Rapid advances in technology have disrupted many organizations across the globe - especially commercial real estate. It's not surprising, Commercial real estate firms have been known to be lagging when it comes to embracing technology, urbanization, and social changes. Real estate firms need to be a catalyst for change, influencing organizations to invest in business infrastructure, redesign spaces and transform their business models to become more competitive within the global marketplace. Those that occupy real estate – whether office, retail, industrial or institutional – have the opportunity to leverage a lease expiry, property acquisition, refinancing or redevelopment to drive change.
Here’s what really interesting.
According to a new report from PwC, real estate chief executives, particularly in large firms, are less likely than their peers in other sectors to hire the right people to adapt to the changes brought about by technology. For example, only 20 percent of real estate CEOs said they clearly understand how robotics and artificial intelligence can improve customer services, compared with 47 percent of all CEOs. So four in five leaders in our sector are not up to speed on technology that increasingly drives building performance and supercharges human productivity.
The good news is that one in five real estate CEOs got the memo. To tap into the benefits promised by smart technology, corporate real estate leaders should look beyond the cookie-cutter approach of big monolithic service providers.