In his Conference of Undertakers blog post, British Land chief executive Chris Grigg asks three questions about technology. How is it changing customer behaviour? Will it change the way we interact with customers. And how will it change the way we develop? You can read Grigg’s answers here.
This is how I would answer:
How is technology changing the behaviour of our customers?
Technology will affect the behaviour of customers in the same way that Ernest Hemingway described how someone goes bankrupt: “Two ways – gradually, then suddenly.”
Where you now see outliers who work wherever they wish, in and out of the office, with all their data in the cloud, via mobile devices plugged into online applications with little stored locally – within a few years, this will be the norm.
Employees may still be in the office, but they won’t spend much time fixed in front of a desktop monitor. More likely – and give this a few more years – they will only be in the office when they need specialist tools and/or environments to collaborate face-to-face with colleagues.
Structurally, companies are likely to become more and more shamrock-like, in Charles Handy’s parlance, where a small core of full-time, in-house staff co-ordinate activities with outsourced partners or autonomous subsidiaries and ever more on-demand contractors.
Technology will enable this trend to spread ever more rapidly, and repurposed central offices will act as the community glue, not the day-to-day workplace.
How will technology change the way we interact with our customers?
The process of morphing from quarterly senders of rent demands to corporate infrastructure partners will speed up. A sense of place will develop to incorporate a digital layer, where, through sensors, contextual data and ultrafast broadband, the online and offline worlds will meld to provide a richer, more engaging built environment.
Relationships with customers will become real-time, open and more trust-based, and in so doing will open the doors to a level of service that is just a pipe dream today.
How will technology change the way we develop and operate our buildings?
In a word, profoundly. The best developers will not be selling physical assets; they will be selling offices as a service. Their buildings will offer services that people need – emotional, physical and digital – and they will be selling them on demand, and in a fluid manner.
The new breed of lightweight companies will have requirements that ebb and flow dramatically, and buildings will operate in a way that accommodates this. Some 20% of the market may remain as long-term fixed occupiers, and the rest will flex.
The success of US-based service office provider WeWork has been striking. Is this the new form that offices will take? We will see how things pan out over a full property cycle, but regardless, the provider’s understanding that it is selling community as much as office space is prescient.
When you do not need an office to actually get work done (and few do), what point does it serve? The answer, and what defines the fundamental impact of technology on developers, is that it is not in providing a desk to sit at.
Essential tech for property people: Apple Watch
For property people, wearables, or computing devices that you wear on your body via smart clothing, eyewear or jewellery, should be of great interest. For it is through interaction with the built environment that these things will find their killer application.
Interest in these devices will explode when the Apple Watch launches on 24 April, but this is mainly of use to those looking to track their exercise routines or to access email or social media. On a day-to-day basis, it is not of great use.
We have seen a couple of prototype Apple Watch applications that show where all this stuff is going. First off is an app that allows you to open your garage door remotely to allow a delivery. Fun, but just as easy using your phone.
The W Hotels app, however, nails the value. With this, you would be recognised immediately upon entering your hotel, shown your room number and then, through your watch, be able to access your room. Now that removes a number of pain points we all recognise.
It is in this interaction with the space around us that wearables will flourish. Where we now need keys, or codes, or have to fill out paperwork, these devices will simply deal with it.
However, the Apple Watch needs the Internet of Things to work well. By 2020, Cisco reckon 50bn sensors will be installed around the world to enable such interaction. When cities are made smart, it will be wearables that help unlock the digital layer.
The Apple Watch will be huge – just not yet.
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