To build a thriving tenant community and attract the hybrid-working tenants of the future, you need a steady stream of data flowing in from all possible customer touchpoints: Communication, retail, services and amenities, building operations, events, and more.
COVID-19 has catalysed an unprecedented evolution in commercial real estate, changing office space into a consumer product and everyday employees into key decision makers. The offices of the future will be remade in the image of hybrid working individuals, who have more choice and flexibility than ever before.
Companies, in turn, will choose their workplaces based on new priorities, such as technological amenity (e-commerce and touchless access control); first-rate customer service (events, activations, Apple Store-like flash); commitment to ESG programs; and quantifiable improvements to productivity and employee wellbeing.
All of this they will do to ensure they secure the best and most discerning talent.
"To be a winner," suggests Dror Poleg, author of Rethinking Real Estate, "means building a consumer brand, taking all sorts of risks, having a point of view, and adopting all sorts of trade-offs that historically, office landlords didn't have to make.
"You have to adapt your product to a very specific type of customer, and go all-in on them... The people at the top will be those that have a brand, that have their own distribution, that resonate with their customers, that have some sort of relationships that mean something."
Meaningful, plentiful data paves the way
"Now, more than ever, CRE companies need to capture and analyze high-frequency data to create a meaningful tenant experience," writes Deloitte in its 2021 Commercial Real Estate Outlook report. "This could include data around how tenants use different amenities, and/or engagement and performance levels."
With the right analytics platform, linked to a comprehensive array of customer-facing systems, CRE landlords and property managers can make informed decisions about improvements to their assets and tenant services. With a tenant experience platform and in-built analytics dashboards, it is possible to reliably track behaviours, habits, and sentiments of customers, even as they work remotely. And, even more critically, it is possible to build robust lease renewal strategies tailored to individual tenants.
"Companies can analyze tenant engagement levels and behaviour to understand preferences and provide a more customized experience," Deloitte writes. "For instance, owners/operators can combine and analyze the occupancy, movement, and temperature sensor data and assist tenants in creating COVID-19-safe seating and space utilization decisions.
"They can also use tenant data to predict lease renewals and devise appropriate strategies for tenant retention."
The preceding is an excerpt from our eBook, The CRE Landlord's Guide to Tenant App Analytics. Grab your copy today — or book a demo to get a hands-on look at Equiem tech.
