With Halloween right around the corner, the world has been indulging in all things make-believe. We’ve seen the emergence of costumes, decorations, and candy galore — all of which wouldn’t exist without the storytelling traditions that bring the holiday to life. We all love a good urban legend; they can pique our interest, excite us, or even serve as a precautionary measure. For some, the fun of it all resides in discovering the story’s true origins. How did this story come about, and more importantly, is it real?
The commercial real estate (CRE) industry is no stranger to the urban legend paradigm, which has only grown in abundance with the recent influx of technological innovation for the workplace. Since the adoption of office technologies is a fairly new trend, much of the information out there isn’t substantial — leading to the spread of misinformation for property owners and managers alike. Thus, in the spirit of Halloween and all things CRE, we’ve decided to debunk five of the most common proptech and tenant experience (TeX) myths in the market — easing even the spookiest aspects of your tenant engagement strategies for you and your team:
TeX is Only Valuable When People are in the Building
As we enter a new age for CRE — where hybrid work models have seen exponential adoption rates and people are spending less time in physical office buildings — it can be difficult to discern the value of tenant experience technologies. However, it is this exact reason why digital engagement initiatives are important. Not only are currently dispersed tenants looking to quell concerns in the focus areas of communication, safety, logistics, and health, but they’re also looking for remote ways to connect with each other and their workplace. Because of this, physical amenities — such as fitness centers and conference rooms — no longer differentiate your assets alone. Though important, they serve more as expected building features and may not add any real value to your building. Instead, property owners need to focus on blending physical and digital work experiences to meet tenants wherever they choose to work — a feat that can only be facilitated by the right technology partners.
Office Buildings are “Dead”
There’s no doubt that the future of CRE has changed forever, but it doesn’t necessarily mean an ill-fate for office buildings. Though a return-on-investment (ROI) on maintaining a physical office may not be immediately evident due to remote work models and the pandemic, we know the greatest source of information comes from what property owners can’t see about their buildings. What do tenants really want, and how do they really wish to use a given space? As it turns out, tenants like working in an office environment. Recent Colliers International research reveals that out of 5,000 respondents across 18 global industries, 49% of employees said they would like to limit their remote work experiences to just two days a week after the pandemic subsides, whereas only 12% said they’d like to work from home four or more days a week. The truth is that even with options to work remotely, people will always be driven to seek out places where they can remain productive, collaborate with one another, and experience a tangible workplace culture.
More Technology Integrations = A Bigger Mess for Landlords
With so many tenant companies working from home and exploring new office models due to the pandemic, commercial landlords have had to find ways to connect to the people who used to work in their buildings. Naturally, navigating an ocean of potential workplace technologies to enhance communication and provide other tenant benefits can be a pretty daunting task. How do you find the technologies that work best with your portfolio’s needs, while also making sure that the process is streamlined so they can each integrate seamlessly with your building and with each other? We’ve solved this problem through the HqOS™ Marketplace. The HqOS Marketplace acts like a “built-world” version of the app store, where owners and operators can browse a curated catalogue of best-in-class developers and vendors that can help owners adapt to the needs of their tenants. With this tool, property teams can shop for technologies that they know will already be interoperable with HqOS — just leave all of the technical complexity to us.
All Data is Good Data
Though data collection is a very important and integral part of any successful tenant experience strategy, not all data is good data. In order to access the more granular, meaningful information, you need the right technology partner. It’s not uncommon for CRE landlords to invest in technologies that provide vanity metrics, instead of the quality information that they need to understand their building occupants. Truly unlocking actionable data and insights that go beyond the surface-level requires a single platform with rich, API-based integrations that tie together all aspects of the tenant experience. Without these deep integrations, the technology trail ends abruptly, leaving property owners with no additional information that they can apply to their assets. True product integrations and APIs can be found in HqO’s growing technology ecosystem, going beyond the initial click and capturing significantly more data because they’re native and trackable.
TeX Software is Just an App
Many CRE leaders believe that the tenant experience solutions available in the market today are simply mobile apps. Though this may have been the case a few years ago, this is no longer true. Despite there being over 8,000 available proptech companies — many of which are apps and developers — HqO has begun accommodating more end-to-end needs. In fact, our HqOS tenant experience operating system is much more than an app; it’s a central hub for your portfolio’s tenant facing technology. Our platform helps property teams manage all of their customer-facing technology tools within their buildings, while also activating real connections between people and properties through seamless digital-to-physical experiences. Our latest HqOS Headquarters feature takes this a step further, by creating an easy-to-use desktop view for HqO customers to conduct everything from daily content creation to strategic technology planning.
To learn more about how HqOS can strengthen your office building portfolio, schedule a demo today!
