Meet EG’s tech advisory panel

EG is committed to making sure that we bring you the very best in intelligence to enable you to make your business the most successful it can be. Technology and the use of data in real estate is one of the biggest and most challenging areas of transformation in the sector. To help us make sure we can help you navigate this exciting evolution, we have gathered a specialist advisory panel to deliver insight and intelligence on the digitisation of real estate. Here they share their thoughts with us on the biggest tech or data-fuelled opportunities or challenges the sector faces today. Isabelle Hease, head of research and analytics, Ellandi “The biggest challenge facing the exploration and adoption of data and technology in the real estate sector is the significant skill gap required to drive technological development and innovation.  While there is a clear need for real estate to adopt a data-driven approach across a number of practices, from a talent and skills perspective, many businesses still lack both the skillset and understanding to adopt innovative approaches to data and technology. The technology and innovation working group at the British Property Federation (for which I am a contributor) has been exploring this challenge for the past 18 months. Having reviewed the degree-related pathways into the sector, the key thing to impart is that there is a problem with degree education pathways into the industry to begin with. It is not necessarily because there are not competencies in the RICS overall pathways that deal with technological development or innovation. It is that they are not considered material to the main pathways into the real estate industry, which contributes to the continuing skills gap in the sector.  While one can argue that services such as data analytics or GIS are ones that real estate clients can buy in, a lack of awareness of these tools in the first instance prevents that from happening. So while it is imperative that we find solutions to futureproof the capabilities of new professionals in innovation and technology development, the wider challenge we face in the short to mid-term is up-skilling senior-level professionals and attracting suitably qualified people into the sector to provide the skills and talent that the industry needs to help it to transform.” Dan Hughes, founder, Alpha Property Insight “As we move into a more data-driven world and property market, the ethics of how we collect and use data will become increasingly important. Whether it is data in buildings or businesses, the foundations that we put in place today to make sure that we are acting ethically will determine our success for the next decade. As a sector we have taken huge steps in our overall ethical approach, but we have been slow to apply these to the data conversation. Data protection policies or GDPR compliance are both essential, but are not the answer alone.” Claire Penny, global digital evangelist, Invicara “I strongly believe that the biggest tech-fuelled opportunity facing the real estate industry is digital twins. A digital twin provides a unified data model representing the dynamic state of a built environment, integrating as built information with data from a network of intelligent and interoperable systems, enabling data-driven workflows to optimise asset performance, occupant experience and carbon. The results, information and data silos are removed, driving true intelligence, efficiency and value to all stakeholders.” Alex Edds, director of innovation & digital consulting, JLL “We must  generate more ROI through the connected use of data from the life cycle of buildings. This can be in the form of better customer experience, more efficient business models, sustainable buildings, circular economy or less wasted resources through the life cycle. We have to align the data nomenclature and transition between the players in the supply chain or transaction to ensure historical data is available and trusted, and live data is accessible. Every step of the real estate life cycle is governed by a different set of principles and standards. That enforces data standards. Therefore there is little to no transmission along the supply chain/value chain. The challenge is to create standard data points, naming conventions and integration so information can pass seamlessly and be accessible by whomever needs it. This may need governance to instil trust.” Rick Robinson, director of smart places, telecommunications & digital infrastructure, Jacobs “Now that we can begin to see an emergence from lockdown, the future of property and our physical environment is uncertain. The transactions that we make to travel and how we use urban environments in order to undertake them can increasingly be undertaken online – and this was a trend that long pre-dated the Covid-19 lockdown. We will have new choices to prioritise time with friends, family and local businesses over time spent commuting to shops or to work at desks. Online channels give us unprecedented choice in what we buy, where, and when. Which interactions will we revert to preferring to travel to perform in-person? From retail to commercial offices to manufacturing to residential, every sector of the property industry will need to prepare for change.” Natalie Record, housing innovation team lead, Connected Places Catapult “The biggest tech/data-fuelled opportunity for the real estate industry today is to harness open unique property reference numbers as the ‘golden thread of building information’. Although they may seem like an insignificant combination of numbers, the opening of UPRNs last year under open government license means that land, housing and planning data relating to a place or property can now be linked; making information easier to find, understand, use and trust. This will enable greater data-driven insights at a hyper-local level to inform location-based decisions, and will unlock many more innovations to emerge from the proptech sector.” Julian Carey, managing director, Stenprop “I think the biggest challenge/opportunity is culturally changing from being an industry where experience and gut instinct are prioritised to one where, when a decision needs to be made, a manager’s first response is “What does the data say?”.  Just by asking this question you quickly discover where your business data is insufficient, and can then start to address where and how to capture what information you really need to make the right decisions. There is a vast amount of value in real estate data, and the most successful property businesses in the future will be the ones that are best at harnessing this.” James Power, director of digital & technology, SEGRO “The biggest tech-fuelled opportunity facing the real estate industry is raising our game on data – to make better decisions, to serve customers better, and to make our processes faster and easier for our people. Historically we haven’t always been very sophisticated, and there’s so much potential there.” Caleb Parker, founder & director, Bold “The biggest opportunity for tech in real estate is the customer experience. The future of commercial real estate puts the human (customer) at the centre of the universe. In a world where we have workplace choice, and can literally work from anywhere, there’s a huge opportunity for ‘the office’ to become our platform of empowerment – the place we go to plug in when we need to do our best work. A platform that removes friction, delivers a personalised experience, helps us perform better, and is accessible on-demand. We are not selling sq ft or sq m anymore, we are selling super powers.” The panel Richard Reid, EMEA & India IOT TPM, Google Alex Edds, director of innovation & digital consulting, JLL Natalie Record, housing innovation team lead, Connected Places Catapult Dan Hughes, founder, Alpha Property Insight Caleb Parker, founder & director, Bold Julian Carey, managing director, Stenprop Claire Penny, global digital evangelist, Invicara Rick Robinson, director of smart places, telecommunications & digital infrastructure, Jacobs James Power, director of digital & technology, SEGRO Isabelle Hease, head of research and analytics, Ellandi Picture © Shutterstock