Today’s office tenants have spoken.
According to a recent CBRE study, 62% of tenants seek connected technologies and building apps in their workplaces. As the commercial real estate (CRE) landscape changes greatly, the need for a mobile app that makes landlord-tenant communication possible grows.
Historically, landlords and property teams have used antiquated methods to reach tenant employees. These may include phone calls, emails, or relying on office managers and tenant representatives to disseminate important information.
Today, using a tenant communication app to replace those methods has become a crucial part of tenant experience. Such tools allow property managers and landlords to establish a direct line of communication with tenants in real time, wherever they’re located.
Create Meaningful Connections With a Tenant Communication App
Since the core functionality of a tenant engagement app lies in fostering meaningful connections, it can also include property management software that brings additional value to office properties. By connecting all of your building’s experiences, you can increase tenant engagement, offer memorable and competitive building amenities, and even enhance your office investments. Below are some of the specific goals a tenant app can help CRE teams achieve.
1. Send Communications in Real Time
Timely communication with tenants has never been easier: push notifications send messages directly to occupant’s phone screens. This allows building management to quickly disseminate important building information such as property protocols, emergency alerts, and more. Building hours changed? No problem: a push notification can get the update out faster than an email or text message, and to the right people.
Targeted notifications can also draw attention to weekly in-app trivia games and tenant appreciation events such as coffee giveaways or on-the-go dental services in a building lobby.
2. Offer Tenants Peace of Mind
Today, the capabilities of a tenant communication app reach far beyond helping property managers juggle tenant phone numbers, maintenance requests, and building management tasks.
Increased investment in solutions such as connected property management software has allowed property teams to mitigate security risks. Essential functionalities like mobile access, digital visitor management, and resource booking provide an extra layer of building security and crucial visibility into who is in a building, which spaces are being used, and more.
3. Engage Tenants With Digital Programming
A mobile app makes it easy for tenants, property managers, and landlords to remain connected to building communities, wherever they are. For instance, a tenant app can centralize all a property’s amenities and offerings in one place, for easy and quick access.
Offering the ability to sign up for virtual workouts, mindfulness classes, or even discounts to on-site or local retailers can go a long way towards showing tenant appreciation. Digital programming initiatives are particularly valuable for hybrid workforces, enabling tenants to interact with one another from anywhere.
Going Beyond The App
Perhaps the most substantial benefit of integrating a tenant communication app within an office building is that it empowers CRE teams to remain agile. The more building activations owners and operators have, the more insights they can receive to paint an accurate picture of what is going on in their buildings.
We’ve seen firsthand how a connected tenant app can drive data-driven decision making from our clients. For example, Jamestown’s team at Boston’s Innovation and Design Building (IDB) has harnessed data via their tenant app in a few different ways.
Faced with major investment decisions, the team leveraged their Tenant Experience Platform to directly survey tenants and identify whether an upscale restaurant was the highest value use of their space. The survey not only revealed that tenants ranked the dining option as a low priority, but also that a pharmacy pop-up would be more of use to busy office employees.
The IDB team also harnessed engagement data at their property to inform tenant event programming. In order to gain insights on various events, they analyzed sign-up trends through the tenant app and were able to prioritize their most successful events. These tenant app use cases would not have been possible without an interoperable system that centralizes customer-facing tools for property teams.
As all tech-driven property teams can attest to, it’s time to work smarter when it comes to tenant engagement and communication.
To learn how you can leverage our Tenant Experience Platform for your office, sign up for a free consultation today. We’d be happy to show you the possibilities.
