Technology’s Role In Commercial Real Estate

 

By: Roland Weathers

With the rise of technology, brokers are able to utilize unique tools to make both clients’ and their lives easier, and processes faster and smarter. We’ve traditionally seen that when it comes to integrating technology, commercial real estate typically lags behind residential real estate by a few years, but as we move toward a more virtual world, the gap in technology usage seems to be closing. Virtual tours are becoming an increasingly popular option in commercial real estate, e-signatures make processing easier and faster and integrating virtual buildouts by adding furniture to an image of an empty space is more common. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we were already seeing a shift in technology in the commercial real estate space, but now it’s moving even quicker and affecting every aspect of the industry.

Industrial Buildings

In the past, people have seen distribution centers and warehouses as nothing more than buildings; however, this view has already started to change. For example, earlier this year, I was able to see a new technology in action at CES, an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association that hosts presentations of new products and technologies in the consumer electronics industry. The technology included cameras that can read employees’ temperature, age and pulse, which is very relevant given our current situation. As we are seeing major companies like Amazon facing a lot of media attention in terms of employee safety at their facilities, we realize that having technology in place at warehouses and distribution centers could make a huge difference. In the future, these types of smart cameras and other technologies will help companies implement better health and safety measures for employees.

Office & Retail Spaces

Much like industrial space, offices and retail buildings will also set up smart cameras for their employees and customers’ safety. In addition to safety precautions, in an office or retail environment, cameras will provide a more accurate account of walkthrough traffic, information on demographics and more. Real estate agents face a learning curve when it comes to the technology, but it has the potential to become their biggest asset. These innovations will become selling points for agents when showing their properties.

Smart Buildings

As time goes on, there is a growing demand for smart buildings across the board, as the possibilities on how these can help businesses are endless. Smart buildings are able to gather information such as body temperature, mood, pulse, rough age estimate or if there is anything wrong with the building itself, like a leaking pipe. They can gather more data and collect information on the demographics on-site, without needing a person to gather the information.

While brokers have been selling buildings the same way for a long time, the growth of advanced technologies offers an exciting new way to do business and the opportunity for companies and to improve their practices to better serve both their employees and their clients.