services, weekly discounts and promotions, and a single platform to interface with their smart-home devices. What problems are you solving for commercial real estate professionals? The real estate industry is reckoning with the demands of the modern tenant who expects strong in-person and digital community, premium amenities, and just an overall exceptional experience in their home and office. Real estate professionals that put an emphasis on implementing a software interface for their property will have an incredible advantage in attracting the best tenants. We view this digital experience and community building as a necessity, not just a nice-to-have. What is the latest news? Bixby serves more than 300 property managers across 2,000 properties and 10,000 tenants. We also power more ten "white-label" products with our technology, in which we build, maintain, and host apps specific to a property management operation and brand. The core Bixby product has improved significantly, having recently announced new features like our amenity reservation module and new integrations with companies like TransitScreen. One of the more exciting events at Bixby this year is our recent acquisition of WorkOrderes, a work-order management software. The acquisition allows us to offer a free product that can serve small and large facility management teams while creating a funnel of leads to convert to the Bixby platform over time. This acquisition aligns with our strategy to become a diversified real estate technology business with multiple brands working together to serve different client needs and markets. Next month, we’re going to announce a new round of funding, as well as our expansion into several new markets internationally. We’ve also added three new advisors to the Company (Evan Minskoff of Tumblr, Stephen Kong of Modern Luxury, and Leland O’Conner of AR Capital) to help guide the business as we move into the next phase of growth. What are your views on the current real estate tech sector? The real estate tech sector is really hitting its’ stride thanks to increased adoption of technology by the larger players as a result of a more tech-savvy tenant and resident population, as well as support from venture capital, local government and the media. The aspect of real estate tech that we’re most interested in at Bixby is the ability to monetize real estate assets and their occupants in new ways beyond rental income and the shift towards a concept known as “space as a service.” Technology not only allows management teams to operate more efficiently, but also creates opportunities for new revenue streams as traditional residential and commercial properties expand their service offering and seek new ways to sustain NOI through cycles of over-supply without making expensive capital improvements. What are your future plans? The goal for Bixby is to operate as a technology partner to the real estate industry. As technology plays an increasingly important role in real estate operations, few companies will have the expertise, know-how, and resources to develop software and hardware solutions that maintain their competitiveness in the market, both in terms of attracting tenants and reducing operating expense. From a product perspective, we’re focused on integrating machine learning and AI attributes to our product that will further automate maintenance-related processes. Simultaneously, we’re looking to expand our offering both organically by investing in the Bixby platform, but also inorganically through acquisitions that expand our addressable market. Connect with them @LiveBixby, Facebook and LinkedIn! About CREtech Our mission at CREtech is to connect the commercial real estate and tech sectors, bringing a new age of innovation, investment and growth to the industry. The platform features the largest events, most comprehensive aggregated news database and company directory in the sector. CREtech is owned and operated by The News Funnel, the leading content, connectivity and event platform devoted to the commercial real estate industry. To learn more about becoming a sponsor, a list of upcoming events and other exciting news, please click here or email kateri@cretech.com.  

By Anjee Solanki, National Director, Retail Services, Colliers The property market is one of the most competitive niches in the world, and the future of extended reality is about to up its game. Extended reality and more familiarly, VR tech is revolutionary as it allows prospective clients to experience site selection without incurring any expense other than their time. With greater viewability from ‘virtually’ anywhere in the world, CRE brokers and landlords have the potential to scale their reach well beyond the traditional prospect list. Reality’s bite is bigger than you think What I am most interested in: how the CRE industry can leverage this new tech to maximize the exterior of the buildings for the landlords and the brands we represent. Strategically speaking, mixed reality and all the conceptual technologies to follow could very well offer a lucrative revenue stream for CRE. While significant to building owners’ revenue, it comes with a marginal impact on the physical space and provides added value to its tenants. Consider that the next phase of extended realism will broaden the capabilities of the underutilized physical facade of a building or a retail space and turn it into built capital. Think of it as a virtual billboard able to engage consumers through the facilitation and distribution of data in a three-dimensional interface. The data then adds an overlay of synthetic content anchored to the real world to create authentic and memorable brand experiences that resonate with the user.   Monetizing the Media Mix of the Future As CRE insiders we know the valuation swing for commercial property is largely dependent on location, demand, interest rates and the elasticity of the market. When you factor the intrinsic value–-which in this case would be the combined perception of the tangible (the building) and intangible (an MR overlay) variables of a property, pricing formulas can get murky. Do we lead with traditional calculations of linear square feet multiplied by the three-dimensional rendering in the virtual space? Alternatively, should we quantify brand impressions based on the immersive experience, as is the norm for advertising tech studies and the IAB? As we figure out how best to price the surface rights--the area on the exterior parcel of real estate, we are in fact creating another vertical in the real estate sector. Fifty years ago the new frontier expanded upwards to the sky, in 2018 we’re thinking in multidimensions about what can be seen and unseen through the viewfinder of a smartphone. As innovative as air rights were, this new age of mixed reality will bring greater depth to what we can do for our tenants and CRE as a whole, and I for one, am eager to ‘see’ where we’re heading.   ### Read more on how revolutionary tech will impact the CRE landscape in Colliers’ Retail 2018 Global Market Report, The R/evolution Starts Now.   Anjee is National Director, Retail Services USA, of Colliers International. Based in San Francisco and with 20 years of experience, she provides strategic leadership to over 485 specialized retail professionals across 89 markets. Connect with me on Twitter @AnjeeSolankiCRE To read more from Anjee, click here.

In Texas, they’re experimenting with the first Hyperloop “railway” which has the potential to eliminate the need for highways in the future – granted a far off future from today. But if it works at 620 mph (faster than the fastest high speed trains) from Dallas to Houston in less than a half an hour, we could definitely see it replacing air travel and eliminating much of the highway congestion plaguing nearly all 50 states. While a future that looks more like the future in sci-fi movies with elevated pods streaking above freeways may be off in a somewhat distant future, there are buildings that we’ve all grown up with that technology could make obsolete in the next several years. Here are just 5 types of real estate that could disappear. 5 Building Types that Could Disappear Below are just some of the buildings that may soon become obsolete. These 5 real estate types are already seeing a dwindling and could be the first to go away for good. #1: Parking Lots For the environment, for millennials that crave walkable cities, the move toward a future where there are fewer parking lots is upon us. However, if autonomous vehicles take off the way that many investors are banking on (add that to Hyperloop systems mentioned above) and there will be little need for massive parking structures that have been fixtures of the American landscape for decades. #2: Banks Hardly anyone takes the time to visit local bank branches anymore. Practically all banking from the simplest checking account to a multi-million dollar business account is handled with little face-to-face interaction at an actual bank. It all occurs online leading many to speculate how long these stalwart buildings will last in the face of mobile and online banking. #3: Offices Perhaps most decidedly, one of the structures we’ve gotten used to seeing and needing for decades could be going away. The standard office building from small business park structures to tall skyrise offices may soon become obsolete as the mobile workforce and co-working models continue to grow. #4: Rental Offices Even the rental office could become a thing of nostalgia soon. With all of the building management apps and websites that enable tenants to make requests, pay rent, submit an application, and upload paperwork, the need for actual front office personnel at rental properties is fast becoming redundant in today’s tech environment. #5: Gas Stations Just as millennials desiring more eco-friendly solutions are driving the future-without-parking-lots trend, they are also pushing an electric car and carless future. As future drivers opt to walk, ride, or use public transportation, the ones that do maintain their own vehicles will likely be driving electric cars that run on electricity that they get by plugging their cars into their home charging ports. All of these changes are going to have lasting effects on how commercial real estate is valued and marketed. For some real estate types, the future is still distant, but for some of the everyday buildings that sustained American life for the last 50+ years, it is only a matter of time before they go the way of Blockbuster and RadioShack.  

Within the commercial real estate industry, the explosion of technology and data availability has resulted in a fragmented collection of various tools. RealNex is reshaping real estate by combining the most efficient and productive of those tools into one comprehensive suite. Our team at CREtech recently caught up with RealNex to learn more about their site, strategy and vision. What does your site do? RealNex provides an end-to-end solution for commercial real estate professionals. It starts with our CRE-centric CORE CRM that efficiently enables the tracking of buildings, spaces, comps, people, companies and all their interrelations to facilitate business development and deal management. Then, once business is secured, our MarketEdge easily creates powerful financial analyses for investment sales or lease alternatives, as well as comprehensive presentations for proposals, BOVs, flyers and full offering memorandums. To complete the cycle our dynamic MarketPlace brings together a vast community to drive transactional liquidity. Transactions are facilitated with targeted e-Marketing campaigns to proprietary databases, and hosted due diligence in private and secure Deal Rooms What problems are you solving for commercial real estate professionals? Historically CRE professionals have been slow to adopt technology, inasmuch as there were many siloed solutions that provided limited scope. To access a complete solution, they would need to license and stitch together multiple products. This required multiple layers of vendors, subscription management, support conflicts, training and data integration. A very cumbersome, costly and time-consuming process that discouraged adoption. Our vision was to create one simple, complete, integrated solution, delivering overwhelming value at a low cost. The RealNex Solution saves our users time and money while delivering the most complete solution. What is the latest news? We have recently completed the migration of our powerful desktop CRM (REA) to the Cloud, and we have consolidated our property listing system (PropertyLine) and marketing engine (BuzzTarget) into our new brand-new MarketPlace. The most recent enhancements to the CORE CRM are Timelines and Saved Searches. The new Timelines feature allows users to create templates of oft repeated complex, multi-step, multi-participant processes and routines and swiftly apply them to new instances. Timelines efficiently drives accountability, consistency of service delivery and quality control. Another incredibly powerful addition to CORE CRM is the enhanced query and data filter capabilities. Multi-layer detailed filters allow users to hone in on exactly the right targets for business development and deal-making. The broad spectrum of enhancements to the MarketPlace makes the platform easier, faster and more robust, from better responsive design for mobile devices to dramatic improvements in speed.  A new menu structure also makes the user experience simpler and even more intuitive. From a functional standpoint the primary focus of the new capabilities is in the areas of Search, Listing Management and Reports. And, our new MP Direct plugs into a client website, while our MP Exchange provides a hosted search engine for regional associations and economic development agencies. What are your views on the current real estate tech sector? We are at a very exciting and transformative time for CRE Tech. With clients demanding greater efficiency and visibility into their portfolio status and activities, CRE professionals are seeking tools the meet the needs. And, the tech sector is rapidly responding with a host of solutions. With capital plentiful and demand high, we have gone from a problem of too little CRE Tech to meet the needs to so much CRE tech that decision-making is difficult. We expect to see a wave of consolidation and the continued emergence of a handful of platform level solutions to serve the industry well. What are your future plans? We continue to hone and refine our existing tools and solution set. We look to complement our complete market facing suite with the back-office systems that drive operational efficiency and enterprise performance. We are also poised to integrate immersive 3D-Tech, enhance transaction facilitation and roll out our solutions globally. Connect with them @RealNex, Facebook and LinkedIn! About CREtech Our mission at CREtech is to connect the commercial real estate and tech sectors, bringing a new age of innovation, investment and growth to the industry. The platform features the largest events, most comprehensive aggregated news database and company directory in the sector. CREtech is owned and operated by The News Funnel, the leading content, connectivity and event platform devoted to the commercial real estate industry. To learn more about becoming a sponsor, a list of upcoming events and other exciting news, please click here or email kateri@cretech.com.

Adopting a new tech platform is a big deal for commercial real estate companies. The days of adopting tech for adoption’s sake are over. Brands want the new solution to be worth its weight in gold for employees. Real estate brands are more cautious and expect a clear statement of value beyond empty promises of return on investment and cost savings. Other considerations include: How will this add value to client services? Commercial real estate professionals entice clients with amenities. It’s how real estate stays competitive. Purchasing another service must position the real estate professional above their competitors. For instance, a WiredScore Certification guarantees the tenant will have Internet access to sufficiently run their business. This service helps the building owner market their property and increase rent potential. An IoT installation improving security adds peace of mind for tenants. A location analytics service delivers deeper insights into a potential space to inform a clients’ acquisition or leasing decision-making. Or, maybe the tech platform will automate processes allowing the professional to spend more time with clients. Whatever its purpose, the tech platform must translate how it increases client value. How will this enhance existing services? Clients seeking tech solutions are asking, “How can we do this process better?” The platform must outline how its platform improves the existing products or processes. Integrations with other technology are an important consideration in the adoption process. Real estate brands don’t always look outward for innovation. JLL turns inward, finding people who have with ideas to enhance the company’s existing service offerings through its Da Vinci Award program. More brokers are becoming tech providers, meaning existing tech solutions must raise the bar in demonstrating why CRE professionals need their solution. Does this lay the structure for future growth? The tech solutions commercial real estate clients choose must support growth. Zinwave CEO Scott Willis thinks of the right tech choices as future-proofing buildings. A real estate brand might look for a cloud-based platform with varying subscriptions levels to scale with anticipated growth. Or, a new construction project manager seeks new hardware compatible with 5G. CRE firms are thinking ahead and are curious about the features tech platforms or hardware providers plan to add. Does this solution offer mobility? Just a few years ago, around two-thirds of small businesses indicated their business would not survive without mobile technology. This work anywhere, anytime mindset is vital for collaborating teams, which how is commercial real estate operates. CRE tech adopters want their solutions to be as mobile as they are. Using mobile apps improves cost efficiency, reduces time lags, and increases team productivity. Commercial real estate professionals making decisions about adopting a new tech platform obviously consider return on investment and cost, but more factors play a purchasing role. At Bisnow's Chicago CRE and Urbantech Summit, QuadReal Property Group Executive Vice President Cheryl Gray said tech adoption is about preparing for the future. These factors help commercial real estate tech adopters decide if the service is right for them.

Seattle was ranked by PwC as the number one real estate market for 2018, in part because of their technology readiness. According to the survey, Seattle more than any other market is home to the largest percentage of workers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields – double the national average. Residents are also tech smart. Nearly 95% of households in Seattle own a computer and nearly 90% have high speed internet. There are many trends that are shaping the commercial real estate tech industry over this year. Here are a dozen poised to shape the industry moving forward: #1: More Changes to Work Spaces – The millennial effect began the workspace changes, now Gen Z is bringing a tech focus to commercial real estate in the workplace, retail, and multifamily. #2: More Innovative Housing Options – There is a housing shortage growing across the country. Although far fewer GenX and millennial adults own homes than previous generations, the new trend of boomers staying at home combined with over 150 million Gen Z and millennial homebuyers entering the market, housing options are going to get more innovative including 3D printed housing. #3: The “Silver Tsunami” Hits the CRE Market – Boomers by and large have left the workforce, now they are moving to senior housing. More active and living longer than previous generations, commercial investors are eyeing multifamily assets in order to be in position when the silver tsunami soon hits commercial real estate in full force. #4: More Disruptive Commercial Real Estate Tech Coming Online – Co-working spaces, proptech firms, and many new fintech tools are going to further disrupt the commercial real estate market. #5: AI Will Transform Big Data Analysis – Big data analysis is going to continue to be enhanced and strengthened by automation and artificial intelligence. Smart leases, lead prospecting, customer management, and agent recruiting will all be impacted over 2018 by AI technology. #6: Energy Saving Smart Features Will Become Standard – Millennials and Gen Z care more about the environment but seniors and millennials also want more energy savings through Smart technology built into homes and apartments. Expect many of these features to become standard this year. #7: New Commercial Real Estate Tech Companies Offering AI Enhanced Platforms – New commercial real estate tech firms are going to continue to expand the powers of AI specifically for commercial real estate agents and brokers. Expect more platforms to come online offering increasingly detailed and machine learned analysis for sales as well as property management. #8: Blockchain Will Continue to Evolve in the Commercial Real Estate Sector – Blockchain’s complete disruption to commercial real estate appears to be at least a few years off, but expect to see the technology continue to evolve in this sector this year. #9: Data Centers in Secondary Cities Will Grow in Demand – Secondary cities will continue to attract new investors as e-commerce and the IoT require the use of more data centers. Places like Portland, Virginia, and North Carolina have become prime targets for commercial real estate investors. #10: Office Buildings Will Continue to Shrink – Office spaces are shrinking and most businesses don’t even need a building. Co-working and remote work will continue to shrink the modern office building transforming small retail spaces into office space. #11: Tenants and Buyers Will Demand Tech Infrastructure Upgrades – In order to support Smart technology, the infrastructure of buildings has to be wired for wireless. Expect more buyers and tenants to demand those upgrades rather than pay less for assets without modern infrastructure. #12: Construction and Design Continue to be Further Automated – Housing shortages, rising prices, and conservation-minded millennials will continue to push 3D home building technology over 2018 to include automated house printers, carpenters, and new design software to make incredible strides in 3D house printing.  

Occupancy sensors help office decision makers decide how to best utilize their workspaces, but some employees fear this technology impinges upon their privacy. As seen in the United Kingdom, the Daily Telegraph’s employees created an uproar that led to removal twenty-four hours after installation. Barclay’s experienced some similar pushback. When deploying occupancy sensors, it's important to keep employees informed about what the sensors can and can't do. How Occupancy Sensors Work Different occupancy sensors are available on the market. Typical sensors use infrared, ultrasonic waves, microwave, or something else, like Bluetooth to ping off smartphones. Passive infrared (PIR) sensors are very common in switches. These sensors monitor occupancy by detecting heat signatures. Ultrasonic occupancy sensors use the Doppler effect to detect movement in a space with many obstacles. Dual-tech sensors combine infrared with ultrasonic to turn on lights, HVAC, and other systems on and off. While sensor controlling building hardware systems is more commonplace today, and rarely receives pushback, building owners and tenants are now applying occupancy sensing technology to track space use. The data provides insights into a space’s occupancy rate, its traffic flow, and timing, and more. The analytics can drill down to which specific desks are used most frequently in a flexible office arrangement. These sensors use infrared, ultrasonic, camera monitoring or a combination to analyze space use. What Occupancy Sensors Can’t Do Occupancy sensors can not monitor individual productivity. While they can sense a table or desk was occupied for an hour, they don’t reveal what that person worked on during that hour. Smart sensing technology can identify patterns in movement around a space, but it does not track individuals around a space. The data does not reveal employee John arrived at the office at 8:32 am, spent 30 minutes near the coffee maker, or leaves his desk 10 minutes of every hour.   Communicating with Employees A professional colleague mentioned he started hearing a hissing noise in his office space. After his co-worker mentioned hearing the noise, he let his boss know about the noise. To his surprise, it turned out the office had installed a white noise system. Instead of a malfunctioning HVAC system, the office was attempting to boost productivity! The take back is clear: it’s vital to communicate to employees when implementing a new tech solution. Be clear about the installation objectives, when employees can expect installation and use, and where they can provide feedback. Share the data outcomes with employees as evidence the system is being used as promised. Keeping employees advised about new technology impacting their workplace builds trust in management. Especially with occupancy sensors, when fears of “big brother is watching” create pushback, communication and understanding is key to a successful implementation.

We work coast-to-coast and across the pond with distributed teams, and so do our commercial real estate clients. Without winning collaboration tools, we couldn’t keep delivering outstanding client service. These eight tech platforms recognize the need for friendly user interfaces and simplified information effective teamwork. Some are purpose-built for the commercial real estate industry while platforms are flexible enough to fit our unique needs. #1- Workframe Landlords, tenants, and brokers track, manage documents, and communicate about all phases of a project lifecycle through the Workframe platform. Purpose-built for real estate and facility management teams, it adapts to real estate projects and deals of all complexities. Use the platform with new builds or handling day-to-day facility maintenance. One feature worth highlighting is “Smart Drawing,” which places all the tasks, approvals, and conversations into a spatial context. #2- Dealpath Dealpath’s intelligent software and collaboration platform helps commercial real estate investors manage deals from start to finish. Clients increase team accountability and improve transparency when evaluating and executing deals. By using Dealpath, users create deal templates that lead to a standardized evaluation process. The platform’s analytics and real-time reports review every deal the team has evaluated, closed or lost for valuable performance insights. #3- Trello Trello adapts to its users, allowing clients the flexibility to organize and prioritize projects based on their needs. Teams see progress on every step of a process using boards, lists, and cards. Users add attachments or comments to its cards to enhance project collaboration. The platform integrates with Slack, Evernote, Dropbox, and others. #4- ClientLook While ClientLook is best known as a powerful CRM, their virtual war room that shines for collaboration between commercial real estate brokers and their clients. Real estate professionals using the service create secure online deal rooms with real-time access to information. Storage space is unlimited, so users can share offers, reports, and marketing materials. Let clients all activity on every deal you share with them, keeping them informed in real-time on their terms. #5- MREN MREN’s collaboration platform centralizes commercial real estate investment management and its supporting efforts on various levels. For collaboration, MREN’s “MRooms” offer virtual collaboration around deals. Additionally, it offers instant group or private chats. The platform’s controls document distribution down to the folder and file level. MREN’s user-friendly program built to work with existing corporate systems and processes. #6- Samepage With team chat, video conferencing, and real-time document collaboration, Samepage is all about keeping teams informed. Clients share and edit content in real-time from any device. Invite vendors or contractors into the collaborative process with expansive permission levels. Project managers can view deadlines through calendar view or switch to task management to see progress. Samepage’s productivity options allow teams to work in real-time on a document while chatting about that same document. #7- Box Box shares and edits files anytime, anywhere. The biggest advantage of Box is security. Commercial real estate information is sensitive. Using Box, important documents exist securely in the cloud. Box integrates with Slack, Salesforce, GSuite, and more. #8- Dotloop Dotloop’s collaboration features help real estate teams collaborate for better transaction management. Creating transaction templates is easy. Team admins quickly move between agent profiles to assist and keep deals moving. It tracks all user activity for quick compliance reports.

By:  Gabrielle McMillan, Equiem founder and CEO Amenities used to be the number one tool employers used to attract and retain great talent. But now that responsibility has shifted. Beginning at the very top of premium commercial property, communal facilities such as luxury change rooms, in-house gyms, high-end cafes and flexible co-working spaces are now commonplace in our buildings, levelling the field, and changing the way individuals and employers choose a workspace. As workspaces have become more integrated in the lives of their occupants, it’s crucial we understand exactly what people want. With over 100,000 users and +55 million square feet of real estate in our portfolio, we’ve found that the needs of even seemingly identical buildings can vary dramatically.  Last year Equiem launched two premium assets. They were similar buildings, with comparable square footage and population, but the needs of their occupants were completely different. One focussed on convenience and speed of delivery. The other turned its attention toward community events and building a sense of unity. With people working out, eating out and even socialising inside the same building, property owners have an opportunity to touch almost every part of the occupant’s life. Introducing yoga studios and boxing gyms allow people to fit more into their busy routine, while popular cafes, green areas and meeting spaces encourage collaboration between firms in the building. Only once the needs of a building are established can property managers start to develop a strategy to meet them. Equiem is helping its clients to unlock information and streamline the planning process.  One of our largest clients recently completed a portfolio-wide survey of their occupants. They found a staggering 96% of the community were interested in health and wellness. This allowed the client to confidently invest in free fitness classes for its members, curate content that helps people make healthier decisions and add luxury communal change rooms to their assets. Our data consistently shows that the key focus areas where landlords can add the most value for their tenants are with high-quality onsite food and beverage options, flexible common workspaces and by providing better access to health and wellness services. Fortunately, creating a great experience for your occupants isn’t just about having the latest and greatest bricks and mortar facilities. Soft services like pop-up lunchtime fitness classes, self-improvement workshops and even after hours events can be combined with useful content, valuable partnerships and exclusive offers to create a unique experience. These packages can be fit into almost any budget and are rolled out quickly to the community. The final piece of the strategy is putting in place a robust system to support the success of your amenities. Along with industry-leading communication, engagement platforms like Equiem’s, also facilitate event bookings, encourage RSVP’s and create a centralized location for information.  Year on year we see that buildings with an active Portal increase the usage rate of their facilities and provide more value to their occupants. While we can’t predict the next big trend in building amenities, we can leave room for organic growth and be flexible with the requirements of our community. By adapting quickly to the demands of our tenants and correctly understanding their needs, property owners have become an integral link in creating the workplaces of tomorrow.   Enjoyed this article? Read more from Gabrielle, here.

Commercial real estate professionals are well aware of the role location plays in success. Every submarket has unique site demands: an office needs access to transportation, amenities, and a talented workforce; a shopping center needs high traffic close to ideal demographic centers; hospitality wants to be close to transportation or amenities. Finding the right place within the budget challenges decision-makers. Luckily, smart analytics tools provide deeper insights into the best locations for your office or retail location. Smart location analytics identifies: Demographics, both current and future trend prediction based on past movement. Solid markets for growth and maximum return on investment. These are often based on trends, like an increased number of businesses moving into an area or new properties coming online. Customer and competitor information. These better paint a picture of the ideal location environment. The information avoids oversaturating competitive markets and deepens what we know about local consumer behavior even when not on-site. Benefits of Spatial Smart Analytics Timely access to market analytics is crucial for jumping on acquisition or disposition trends, for positioning product or services near the target audience, and evaluating a potential site for expansion. When location matters as much as it does for commercial real estate properties, we need a better understanding of individual sites. Location data platforms like Alteryx offer intelligence blending geospatial visualization with demographical and territorial data. Analytics users add speed to their decision-making, quickly narrowing the ideal location hunt and reserving the right spot before it’s gone. Key Features Many platforms, like ESRI, offer smart analytics overlaid with spatial analytics and maps. Overlaying the information visually on an area map creates an easily digestible context for decision-makers. It’s easier to see how locations are changing with a color-coded real-life overlay than reading a report about retail waning along a particular corridor. ESRI users identify when market interest is declining in one area or a neighborhood ripe for revitalization. CBRE uses Forum Analytics to offer sales performance estimates based on the commercial activity surrounding locations. For retail and office properties, this important data clarifies a location’s potential revenue stream. Arcadia Data features the ability to go from an overarching market to single-view of potential properties. It visualizes changes in crime, demographics, geo-behaviors, location desirability, and other factors that may impact vacancy rates and NOI for better business intelligence. The platform additionally offers insight into repurposing information like community boundaries. More Location Intelligence Providers Carto offers customizable dashboards that give detailed data information like population density and economic output. Identify where to expand, set up and relocate by visualizing commercial and residential property locations. Pactriglo is a Los Angeles-based platform that simplifies the city’s complex zoning codes to help developers and investors quickly see the potential available at various properties around the city. Geoblink’s location intelligence platform specializes in real estate and retail. It combines public and private data to deliver insights. The platform uses machine learning, data bundling, and experienced data analysts to optimize information. Geoblink can simulate impacts of opening or closing a location in a potential area. Tango was chosen by Cushman & Wakefield for delivering cutting-edge insights at each stage of a project. Tango’s location predictive analytics work with a purpose-built GIS for market planning and site selection. The tool continues to offer end-to-end service with additional management services. PiinPoint aims to deliver an intuitive location intelligence platform. It delivers insights on points of interest, traffic count, and demographics as part of its suite. Create and share site packages amongst team members.

By: Elie Finegold, Real Estate and Technology Entrepreneur Congratulations! Through hard work, probably a connection or two in common, your compelling business model and execution plan and last, but by no means least, your winning personality, you’ve gotten me (or some other industry expert/influencer) to join the Advisory Board of your startup/growth company.  You and I have probably had a handful of conversations, and a couple face to face meetings. You may not realize this, but your new Advisor has probably talked to some of your investors, customers and partners, as well as sought a second opinion from other experts in the business. And we’ve reached and signed a fairly standard agreement giving me a piece of equity in your business in return for access to my experience, connections, and insights. Now what?  How do you maximize what I, as your Advisor can contribute to your company, while ensuring that I remain engaged and motivated to help your company succeed? Here are some practical tips gathered over the years. I’m guessing there are some founders out there who will recognize where they came from, for better or for worse.  Consider this my gentle nudge, or quiet applause. Also, I know the tone of this is direct, but I’m trying to write in the same, clear voice I use when advising portfolio companies.  Just ask any of them. #1 No Surprises. Ever!  I cannot overstate the importance of this tip.  As your Advisors, we expect to hear about every significant decision or milestone before it becomes public.  We don’t want to learn about it from social media, or a press release or, god-forbid, one of the relationships which we entrusted to you.  If you’re going to announce a strategy change, investment, or new partnership, take the time to inform your Advisors before it goes public.  A short simple clear note will do, delivered early enough to process the information and ask questions. This will help keep your Advisors happy, prevent them from feeling neglected and, most importantly, allow them to both advise you (see what I did there) and help you communicate your news to the market.  It can be a major asset to your company if you use us well, and it can damage your reputation if we feel surprised, because we’ve attached our reputations to whatever your company does. Yeah, sometimes we hit back – and we can hit harder than you, otherwise you’d be advising us. #2 Respect Our Relationships. One of the most valuable things an Advisor brings to the table is their network of financing, partnership and customer relationships.  These networks are built and nurtured over years through enormous efforts – by proving our value, being honest and kind, taking time to create a personal connection, adding value in every interaction, and being there to help when needed.  They are our most prized professional asset, and often our most personal professional relationships. So please, don’t screw them up. Don’t ask us to reach out to our network for something, only to change your mind after the fact. Be polite and be responsive.  Keep us informed of all significant interactions you have with the introductions we’ve made. And remember, they’re our relationships – if you screw it up, we’ll hear it from them first. That is not a good thing. #3 Stop Selling. If we’re on your Advisory Board, we’re sold.  When we send articles about competitors or the industry - unless there’s a specific note attached -  we’re just trying to keep you informed about the environment around you. We’re probably not trying to start an unstructured conversation in the middle of our busy schedules, and almost literally actually never because we want to hear you explain why you’re better than everyone else again.  We’re not hype-people when we’re talking with you. We don’t want to praise you for your strengths. Although we will certainly celebrate your successes, we really want to help you better understand the world in which you’re operating and identify and improve upon your areas of weakness.  Neither of us gets any value when you try to just sell over them. #4 Be Responsive.  This one is pretty basic to all relationships, but especially crucial in the Advisor scenario.  If we offer to do something for you, answer in a timely manner, because these things have a clock. If we spend time writing a long email to you and your team with extensive comments and analysis, do two things – acknowledge the contribution quickly, and respond thoughtfully when you have time.  We’ve just spent hours working, trying to give your company ideas to help you navigate a thorny issue, so tell us you’ve received them, then show us you’ve thought about them. #5 Understand Our Limits.  We’ve committed to helping you as an Advisor but in some cases, it goes deeper.  Maybe we’re helping you prepare for fundraising by reviewing your deck and pitch, maybe we’re hand-holding the acquisition of a customer or strategic partner, maybe helping you recruit a key position or solve a thorny management problem.  There’s a point at which we’re doing significantly more work than we agreed to. There’s no clear bright line here but, in the words of Justice Stewart, you know it when you see it. Be proactive. Ask if it is too much or offer some additional compensation for our above-and-beyond efforts.  If we have to ask you, we’re probably already pissed. Get ahead of it. #6 Keep Us Connected and Informed. One of the reasons Advisors work with startups, beyond helping you succeed, is to meet new people, be engaged with interesting ideas, and forge new creative connections.  The best thinking comes from good conversations, and if you do it right those conversations will be between each and all of your Advisors, board members, senior executives, and you.  We are Advisors to the Company, not to you the CEO – so engage us accordingly. Find opportunities to get us all together, in person occasionally, online or by phone regularly. Send out regular updates to the entire group (which also helps avoid surprises). We can do more for you together than we can alone, so when it’s appropriate, make it a group conversation. You’ll get much more from the relationships, and so will we. #7 Have an Agenda and Send It in Advance. When we sit down or get on the phone to spend focused time together, you’ll get a lot more from it if you have an organized agenda for us to discuss, along with some free-form time at the end.  Get your facts straight and demonstrate that you have begun to think it through. If you’re really on your game, you’ll get that agenda out by the night before the meeting. That way, we’ll have time to get prepared and will have thought through the issues.  Rather than getting our first reactions, you’ll get our thoughtful insights. Remember, the separation is in the preparation. #8.  Be Candid, Be Honest.  We’re here to help you with your challenges, but we can’t if you’re not open about them.  Candid dialogue will allow us to engage with you on your thorniest issues because, if we’re advising you, we’ve probably been through something similar, and have a relevant idea or two to contribute to the discussion.  Patience and communications build understanding and teamwork. Help us understand your business – you know it better than we do and our judgement, which is ultimately what you bargained for, is more useful when we appreciate the circumstances more fully.  And I know it goes without saying, but I will anyway- never, ever, ever, lie or obfuscate! That is the worst kind of surprise.  (See #1.) In summation, Advisors can be an enormous asset to the growth of your business if utilized well, but it takes thought, sensitivity and, like any relationship, continuous tending.  We do this because we genuinely want to help entrepreneurs and companies grow, and we are interested in you, your ideas, and your future. But it is also an investment, of time, relationships, our personal brands and our intellectual capital.  You are the fiduciary of that investment, and you should always treat them accordingly. Hopefully you’ll heed this Advisor’s advice. And even more hopefully, we’ll start a conversation from Founders about how Advisors can best serve them.   As your Advisor, I’m all ears. Enjoyed reading this article? Read more from Elie.  

Some days, it’s easy for commercial real estate project managers to feel swamped under an endless stream of emails, document approvals, and meetings. Looking for technology solutions to manage the workflow? These platforms help project managers tackle their workflow mountains like a pro. #1. Workframe Built for real estate and facilities management, Workframe’s platform works with new builds or daily facility maintenance. Keep track of milestones, timelines, and conversations. To simplify collaboration, all communication about the work stays inside the app. Of note is the smart drawing feature, which places tasks and conversations into a physical context. #2. Trello Customize Trello’s boards, lists, and cards to organize and prioritize projects from start to finish. The platform syncs across all devices and allows for attachments. It has some templates, like a board for fix-and-flip real estate teams, but its flexible formatting could easily adapt to commercial real estate projects. #3. SmartSheet SmartSheet allows project managers to collaborate in real-time. The platform tracks tasks, calendars, files and dashboard from multiple devices. Integrations include DocuSign, SalesForce, and Dropbox. It includes various subscription levels to fit different team sizes and has a free 30-day trial. #4. Asana Companies use Asana to track teams and their results. Another platform that allows users to create usable templates, it can be customized for commercial real estate transactions and project workflows. Assign priorities to different team members and add deadlines. Deloitte is one of the major brands that use Asana for their workflows. #5. Airtable Airtable’s mobile and desktop apps enhance real-time collaboration. Add attachments, checkboxes, links to other records, and more. Users can pick the content view that works best for them: gallery, grid, calendar, or Kanban. Smart relationships between content cut down on some busy work. Airtable integrates with Google Drive, Dropbox, Mailchimp, and much more. #6. Slack Slack’s team communication tool eliminates the crowded inbox and text chain. Communication happens in one place for all team members to see. By creating channels for various topics, the information stays streamlined and distributed to essential stakeholders. Finding specific content is easy with a fast and filterable search. Slack integrates with Trello, Dropbox, Google Drive and more.

Apparently, the commercial real estate technology industry is full of love. Blog after blog talks about “embracing” tech concept. AI. VR. Big data. Let’s hug and move to the next base: finding how to use the existing technology tools to deliver even better service outcomes. CRM Today’s CRE-oriented customer relationship managers (CRM) deliver some excellent options to supercharge their work. Let’s look at two ways an adopter could improve their CRM use. To get the most from a CRM, it must automatically sync with one important program: your calendar. The best platforms can see when a client appointment has been scheduled via email or calendar and automatically make note of the client contact. Even better? Fully integrating the CRM across the team. When CRMs are siloed, they limit the interactions other team members have with that client. It sells the brand short of forming deeper relationships with the person. This is especially true for service providers who may have separate marketing, sales, and customer service departments. Finally, it’s all about the pipeline. A CRM shouldn’t just track the contacts you have with a person but show where they are in the pipeline. CRMs like ReThinkCRE and Apto offer a deal pipeline dashboard to See what next steps must happen to move a client along the sales pipeline. This view shows where the hang-ups are or if there’s a problem converting clients during one particular stage. Predictive analytics Got predictive analytics? Now use them! They’re useful for budgeting, like estimating the return on a real estate investment. Heat maps overlaid with data pinpoint areas ripe for development. Important: track how and when predictive analytics are used. Predictive analytics usage should be cyclical. This means data application is followed by data review. Did the outcomes match the prediction? Why or why not? The answers inform what happens next. Schedule a quarterly or annual review to analyze the accuracy of your analytics program. Facility Management Property managers have a wealth of add-ons that enhance the suite of tools. Let’s assume most PMs have technology program handles digitized maintenance and work orders and online rent pay. What tools will make the community even better? For starters, some platforms offer automated alerts for rent pay. Think about how those automated notifications can be leveraged to build a community. Bixby’s platform uses push alerts to notify tenants of emergencies. Mallcomm’s platform integrates all retail center operations communications into a mobile application. Another place to leverage the tools? Maintenance. Track the right key performance indicators to get a real handle on your maintenance expenditures. Find what systems are draining your resources and could be replaced. Set operating expense goals in the reports and work towards them every day. Marketing Digitized marketing platforms are a huge time-saver. For property managers, stop logging into multiple listing sites. Some platforms, like Buildout, push updates across multiple platforms with a single click. Commercial real estate professionals using marketing programs should look into templates as another time-saver. Explore what automations are available for email and social marketing. Other marketing programs such as LeadSquared score leads, sorting unqualified from the qualified. Save valuable resources nurturing bona fide leads. Trigger emails based on actions: downloaded white paper, clicked link, etc. This is a huge time-saver. Rethink how you use your current platforms. Are you efficiently using all the available features?  Master your software’s options and maximize business returns.

By Ed Bartlett, Vice President of Capital Planning, Accruent Many tech-savvy real estate, architectural and engineering firms are streamlining their process for collecting and documenting facility site surveys and audits using business tools like Google Sheets and the built-in cameras on today’s smart phones and tablets. The transition from pencil and paper to these digital tools is easier than you may think since workers already have the hardware (smart phones and tablets), and the collaboration tools (like Google Sheets or Microsoft Office Live) to collect data and then share the information through cloud collaboration tools. Moving to digital tools can put real estate and A&E firms, and companies with large facilities portfolios on the path to greater profitability, competitiveness and enable the redeployment of staff to more important tasks. There are two ways to make the jump to digital tools – the do-it-yourself (DIY) approach or software specifically tailored to the planning and documentation needs of real estate, engineers, and architects. Through Kykloud’s work with hundreds of such companies, we have learned that impromptu tools, the DIY approach, presents challenges from human error, inconsistent deployment and a lack of support. The primary reason “software as a service” is a better choice in today’s digital age is efficiency, with most users able to cut in half the time needed to conduct and document site facility audits. While other single-use tools or point solutions can also be time savers, we’ve compiled the top five reasons why you should consider investing in a proven software solution instead of the DIY approach: Data reliability and consistency. The best software solutions have consistent, field-tested processes for data entry. DIY tools often end up with inconsistent or unclear nomenclature across users, leading to unreliable data, inconsistent entries and problems synching data across projects. Application Integration. Site audit data solutions add value by improving the effectiveness of other enterprise applications such as maintenance management, capital planning, lease management and project management. The best software has those integrations ready to go straight out of the box. Single-source-of-truth database. When facilities are a core competency, management needs an ironclad grasp on exactly what they have, where it is, and in what condition. All of that needs to be in a database they can always count on. DIY tools are unlikely to deliver a reliable, robust database that managers can bank on. Business critical databases need to deliver polished ready-to-use reports, with integrity protected through access controls and reliable backup and synching. Information security. When facilities are a key asset, their information needs to be protected from cyber threats and system failures. Free tools with limited protection can be vulnerable to access by unauthorized or unintended users, ransomware or malicious misuse. Confidential client data could be sold on putting advisers in breach of their client IP agreements. Kykloud is one of the very few tools that is certified to comply with ISO 27001, which is becoming a de-facto information security standard for government entities. Google Docs? Not so much. Support. While DIY tools can be easily created by a clever tech-oriented surveyor or engineer, will that person be available as their duties change or if they leave the company? Managers of mission-critical systems, need to know they’ve got a reliable long-term resource that can trouble-shoot any issue, add new custom features, or work ahead of the curve developing features such as mass data uploads and brand compliance validation. Find a partner that you can count on over the long term. While firms often take their first automation steps by enhancing general productivity tools, it’s time to recognize the next steps can greatly accelerate the benefits. Do your own assessment of whether the tools you have are worthy of the importance of the task. About Ed Bartlett Ed is co-founder of Kykloud, an Accruent company. As Vice President and General Manager of Capital Planning, Bartlett is focused on helping surveyors, building inspectors and asset managers deliver their expertise smarter, faster and more accurately. Bartlett is a frequent panelist at industry conferences where he speaks about using the latest web-based and mobile technologies to drastically reduce the time and cost it takes to survey and plan for the repair, maintenance and replacement to physical assets. Kykloud was the first to offer an iPad-based enterprise-class building surveying app in 2011 and has seen rapid adoption of the technology with over 150 million m2 (1.5 Billion sq ft) of property surveyed to date.

Starry loves the internet, but not the complicated plans, bloated bundles, and poor service. So they reinvented it from top to bottom. Our team at CREtech recently caught up with Starry to learn more about their site, strategy and vision. What does your company do? Starry is a new kind of internet service that uses next-generation technology to connect to buildings’ existing wiring and deliver a better internet experience. Using our advanced, proprietary millimeter wave technology, Starry delivers reliable high-speed internet service to homes across the country. We offer subscribers 200 Mbps down/up internet speeds for just $50/month—with no data caps or additional fees for equipment and installation. Starry also provides an elevated support service—offering white-glove installation, custom building launch events and 24/7 customer care. We are currently focused on the multifamily real estate sector and are working with building managers and owners to install our service in their buildings. What problems are you solving for commercial real estate professionals? Competition is high in the multifamily sector to attract and retain residents. Starry Internet is a minimally invasive upgrade that is a competitive differentiator for multifamily buildings. For building ownership, Starry installation is simple, full service, low-risk and cost-free, and can increase resident satisfaction and retention. Many consumers today have few or no options for their broadband provider. In a recent survey, 55% of renters said they would be more likely to renew their lease if they were happy with their internet service. An October 2017 NMHC study also revealed that high-speed internet access is the second-most important apartment feature for renters (after air conditioning), with 63% refusing to lease without it. High quality internet is looked at as an amenity—one that can attract and retain residents. What is the latest news? Starry’s beaming broadband tech is now available in Boston, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. We recently completed a $100 million funding round, which we will use to expand nationally. We are targeting several additional U.S. cities in 2018, with New York next on our list. To date, Starry has raised $163 million from a premier group of investors including FirstMark Capital, Tiger Global, IAC, KKR and HLVP. What are your views on the current real estate tech sector? We love seeing the real estate industry adopt new technologies that not only help their bottom line, but make a difference in people’s everyday lives. We are encouraged that many players in the real estate industry are going beyond adopting new technology by investing in/partnering with tech companies. Starry seeks to partner with property owners and managers who understand that exceptional internet service is no longer just a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity for any home. Prioritizing access to high-speed internet is a point of differentiation, and offering a reliable internet service option can enhance a building’s bottom line. Starry’s high-speed internet and customer service platform powers many real estate tech trends, such as work from home, resident communications, common area WiFi, security and so much more. Seamless integration is key when adopting new technologies in the real estate sector, and Starry is looking to partner with owners to leap their buildings into the future. What are your future plans? Starry is in hyper-growth mode, with a big focus on expanding our serviceability in Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington DC, as well as building out our capabilities in New York and 18 additional markets over the next year. Follow Starry on Twitter at @StarryInternet and connect on with them LinkedIn. About CREtech Our mission at CREtech is to connect the commercial real estate and tech sectors, bringing a new age of innovation, investment and growth to the industry. The platform features the largest events, most comprehensive aggregated news database and company directory in the sector. CREtech is owned and operated by The News Funnel, the leading content, connectivity and event platform devoted to the commercial real estate industry. To learn more about becoming a sponsor, a list of upcoming events and other exciting news, please click here or email kateri@cretech.com.

Investors are putting their money behind industry-changing artificial intelligence applications. One exciting field with implications for commercial real estate is computer vision, specifically, in image processing. After a photo shoot, processing usually takes hours. Meero is changing that timeline. With is proprietary application, AI reduces this processing time to seconds. About Meero Meero launched in 2016 with a game-changing artificial intelligence platform tackling image editing to speed up image processing. What takes a human hours to touch-up, its program can do in seconds. Meero is delivering quality real estate photos, videos, and 360-degree imagery with a 24-hour turnaround. The platform’s computer vision algorithm is backed by a unique 25-million photograph database for learning retouching. The results of its dual-deep convolutional neural network means it can edit lighting, semantics, and capture image defects. Just two years after its launch, Meero has over 40,000 professional photographers across 100 countries. Clients include Airbnb and Sotheby’s. Investors Backing Meero Eight months ago Meero closed its first $15M financing round. Now it announced the close of a  $45M second round led by Alven and Idinvest. Other investors include Global Founders Capital, Aglae Ventures, and White Star Capital. Meero plans to use the financing to open France’s largest computer vision center and new offices in the United States and Asia. “The fact that our historical investors are renewing their confidence and new supporters are joining the Meero adventure is encouraging us in the strategy we have chosen to pursue,” said Thomas Rebaud, co-founder and CEO of Meero in a press release. “This significant fundraising will enable us to accelerate our development, both commercially and technologically, and thereby consolidate our leading position in this market.” Meero is used by professionals capturing images in real estate, e-commerce, retail, food and lifestyle.

Smart building management technology isn’t just trendy. The sensors and online platforms maximize existing systems for optimal operational savings and tenant satisfaction. However, some sources claim implementing building management software (BMS) costs $2.50 per square foot at the minimum. Is utilizing the latest in smart building technology really that expensive? Let’s dive into the existing numbers regarding what commercial real estate owners and property managers could save from building management technology. BMS Estimated Deployment Costs Traditional BMS systems take around four years to recoup their installation investment, says Steve Raschke, former CEO of CANDI Controls, acquired by Altair. For small or midsize buildings, the high cost means these BMS systems are beyond reach. Consequently, the Department of Energy reports around 90 percent of the United States’ buildings operate without any smart technology. Why a BAS Could Save You Money Instead of a BMS, turn to a building automation system (BAS). These systems don’t require specialized expertise to install or monitor, making them more accessible and reasonable for smaller commercial real estate. Raschke said CANDI observed IoT-managed energy systems averaged $0.75 per square foot, significantly less than the $2.50 minimum of BMS systems. A BAS typically reduces equipment operating costs by 15 percent. According to Metropolitian Energy Coalition (MEPC), a BAS produces savings ranging from $0.20 to $0.40/square foot for most buildings. Total savings vary according to the type of equipment, the technology applied, and the building’s size. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) studied the impact of smart technology deployed in buildings. It found the average Class B office space saved 18 percent per building. Report author Christopher Perry said, “We estimate that smart building technologies can save the average office 18 percent in HVAC, 28 percent in plug load, and 33 percent in lighting energy.” Take a closer look at some of the numbers from smart building technology applications. HVAC Savings HVAC systems have a significant impact on a space’s energy costs and tenant comfort. Making a change as small as replacing thermostats with occupancy-based wireless thermostats that automatically reduce the system’s load when the space is vacant can save 5-10 percent in energy costs. ACEEE notes moving to a remote, smart learning system like Nest’s thermostats adds slightly more in operational savings. Advanced rooftop units control can cut HVAC use by 20-40 percent through using sensors to monitor existing temperature conditions. These units adjust temperature, humidity, and ventilation based on the exterior weather for optimal use. Smart Windows Another cool technology tool to control interior temperature? Adjusting light for seasons and time of day improves the work an HVAC system is doing. Lutron claims smart solar films with personal dimming control reduce the cooling load by 10-20 percent. The users control the dimming settings through apps or other wireless means. Lighting Savings Lighting is another high demand system for commercial spaces. Many smart building technologies for lighting have a high implementation cost. Take occupancy/daylight sensing technology, which the ACEEE says runs between $20-$100 per sensor. It averages 20-40 percent in energy savings, for what it terms a “medium” savings return. Gartner claims some smart lighting system installations have shown energy savings up to 50 percent. They note that a typical upgrade stops at upgrading the fixtures to LED, but for maximum lighting savings, these systems must be part of an automated sensor network. Will Building Management Tech Pay For Itself? Commercial buildings’ value relies on its net operating income. The MEPC claims decreasing utility costs by $0.10 per square foot through BAS technologies could increase a property’s market value by $0.80 square foot. Typical BAS systems will recoup their investment within two years, says MEPC. A 100,000 square foot building gaining 15 percent in annual energy savings, combined with utility rebates, productivity loss avoidance, and operational maintenance cost avoidance would pay back a $200,000 BAS system within 1.3 years. Of course, no two buildings or scenarios are like. The current numbers do show implementing the right smart building management technology can reduce operational costs and a building’s carbon footprint without sacrificing tenant comfort.

If commercial real estate projects were easy, everyone would do them. A project’s life cycle is complex and requires numerous parties keeping tabs on its progress for an extended time period. Even shorter build-outs take weeks. Project management solutions help commercial real estate professionals tackle pain points and improve their handling. Benefits include: #1. Streamlined communications Think about how many emails, phone calls, and texts you receive in a single day. Not every email pertains to the project, nor does every email need a phone call and vice versa. Stop overwhelming project managers and sub-contractors with a slew of emails. A cloud-based project management solution keeps communication together, in one place. Any questions can be asked directly in the platform, as seen with facilities management provider Workframe. The stream of conservations keeps all stakeholders in the loop. Rather than digging through email, the answers are right there. #2. Automated task tracking and reminders Checklists allow all parties to see real-time progress and can be edited as necessary. Tie checklist items into automated reminders. These alerts keep projects moving on time. A program like Asana lets users set time-based deadlines to remind project managers on line items like contacting vendors or paying invoices. Set the reminders for weeks, days, or hours in advance depending on the task at hand. #3. Easy budgeting Project managers are under pressure to bring in new developments and renovations on time and on budget. Project management workflow platforms track the budget status with real-time information. Control invoices, see variances, and find areas for cost savings within a few quick clicks. A system like Mavenlink simplifies budgeting, forecasting, and tracking actuals in real-time. #4. Remote Access Updating records used to require a call to the office or manual entry later. Mobile apps bring project management into the tech era. Snap pictures of progress to instantly share with the team. Use a management program like Airtable to mark tasks finished from the checklist while on-site. The team can see when permits have been pulled, work begun, or new blueprints received in real-time for the latest progress updates. #5. Integrations A smart project management system needs to integrate with the other tools you’re using. That includes document storage, electronic signing, budgeting, marketing and more. SmartSheet’s platform includes Salesforce, Dropbox, and Google among is other integrations. These integrations stop the hassle of importing or exporting vital data between platforms. Everything you need is updated in real-time and ready for use.  

Industry and manufacturing generates around one-fifth of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions. Not only do sustainable practices help reduce the sector’s carbon footprint, but they can cut industrial properties’ operating costs. Add increased consumer interest in sustainability, and these factors drive the increasing interest in sustainable measures for the industrial real estate sector. Building equipped with sustainable technology have a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Why do brands want sustainable industrial real estate? At the most basic level, local legislation requires certain sustainable measures in their buildings. Drought-prone California is an example. Its Title 24 energy-efficiency standards require industrial real estate, and others, to meet water efficiency benchmarks. Naturally, buildings outfitted to meet these standards are more desirable than real estate requiring a retrofit. Some of these tech solution help reduce energy consumption, and conversely, its cost. Energy represents a significant cost of an industrial facility, particularly a manufacturing business. Reducing energy waste maximizes performance costs. In one study, implementing energy-saving practices and technology generated a 12 percent average savings with 15 months of adoption. Another reason? Consumers increasingly care about sourcing products from fiscally and environmentally responsible companies. Prologis has found that its sustainable industrial assets attract top customers, especially if they are LEED-certified buildings. Another standard is ISO 50001, a global energy efficiency standard which provides a certification framework for industrial and commercial facilities. Not only do these spaces make their tenants and owners feel better about the environmental impact of their brand, but they deliver better building experiences for the employees. Customizable and automated environmental controls, increased natural lighting, and improved air quality improve the stark image associated with industrial spaces. What do industrial tenants and owners want? The process begins with high-quality construction. As the number of severe weather incidents increases, properties that can resist or mitigate natural disaster damage are attractive to investors. Resilience is a critical part of risk management and responsible building practices. Energy-efficient technologies are the next critical component. These systems encompass advanced rooftop HVAC units using the latest in weather monitoring to maximize system efficiency, installing solar panels and generators, and using interior sensor networks to automate internal conditions. The Urban Land Institute mentions more buildings are using microgrids, which use a local energy source and a network of electricity users. Installing a network of monitors to measure the building’s carbon footprint helps companies find ways to maximize their savings and energy efficiencies. After all, you can’t reduce what you’re not measuring. Local governments across the nation are modifying building performance targets through legislation. Monitoring systems help meet the required targets. Landscaping helps sell industrial real estate, but it’s a crucial area for reducing consumption. Real estate that deploys smart irrigation technologies and low-flow fixtures help ease water use. The Primary Benefit of Sustainable Tech What it boils down to is competitiveness. A report by Deloitte concluded sustainability initiatives add a competitive advantage for CRE. “We believe technology will be both a competitive differentiator and a key enabler to achieve deep energy efficiencies,” stated the report. Consumers want sustainability in their daily lives. Finding ways to reduce environmental impacts and operating costs through sustainability is attractive to the consumer, the tenant, and the property owner.

Cyber attackers want information and money, making real estate businesses a prime target for attacks. A few easy measures will help protect your clients’ most sensitive data from reaching the wrong hands. #1- Use Common Sense Prevention is the best defense against a cyber attack. The simplest measures are the easiest, like: No one should write passwords on a sticky note and tape them to their computer. One disgruntled employee seeing a password note left lying can create havoc on a system. Password fatigue may be real, but it’s our best interest to not use easily breakable passwords like “password” or “123456.” Everyone should know not to open attachments from unknown sources or to avoid emailing sensitive information. These open the door to cybercrime. #2- Be wary of open Wifi connections Since the commercial real estate industry works everywhere and anywhere all the time, CRE professionals must take extra care with their Wifi connections. Cybercriminals have two modes of attack with public Wifi. First, they are experts are imitating network names. These malicious hotspots trick users into logging in with reputable-sounding Wifi names. As soon as you login, the cybercriminal has your data. The second tactic Norton calls “man-in-the-middle attack,” where the cybercriminals use an open network to break into your computer. Norton explains, “When a computer makes a connection to the Internet, data is sent from point A (computer) to point B (service/website), and vulnerabilities can allow an attacker to get in between these transmissions and “read” them.” This means your private connection may not be so private. Some cybercriminals buy software kits or devices to help them “eavesdrop” on what you are doing online, capturing your login information. Solution: never use an open Wifi network to log into accounts with sensitive data: banking, financial, or client information. #3- Routinely change passwords Yes, changing passwords frequently can be a real hassle. Remember: with the increasing number of cyber hacks, our information can be compromised at any time. Change passwords on a regular basis, like every six months or even more frequently. Use a different password with the scheduled change. Don’t share passwords across all accounts. At a bare minimum, use a different password for personal email, for financial institutions, and for work accounts. #4- Use web security gateway These gateways identify phishing websites used in cyber attacks. They block the website and activities, preventing intrusion into a company’s network. In other words, they help block data loss through infections by malware and viruses. #5- Put IoT on a separate Wifi network The Internet of Things (IoT) is delivering serious benefits for commercial buildings and their management teams, but the current generation isn’t as secured against an attack like you might think. Protect your business from these vulnerabilities by isolating all IoT devices on a Wifi network separate from Guest and Employee connections. #6- Keep Updating Even the most secure connections have vulnerabilities. It’s these weaknesses hackers probe to exploit. Don’t eschew updating systems with the latest patches. The latest software updates and security upgrades prevent cybercriminals from leveraging these vulnerabilities.

The United Kingdom’s second largest airport processes 45 million passengers a year. Gatwick Airport’s footprint includes two terminals and a combined 258,000 square feet for to navigate. How do stressed passengers find their way from check-in desk to gate? With an award-winning augmented reality (AR) app that earned Mobile Innovation of the Year award at the National Technology Awards. It’s working proof that AR isn’t fantasy and has real-life applications for commercial spaces today. How Gatwick Airport Uses AR Gatwick deploys over 2,000 indoor sensing beacons to assist with indoor navigation. Users download the app, select their destination and poof! The AR overlays directions in the real world. Passengers follow the virtual arrows to find terminals, check-in, and baggage claims. The airport acknowledges the app could have additional uses: pinpointing congested lines and staffing accordingly, tracking late passengers, or selling ads for airport retailers. How to Use AR in Other CRE Spaces Gatwick is setting the example for applying AR to the commercial space, but it’s not entirely alone. Other commercial buildings are dabbling in indoor wayfinding. AR is the local next step. How might building owners add AR to their commercial space? Hospitals. Medical centers provide an excellent use case for AR navigation, especially institutions with sprawling campuses. A version of indoor wayfinding is in use at the sprawling Mayo Clinic campus in Minnesota. The same beacon-based technology overlaid with AR easily would help patients (or doctors) navigate to a particular area or patient room. Retail. Imagine searching your desired store from anywhere. Retails brands could use the AR application to advertise sales or special deals. Inside a large big box store, create dynamic in-store navigation with AR to help customers navigate to a specific product. Lowe’s Home Innovation has experimented with a Google Tango-enabled phone to search in-store merchandise, navigate to its location, and add relevant product information. Office. Like the medical world, sprawling workplace campuses with AR would to help visitors find the right building, floor, and office space. Additional information could easily be added to the AR environment to enhance the visitor’s experience. Think office hours, special closings, or contact information. Additional AR Use Cases Reducing buildout time frames. Some businesses have used AR to demonstrate what a potential space could look like before launching renovations. Layout the entire space and trial navigation before launching construction. Applying AR to commercial spaces in this way would reduce construction time and expenses. Find employees. Have you ever needed someone right away, but they were not at their desk and not answering their phone? Maybe you need to chat with someone you’ve never met before. Pairing indoor navigation, Bluetooth technology, and AR could help you navigate to a specific employee. AR applications will connect us to the built environment in new, exciting ways. Commercial building owners will offer visitors more information that enhances their experience. From easy navigation to advertising to design, AR really can work with any commercial space.

Industry leaders always think forward. What innovations potentially will change our world forever? One place to find game-changing discoveries is the MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies. Since 2001, MIT has spotlighted advances it believes will reshape our lives for years to come. Four tech innovations highlighted in the 2018 edition have implications for the commercial real estate industry. #1- Artificial intelligence Has the shine worn off artificial intelligence’s novelty? Not according to MIT, which points out that AI tech hasn’t completely gone mainstream–yet. That’s about to change thanks to cloud-based AI technology. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft all working in the cloud AI field.  These advances in machine learning are bringing cloud-based AI tech to a wider audience. Cloud-based AI will help developers create more applications and hardware for the commercial real estate industry. Cloud-based AI simplifies creating new technology, translating to increased accessibility both in price and development. There are hints of the impact this will have in the Internet of Things and smart building expansion. The newest AI-controlled IoT devices work through the cloud. #2-Smart cities Smart city technology is still cutting-edge. Metropolitan authorities around the globe are still wrapping their minds around the possibilities, what technology to implement, and how to do it without busting tight municipal budgets. MIT highlighted Toronto's Quayside development as an example project rethinking smart city implementation. Sidewalk Toronto will be a ground-up development in collaboration with Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs and not a retrofit of existing space. Working together, Alphabet hopes to figure out how to work with governments seeking to add smart city tech. Quayside hopes to be a model neighborhood with driverless shuttle buses instead of private cars, modular buildings, and mail delivery robots. If the project is successful, it could change new commercial development projects on the small and large scale. Revitalization projects could become insular neighborhoods awash with smart city technology. #3-Neural networks Ian Goodfellow proposed the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) in 2014. Essentially, GANs pit two neural networks against each other. Each network is “trained” on the same data. One network, the “generator” creates variations on images. The other, the “discriminator,” identifies if the images are fake or real. These GANs produce incredibly photorealistic images that the results even trick humans. Don’t be fooled into thinking GANs are limited to creating realistic–but fake–van Gogh paintings. A GAN was used in a competition to predict Russian housing market fluctuations. The dueling neural network can be trained with less data to provide predictions. Perhaps the dueling neural network could be used to identify and tag image features, making visual search technology more accessible. The tech is still so new that different kinds of GANs are in development, like conditional, bidirectional, and semi-supervised GANs. It will be interesting to watch how developers apply dueling neural networks to AI applications and other new technologies. #4-Zero-knowledge proof With the amount of technology in use around the world, can you ever be completely private? The relentless and numerous cyber attacks means personal data theft is a real concern. Zero-knowledge proof might be the answer. The concept isn’t new, but there is increased interest in the protocol thanks to blockchain and cryptocurrency networks. In an industry where cryptocurrency and blockchain are poised to make significant changes, zero-knowledge proof protocols could build client confidence and trust in the new systems. Consumers conduct real estate transactions through banks or cryptocurrency networks without sacrificing their privacy. Early adopter JP Morgan Chase has added zk-SNARK, a zero-knowledge cryptography, to its blockchain-based system. Artificial intelligence and smart city technology may be closest to breaking through barriers in commercial real estate, but with increasing interest in blockchain, zero-knowledge proof implementation is worth investigation. Keep an eye on the news around dueling neural networks; this could be the next decade’s big trend in CRE tech.

Every person on the planet will create 1.7 megabytes of information every second by 2020. Failure to capture this data and transform it into actionable intelligence will cost every industry millions of dollars. Commercial real estate and multifamily properties are not an exception. Rentlytics’ recent ebook, Why You Need Business Intelligence in Your 2019 Budget, demonstrates why CRE professionals must grab BI solutions by the horns and adopt now, not later. Understanding Business Intelligence Business intelligence isn’t one software or a set of platforms running analytics. The umbrella term covers best business practices that optimize the tools used in decision-making and operational enhancement. It could include a range of technologies that use internal and external data, like internal maintenance reports or external neighborhood demographic data. The multifamily budgeting process is complicated. Forecasting vacancy rates, concessions, rents, loss to lease, and more, presents challenges. Business intelligence solutions shed light on future trends, which is crucial  to accurately project costs for the next fiscal year. The technology takes data from a variety of sources and presents it in an easy-to-read format for better decision-making. Why you need Business Intelligence Assets of all sizes draw benefits from BI. The research included inside Rentlytics’ Why You Need Business Intelligence in Your 2019 Budget found that every dollar spent on BI solutions had an average ROI of $13.01. How exactly does a BI solution lead to such a positive return? Simple: Business intelligence increases productivity. When you can pull data in real-time and create accurate reports with a few clicks, employees are more productive at their tasks. In one example from the ebook, a portfolio with over 200 properties saved $500,000 a year automating tasks with BI solutions! Improve your return on investment. Faster reporting creates more awareness among owners, asset managers, and property managers regarding operating costs. Furthermore, this information improves the property’s ROI. A Rentlytics case study shows how Goodman Real Estate saved almost $300,000 in delinquency costs nine months after purchasing BI. Data becomes action. Access to vital operational data helps spot issues before they become a real problem. Find key trends and patterns in the data to start making proactive decisions that will drive your business forward. Plan for Business Intelligence today Adopting a BI solution isn’t an overnight task. Conducting research and vetting vendors takes time and isn’t easy when faced with the daily tasks of running a multifamily portfolio. Even after selection, there are several preparatory steps to adoption. For instance, Rentlytics points out you’ll need to work with your vendor to create a scalable training program as part of adoption management.   That’s why it’s essential to plan today to incorporate these solutions into your budget. Why You Need Business Intelligence in Your 2019 Budget outlines the steps needed to win over stakeholders and prepare for BI adoption. The ebook guides real estate professionals in demonstrating business intelligence’s value to the whole team. Walk away with insights like: Why leading organizations include BI in their budget 5 actionable tips you can use to get BI into your company’s budget How to show the value of BI to your team How to make room for BI within your existing budget What to look for when choosing a BI vendor Even if it’s not possible to incorporate BI into this upcoming fiscal year, use these strategies to prime your team for its 2020 budget. Each year without it could be costing your property management thousands in unrealized revenue.  

Nearly half of our total waking hours on any given day are spent at work. Add the time spent at home, and humans spend an extraordinary amount of time shuttered inside. It’s vital our workspaces inspire and promote total well-being. Green initiatives reimagine the modern office space as a productive, healthy place to spend time. Technology is a vital part of how we improve our workspaces. A Harvard Study on indoor air quality and the built environment found worker cognitive scores were 61 percent better on a “green building day” and 101 percent higher on the “Green+ building” day. What did they do? They used technology to monitor and control the air quality in the office environment.  A “Green+” day simulated high outdoor air ventilation rate and low concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOC)s. As part of the Well Building Standard, certified buildings use technology to enhance its construction or to monitor its interior conditions, like air quality. Essentially, Well Buildings apply tech to help their occupants feel better and have a productive working environment. Technology that helps includes: Air quality monitoring According to Comfy, temperature plays a major role in office space comfort. Their monitoring system and app gives tenants the power to adjust workspace conditions like temperature to meet their needs. However, indoor air quality isn’t just adjusting temperature and humidity levels. Particulates, dust, and chemicals constantly float through our environment. Air quality monitoring systems like the one by TZOA alert users to poor air quality and activates infiltration systems to process the pollution. Lighting control systems People need control over lighting systems to optimize their comfort. Too bright or too dark can cause eye-strain related headaches and migraines. Cisco has a Digital Ceiling framework, which combines the power of lighting, heating, cooling, and sensors into a single solution. The Digital Ceiling uses LED lights controlled by IoT. Digital Lumens is another example of tech in commercial real estate lighting control, specifically in the industrial space. In addition to kicking on and off, the sensors in the lights pick up on occupancy, which works with other building systems to not waste heating or cooling empty spaces. Smart Window Technology Advances in smart windows allow users to adjust their interior lighting based on exterior conditions. This allows for users to control the natural light based on their needs and time of day. The smart windows are controlled via a mobile app to dim or brighten spaces. ViewGlass’ dynamic glass technology offers four dimming levels to increase interior comfort levels. Not only does this control the amount of light, but it assists with heating or cooling spaces to user comfort. All of these innovations have two driving factors: improve a commercial building’s operating efficiency and improving the comfort of its occupants. Truly, tech can help us feel better about our work spaces.  

A real estate professional’s biggest asset is information. Not just lots of it (there already is!) but understanding that information, tracking its change over time, and relaying key insights to our clients. What will CRE professionals gain from this information revolution? Understanding behaviors We’d like to think human beings are unpredictable. Science shows we like our routines more than we think. These insights into consumer behavior are changing space utilization. We’re learning how people move around shopping centers and individual stores, where people congregate in office spaces, and how people seek information. All this information improves leads to better building designs, more efficient use of spaces, and optimized leasing rates. These same insights to behavior cue us into when people want to buy, invest, or sell their assets. Now we know when to target our marketing to appeal to individual interests. Our prospecting improves, as does on return on investment in marketing. Efficient building operations The data gleaned from the sensor networks, mobile apps, and IoT enhances building performance. We’re developing predictive maintenance algorithms for hardware components like HVAC systems based on user data and sensing devices. Combined with the power of multiple properties across a portfolio, and future property managers will glean more insights into how to run more efficient buildings. These blended IoT systems will change how our physical world works. More automation means more streamlined services. The most modern buildings enable smartphones to help tenants check-in through security, adjust the temperature and lighting, and manage maintenance requests. The future brings will be more ways to engage the built world, like boardrooms with voice-enabled AI that controls the space’s hardware. More Insights Could someone take commercial real estate information and do what Zillow’s Zestimate has done for residential properties? Yes, CRE is more complicated, but we’re already moving to a more transparent industry thanks to data access and information sharing platforms like CompStak. The mysteries start to unravel when you can compare similar building classes or similar customer bases. Better Asset Management The information gleaned in asset management and leasing cycles will improve not just the deal management. Businesses and investors use the data to make crucial operational decisions, like seeking a new vendor. Glean important market data when debating renovating an existing space or relocating the entire office. New projects use drone technology and virtual reality to track progress on new developments to ensure delivery on time and on budget. Drones are even used to survey existing buildings for potential capital repairs and maintenance. There’s no doubt the CRE industry is changing. Thanks to our increased access to information, we are providing better services now. The future brings even more promise as our systems get smarter and keep learning from our gathered intelligence.