From the moment they wake up until the moment they fall asleep — and even for those several hours in between — your tenants are tech-enabled, using multiple technologies to collect data on and improve every aspect of their day. If you’re not facilitating that convenience in the office as well, why should they stay in your building?
Technology and data are so integrated within our lives, that we often don’t think about it. From the second we wake up, we’re immersed in an almost invisible ecosystem built to observe, learn from, and improve our everyday experiences.
Think about what your daily routine may have looked like before the COVID-19 pandemic: After getting out of bed, you may have grabbed your phone or asked Alexa to check the time, the daily forecast, and even your work schedule. Once you had breakfast, you may have opened the Google Maps or Waze apps to monitor real-time traffic updates, thus determining a more efficient commute to work to avoid construction or local car accidents. Alternatively, if you relied on public transportation, the Transit app or others similar would tell you if your bus or train was delayed.
Throughout the work day, you might have used several different mobile services to order ahead for your morning coffee or lunch — if the app remembered your “favorite” order, it was an even quicker experience. By the time the day was over, you may have gone for a run or attended a fitness class, using your phone or Fitbit to track your personal records in order to improve your results for next time. By the evening, Netflix or Hulu would remember what you were last watching, allowing you to pick up right where you left off on a seamless note to end your day.
Each of these separate technologies incorporates features that fit our personal needs, using data that they collect over time in order to make our days easier, faster, and more enjoyable. Since we’re already leveraging multiple technologies in many aspects of our lives, why not do the same where we spend the majority of our time — while at work?
When it comes to a post-pandemic workplace, there is no catch-all solution to help companies and property managers succeed in the ever-changing commercial real estate (CRE) market. In fact, most of us are still working from home and are trying to determine the value of retaining physical office buildings. However, data still suggests that office buildings will play an important role in the future of work — even if our interactions with the workplace look drastically different. Through the adoption of new technologies and the emergence of collaborative efforts across markets, we can support the new needs of office buildings alongside the hybrid work models that have stemmed from the “new normal.”
In the most recent installment of the COVID-19 Workplace Re-entry series between CrowdComfort, HqO, and Openpath, we reflect on what we’ve learned from the initial phases of re-opening while anticipating what’s to come. With more companies ready to transition back to the workplace, the most successful re-entry strategies have begun to incorporate tenant experience software as a necessity early on. Due to changing health and safety protocols, digitized and touchless experiences such as mobile access and ordering ahead will form new standards for the office as we know it — a shift that was once a convenience, but now holds substantial weight. Now more than ever, landlords will be expected to address and adapt to new concerns in the key areas of communication, safety, logistics, and health.
Investing in proptech solutions now will allow property leaders and tenants to educate themselves and adapt to the new must-haves for every office portfolio throughout the now, next, and later phases of the return to work.
To learn more about technology’s role in recent and future workplace trends, watch the full webinar here.
